We are looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer with 3+ years of experience to own the end-to-end technical deployment of CommodityAI's product with customers-from sales handoff through stable production. You'll be the first FDE hire at a YC-backed AI startup growing 3x in 6 months, acting as the technical PM, onboarding lead, and customer champion all in one.
What you'll be doing- Own the full customer onboarding lifecycle, taking customers from sales handoff to live production within the first weeks of a three-month paid pilot.
- Act as the technical PM for each customer: bridge engineering and customer stakeholders, manage timelines, and keep deployments unblocked.
- Configure and tune AI agents and automation workflows to fit each customer's operational data and logic.
- Build internal and external tooling to help future FDEs and customers onboard faster and more independently.
- Lead customer calls-including kickoffs, progress updates, and training-across SMB, mid-market, and enterprise accounts, with up to 30% travel for enterprise customers globally.
Key requirements- 3-7 years of experience in forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, implementation engineering, or another customer-facing technical deployment role.
- Experience at an early-stage startup owning the full customer deployment lifecycle: onboarding, project management, and technical implementation.
- Strong project management skills, with a demonstrated ability to juggle multiple concurrent customer deployments without dropping balls.
- Deeply embedded in AI tools and agents in your day-to-day work. You should be actively automating your own workflows and building tooling, not just aware of the space.
- Technically credible: able to read, write, and troubleshoot basic Python or TypeScript and understand APIs and data flows.
- Comfortable translating messy real-world workflows into automations and working directly with non-technical end users.
- Demonstrated interest or experience in operationally complex industries such as commodities or logistics.
- Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate, able to work from the office four days per week, and willing to travel internationally up to 30%.
Role details- Employment: Full-time
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Work policy: Hybrid, four days per week in the San Francisco office
- Base salary: $150K-$250K
- Equity: 0.25%-0.75%
- Visa sponsorship: Not available for this role
- Travel: Up to 30%, including international travel across the US, Europe, and Asia
- Reports to: Daniel Cervoni, Co-founder and Head of Engineering
- Tech stack: Python, TypeScript, LLMs, and AI agents
Interview process- Initial screen (30 minutes): A conversation with Daniel to discuss your background, communication skills, interest in AI and startups, and fit for the role.
- Technical interview (30-40 minutes): A live CoderPad session in vanilla Python or TypeScript. You'll solve an unfamiliar practical business problem by writing two functions. No AI assistance is allowed; the focus is practical engineering judgment rather than LeetCode-style algorithms.
- Business role play (one hour, with one hour of preparation): Review a customer use case, then host a simulated customer kickoff. This evaluates structured communication, project management, and your ability to work with non-technical stakeholders.
- On-site interview (approximately 3-4 hours): A product session, two business case studies, and a one-on-one conversation with CEO Philip Koenig.
- CEO interview (30 minutes): A final one-on-one conversation with the CEO.
