Forward Deployed Engineer

Role Description

We are seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to report to our Field CTO within the Engineering organization. This is a highly strategic and tactical, customer-facing role that sits at the intersection of customer success and technical excellence. You will partner with enterprise clients across the entire customer lifecycle—from pre-sales discovery and solution architecture through post-sales adoption, retention, expansion, and long-term success.

While customer-facing, this is fundamentally a technical engineering position. You will spend 40-50% of your time writing code, architecting solutions, debugging complex distributed systems, and building production-grade integrations. The remaining time is spent collaborating with customers and internal teams to ensure technical success and business outcomes. You will serve as both a principal-level technical leader and a trusted customer advocate, ensuring our platform delivers measurable business value while shaping the future direction of our product.

You will work closely with Sales & Field Engineering, Product, and Technical Account Management teams to architect and deliver complex, real-time data solutions across modern cloud and AI-driven ecosystems. This role requires up to 50% travel and a strong commitment to building deep, long-lasting customer relationships through consistent engagement.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership & Implementation
  • Lead end-to-end implementation of real-time data pipelines using CDC, Kafka, and related technologies; architect multi-cloud data solutions (AWS, GCP, Azure)
  • Build custom connectors, integrations, and production-grade systems using Java and Python; architect APIs and data pipelines
  • Design and optimize Kubernetes deployments and containerized data workloads for performance, cost, and reliability
  • Debug and resolve complex technical issues across distributed systems, including backend, infrastructure, and data layers
  • Create reusable Java/Python libraries, frameworks, and solution accelerators to extend impact across customer implementations
  • Conduct technical code reviews, architecture assessments, and deep-dive technical sessions with customer engineering teams
• Customer Partnership & Solution Architecture
  • Serve as the primary technical partner to customers across the full lifecycle, from pre-sales discovery and solution architecture through post-sales adoption, expansion, and renewal
  • Partner with Sales and Field Engineering to design and architect complex, enterprise-grade solutions tailored to customer needs
  • Build and maintain trusted, long-term relationships with customer stakeholders through ongoing engagement, including on-site meetings and industry events
  • Act as the technical point of escalation for customer challenges, ensuring timely resolution and continued success
  • Design solutions for performance, scalability, and reliability in production environments at enterprise scale (100GB+/day throughput)
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & Product Influence
  • Act as the voice of the customer, capturing insights and translating them into clear, actionable product requirements
  • Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to influence roadmap priorities and future feature development
  • Translate business needs into highly technical concepts, bridging communication between customers and internal teams
  • Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Field Engineering, Product, and Technical Account Management to deliver a seamless and unified customer experience
  • Contribute to internal best practices, documentation, and scalable solution frameworks

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in customer-facing technical roles (e.g., Solutions Engineer, Solutions Architect, Forward Deployed Engineer, Field Engineer, Cloud Architect, or similar)
• Proven ability to own and deliver across the full customer lifecycle, from pre-sales through post-sales success
• Deep technical expertise with the ability to operate at a senior or principal level, including solution architecture and hands-on implementation
• Expert-level proficiency in Java and/or Python, with the ability to architect and implement production-grade systems
• Proficiency in at least one language required; proficiency in both highly valued
• Strong experience building distributed systems, APIs, and enterprise integrations
• Hands-on experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes, Helm)
• Deep experience with multi-cloud environments: AWS (EC2, Lambda, RDS, S3), GCP (Dataflow, BigQuery), and/or Azure (Synapse, Event Hubs)
• Expertise in real-time data streaming and data integration: Change Data Capture (CDC) technologies, Apache Kafka, Flink, Spark Streaming, Event-driven architectures
• Strong background with modern data platforms: Data warehousing (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Delta Lake, PostgreSQL), Kubernetes and distributed systems, AI/ML frameworks and analytics platforms (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, Spark)
• Experience optimizing system performance and reliability at scale
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business value for customers
• Strong problem-solving skills and comfort operating in ambiguous, high-impact environments
• Ability to mentor customer engineering teams and share technical expertise
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 50%
• Commitment to building deep, long-lasting customer relationships through consistent engagement

Benefits

• Competitive salary and pre-IPO stock options
• Comprehensive health care plans (medical, dental and vision), including medical and dependent FSA
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• The chance to contribute to and shape an upbeat, fully engaged culture
• Work with enterprise customers on transformational technical challenges
• Significant influence on product strategy and roadmap development