About the Role

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

Requirements
Experience & Background

• 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

Programming & Development

• 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)

Cloud & Data Ecosystem

• 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

Communication & Problem-Solving

• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to:
• Translate complex technical concepts into business value for customers
• Convert business needs into clear technical requirements for product teams
• Present technical solutions to both engineering and executive stakeholders
• Strong problem-solving skills and comfort operating in ambiguous, high-impact environments
• Ability to mentor customer engineering teams and share technical expertise

Travel & Commitment

• Willingness and ability to travel up to 50%
• Commitment to building deep, long-lasting customer relationships through consistent engagement

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a high-growth, venture-backed, or startup environment
• Prior success influencing product roadmaps based on direct customer engagement
• Background in data modernization, cloud adoption, and AI enablement platforms
• Demonstrated ability to build executive-level relationships with customer stakeholders
• Experience creating reusable frameworks, accelerators, solution templates, or developer tools
• Open source contributions to data streaming, integration, DevOps, or distributed systems projects
• Published technical writing, blog posts, or speaking engagements on distributed systems, data engineering, or cloud architecture
• Track record of building SDKs, APIs, or developer tools
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience)

Technical Impact Areas

In this role, you will work on complex, high-impact technical challenges such as:

• Designing and implementing sub-second latency data pipelines at enterprise scale (100GB+/day throughput)
• Building fault-tolerant, highly available distributed systems across multi-cloud environments
• Optimizing Kubernetes clusters and containerized data workloads for cost and performance
• Creating reusable Java/Python libraries and frameworks to accelerate customer implementations
• Architecting real-time data solutions for digital transformation and AI enablement

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

Compensation

$205,000 - $220,000 USD on an annualized basis. In addition to base pay, this role offers the opportunity to earn variable-based rewards.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and accepted until the position is filled.

Our company culture fosters entrepreneurship and nurtures our team members to grow with the company. Come join a Silicon Valley startup focused on delivering a product that's loved by its customers and primed to be a core part of the cloud data stack.