Lyra Tech Group is looking for a Forward Deployed AI Engineer for one of our operating companies. As an FDE, you will work directly inside our clients' businesses - rolling up your sleeves to design, build, and deploy AI-powered solutions that create real operational impact. You won't be sitting behind a desk writing specs; you'll be on-site at small and mid-size businesses diagnosing inefficiencies, earning stakeholder trust, and shipping production-grade AI agents, automated workflows, and engineering solutions that change how these organizations run. This is a hands-on, client-facing engineering role built for someone who is as comfortable presenting to a business owner as they are writing Python. Your work as a Forward Deployment AI Engineer will include several components: • Embed directly with clients to discover operational pain points, map workflows, and identify high-ROI opportunities for AI and automation • Design and build AI agents using frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, or similar - including tool-use, memory, and multi-agent orchestration patterns • Develop AI-powered workflows that integrate with clients' existing systems (CRMs, ERPs, cloud platforms, communication tools, etc.) • Engineer automation solutions across areas such as document processing, data extraction, reporting, customer communication, and internal operations • Own the full delivery lifecycle - from scoping and architecture to build, testing, handoff, and lightweight documentation • Train and enable client teams to maintain and iterate on solutions post-deployment • Serve as a trusted technical advisor, translating complex AI capabilities into clear business value for non-technical stakeholders • Contribute internally by codifying reusable components, playbooks, and delivery templates that scale across the practice Our ideal Forward Deployment AI Engineer has the following qualifications: • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field • Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without employer sponsorship now or in the future • 2+ years of professional experience in software engineering, AI/ML engineering, or a technical consulting role • Working proficiency in Python and familiarity with REST APIs and cloud services • Hands-on experience building with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or similar) • Understanding of prompt engineering, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), and agentic workflow patterns • Ability to work independently in ambiguous, fast-moving client environments • Strong communication skills - you can explain a vector database to a CFO without losing them Preferred • Experience with workflow automation platforms (Zapier, Make, n8n, or similar) • Familiarity with vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma) and embedding pipelines • Exposure to low-code/no-code tools alongside custom-code solutions • Prior client-facing, consulting, or forward-deployed engineering experience • Experience working with SMB clients across industries such as professional services, healthcare, logistics, or retail Who Thrives in This Role You're a builder who gets energy from solving real problems for real people. You're not waiting for perfect requirements - you ask good questions, form a hypothesis, and get something in front of stakeholders fast. You're comfortable being the most technical person in the room for one hour and a junior learner the next. You care about the outcome, not just the code. The targeted base salary range for this role is $120,000-$150,000 per year, depending on experience. You must live within a reasonable commuting distance of the operating company and be willing to travel to client sites as needed.