Forward Deployed Engineer

AI Holding Company for Engineering Firms • New York City (On-site)

Location

New York City (On-site, 5 days/week)

Compensation

$200k–$300k base + 0.1–0.75% profit interests

About the company

Our client is a venture-backed AI holding company that acquires established US engineering firms and modernises them with applied AI. Founded in 2025 and around 12 people today, they don't sell software into the industry — they buy the firms outright and rebuild how the work actually gets done, which means everything the engineering team ships lands in the hands of real users immediately.

The role

This is a true forward-deployed seat: you own discovery, build and deployment end-to-end, on-site with the people actually using what you ship. In the first 100 days after an acquisition you'll be embedded with the acquired firm — watching how the work is done today, deciding what to automate, and shipping it yourself. It is deliberately zero-to-one and high-agency: there's no roadmap handed to you and no spec queue.

What you'll do

Embed on-site with newly acquired engineering firms and learn their workflows first-hand
Own discovery, build and deployment end-to-end — from watching the problem to shipping the fix
Build AI-native tooling on top of LLMs, RAG, agent frameworks and document parsing
Turn noisy, contradictory user feedback into a clear product opinion and ship it
Earn the trust of non-technical users on their turf, then get them to change how they work

What we're looking for

These are hard requirements. Check each one that applies to you.

True forward-deployed engineering — I've owned discovery, build and deployment end-to-end with real users. Not solutions architecture, not ticket-taking
5+ years of full-stack product engineering, with demonstrated customer-facing or forward-deployed work
At least one strong pedigree signal — a recognisable early-stage startup (Seed–Series C) or a top-tier technical school
I fit one of two archetypes: a founding or early engineer at a VC-backed startup who exercised real product judgment, or a Forward Deployed Engineer at a firm known for the discipline
Willing to travel Monday–Thursday, 2–3 weeks per month during the first 100 days after an acquisition, on-site at acquired engineering firms
Strong English fluency and the communication poise to earn trust with non-technical users on their turf
Able to work on-site in SoHo, New York City, 5 days a week

Please note: every item above is a hard requirement for this role. Applications that don't meet all of them will be rejected. We recommend applying only if you check every box.

Don't check every box? No worries — submit your info here and we'll keep you in mind for roles that could be a better fit.

Submit Your Info

Nice to have

LLMs, RAG, agent frameworks or document parsing shipped in a production context
Founder ambition — you've started something, or you've been the person who acts like an owner
Experience at a recognisable early-stage startup between Seed and Series C

Tech stack

Next.js, Tailwind, Kotlin, Python and AWS, with LangChain and OpenAI on the AI side.

Compensation & logistics

$200k–$300k base + 0.1–0.75% profit interests with anti-dilution protection at platform acquisition
On-site in SoHo, New York City, 5 days a week
Travel Monday–Thursday, 2–3 weeks per month during the first 100 days after an acquisition
Open to candidates already authorised to work, visa transfers (OPT, H1B) and new visa sponsorship (H1B, TN)
4 hires planned

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