About the roleManifold is hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDEs) to work at the intersection of AI, data infrastructure, and life sciences. In this high-impact role, you will embed directly with leading research institutions, biopharma companies, and life sciences organizations to drive adoption, implementation, and expansion of Manifold's AI platform.
As an FDE, you'll work closely with both Product and GTM teams, combining technical expertise with customer-facing skills to build innovative solutions that accelerate complex scientific workflows. We expect our FDEs to operate autonomously, thrive under ambiguity, and represent Manifold at the highest level in customer environments. Working at the intersection of AI and life sciences, you'll not only play a key role in Manifold's success but also help our customers bring life-changing medicines to patients faster.
What You'll Do- Embed directly with Manifold customers to understand their research environments and workflows
- Support Terra.bio and its user migration to the Manifold platform, serving as a technical bridge between existing Terra workflows and Manifold's new infrastructure
- Scope and architect end-to-end solutions leveraging Manifold's AI platform to solve customers' most pressing problems
- Drive rapid time-to-value by ensuring fast onboarding, successful pilots, and clear paths to platform adoption
- Develop and deliver technical artifacts purpose-built for customers: Data pipelines, agent configuration, process automation, and domain-specific tooling
- Troubleshoot complex issues across infrastructure, data, and application layers
- Identify repeatable patterns, playbooks, and tooling that accelerate future deployments
- Collaborate with the core platform team to inform product roadmaps
- Stay current regarding AI industry advancements and life sciences infrastructure
What You'll Bring- A full-stack generalist with 5+ years of experience in a technical customer-facing role who thrives in ambiguity and is energized by working directly with life science researchers
- Comfort navigating complex technical environments, including cloud infrastructure, data warehouses, APIs, and diverse data formats common in life sciences and healthcare
- Hands-on experience building and deploying data pipelines, custom integrations, and AI-powered applications, ideally in complex enterprise or research environments
- Able to collaborate with diverse stakeholders, from bench scientists to C-suite executives
- High agency with a bias towards speed, pragmatism, and ownership; You've built AI into how you work. You're curious about new tools, resourceful in applying them, and have concrete examples of how AI changed your output.
- A genuine interest in life sciences, oncology, and healthcare; You've done your homework on what it means to accelerate life sciences research and you can articulate why that mission matters to you.
- Hands-on Java, JavaScript, Scala, Python, SQL, Snowflake, dbt, and Airflow experience
- Experience with cloud environments (AWS, GCP) and infrastructure-as-code patterns; Experience working in regulated data environments
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field
- Willing to travel to customer sites as needed (estimated 20%)
What Sets You Apart- Proficiency with Claude Code, Cursor, or equivalent agentic development practices
- Prompt engineering, agent development, and eval experience
- Prior experience in life sciences, biopharma, or the healthcare data industry
- Previous experience directly supporting Terra.bio
Salary RangeThe base salary range for this position is $150,000-$210,000 annually.
- Please note: Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including prior experience and expertise, and may vary from the amount above. This range does not represent additional compensation benefits (such as equity, 401K match or medical, dental or vision insurance).
