Forward Deployed Engineer

Baseten

$120K — $150K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field.
  • 1+ years professional experience in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
  • Experience with general-purpose programming languages, preferably Python, in a production-level setting.
  • Familiarity with AI/ML pipelines and model deployment.
  • Strong communication skills, especially on complex technical topics.
  • Experience building or optimizing AI/ML projects is highly valued.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain software systems and features using a general-purpose programming language, favoring Python.
  • Drive customer impact by designing, implementing, and deploying Baseten solutions end-to-end.
  • Convert vague objectives into clear specifications and well-defined proof-of-concepts to accelerate delivery.
  • Optimize and enhance AI/ML projects in collaboration with other engineering and product teams.
  • Own products and customer projects as both an engineer and project manager, with a user-centric approach.
  • Navigate ambiguity and make informed trade-offs on problem-solving tools.
  • Exhibit ownership and accountability for your work and expect the same from your teammates.

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation, including meaningful equity.
  • Full coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and dependents.
  • Generous PTO policy, including company-wide Winter Break from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day.
  • Paid parental leave.
  • Company-facilitated 401(k).
  • Exposure to various ML startups for unparalleled learning and networking.
Full Job Description
ABOUT BASETEN

Baseten powers mission-critical inference for the world's most dynamic AI companies, like Cursor, Notion, OpenEvidence, Abridge, Clay, Gamma and Writer. By uniting applied AI research, flexible infrastructure, and seamless developer tooling, we enable companies operating at the frontier of AI to bring cutting-edge models into production. We're growing quickly and recently raised our $150M Series D, backed by investors including BOND, IVP, Spark Capital, Greylock, and Conviction. Join us and help build the platform engineers turn to to ship AI products.

THE ROLE

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at Baseten, you will partner directly with customers to architect, build, and deploy high-scale production AI applications on Baseten's platform. You'll own the journey with customers from initial exploration to production deployment, translating ambiguous business goals into reliable, observable services with clear quality, latency, and cost outcomes.

This role is a great fit for entrepreneurial engineers who want a front-row view into how modern companies adopt AI at scale and who enjoy working across product, software development, performance engineering, and customer-facing implementations.

To be clear, this is an engineering role with hands-on coding and software development that also includes aspects of product management, technical customer success, and pre-sales solution engineering mixed in.

EXAMPLE INITIATIVES

Take a look at these blog posts written by members of our Forward Deployed Engineering team:
  • Forward Deployed Engineering on the frontier of AI
  • The fastest, most accurate Whisper transcription
  • Deploy production-ready model servers from Docker images
  • Deploy custom ComfyUI workflows as APIs


RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Develop and maintain software systems and product features using one or more general-purpose programming languages in a production-level environment, with a preference for Python due to its relevance in ML projects.
  • Drive customer impact by designing, implementing, and deploying Baseten solutions end-to-end (problem framing → evaluation → production deployment → monitoring). This involves working with customers' engineering teams at every stage of the customer journey including: sales, implementation, and expansion.
  • Deliver with velocity: turn vague objectives into clear specs and well-defined PoCs so we can rapidly ship well-tested services and outcomes for our customers
  • Optimize and enhance AI/ML projects, contributing to the continuous improvement of our technical stack. This includes developing features and PRDs with other engineering and product orgs.
  • Own products and customer projects end-to-end, functioning as both an engineer, project manager, and product manager, with a focus on user empathy, project specification, and end-to-end execution.
  • Navigate ambiguity and exercise good judgment on tradeoffs and tools needed to solve problems, avoiding unnecessary complexity.
  • Demonstrate pride, ownership, and accountability for your work, expecting the same from your teammates.

REQUIREMENTS
  • Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field.
  • 1+ years of professional work experience in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
  • Demonstrated experience with one or more general-purpose programming languages in a production-level environment, with a strong preference for Python.
  • Familiarity with AI/ML pipelines and the lifecycle of ML model development and deployment.
  • Strong communication skills, particularly on complex technical topics.
  • Experience in building or optimizing AI/ML projects is highly valued.


BENEFITS
  • Competitive compensation, including meaningful equity.
  • 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employee and dependents
  • Generous PTO policy including company wide Winter Break (our offices are closed from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day!)
  • Paid parental leave
  • Company-facilitated 401(k)
  • Exposure to a variety of ML startups, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities.

Apply now to embark on a rewarding journey in shaping the future of AI! If you are a motivated individual with a passion for machine learning and a desire to be part of a collaborative and forward-thinking team, we would love to hear from you.

At Baseten, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.

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