Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
Forward Deployed Engineering has become a distinctive pattern in modern SaaS, especially where AI capabilities need to be proven in real customer workflows before they can be reliably productised. This role stands out because it sits at the intersection of prototyping, deployment, and product shaping, with direct engagement across enterprise stakeholders and close alignment with founders and AI product leadership.
For a SaaS career, the long-term value is the repeated exposure to the full loop from discovery to measurable outcomes to generalisation into the core platform. Work like integrating with ERPs and ecommerce systems, instrumenting feedback loops, and turning one-off solutions into reusable modules builds a strong foundation in multi-tenant thinking, implementation discipline, and the practical constraints that separate demos from durable SaaS features.
This position is best suited to an engineer who prefers ambiguous problem spaces, enjoys translating business context into working software, and is comfortable being customer-facing without becoming purely pre-sales. It will also fit someone who wants high-visibility ownership and can collaborate across time zones while maintaining clear technical judgement under changing requirements.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
The Role:
As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will partner closely with our founders and the AI Product Managers to prototype and deploy AI‑driven solutions that solve our customers’ most pressing problems. This is a founding engineering role with high visibility; you will report directly to our Head of AI Strategy and Outcomes. You will also partner with other members of the executive leadership team who are based at our Mountain View HQ, collaborate with our Bangalore‑based engineering team, and engage daily with enterprise customers. You will help define how we work with our most important customers, shape the company’s first ever forward deployed engineering function, and contribute to our mission of helping brands win in AI‑driven e-commerce.
Location / Travel:
This position is on-site in Hoboken, New Jersey with approximately 50% travel expected to client locations. We are only considering candidates located in the tri-state area at this time.
What You'll Do:
- Build prototypes with customers: Work alongside our AI Product Manager to understand real‑world problems, rapidly scope use cases and create working prototypes. You’ll engage in hands-on discovery and convert insights into functional demos for prospective and existing customers.
- Integrate data and create new AI agents: Ingest data from disparate sources (ERPs, ecommerce platforms, custom APIs) and build agents that solve the specific use cases uncovered during discovery. This includes turning edge‑case business rules into runtime‑editable settings rather than hard‑coded logic.
- Own AI outcomes: Lead customer‑facing demonstrations and proof‑of‑concepts. You’ll instrument and tune models using production feedback loops to ensure prototypes deliver measurable outcomes.
- Rapidly iterate & generalize: Collaborate with engineering teams in Bangalore to transform prototypes into robust features. Your work will be implemented into our core product - patterns that succeed in one deployment (custom adapters, monitoring dashboards) should be packaged as reusable modules.
- Own the full lifecycle: Support engagements from pre‑sales scoping through post‑deployment refinement. You’ll help to negotiate scope, push back on unreasonable asks, and ensure long‑term customer success. Additionally, you’ll act as the technical liaison between customers, product managers, and engineering.
- Cultivate customer relationships: Develop deep empathy for our customers’ business drivers and serve as their advocate. Use clear, engaging communication to convey technical concepts to non‑technical stakeholders, build trust and handle high‑stakes conversations.
What You'll Bring:
- Experienced engineer (4-6 years or more) with a strong foundation in software development (data structures, system design, debugging). Comfortable coding in Python or Java and learning new technologies quickly.
- Full‑stack & data integration skills. Experience connecting to APIs, working with SQL/NoSQL databases, streaming/ETL pipelines and deploying AI/LLM‑based agents.
- Customer‑facing problem solver. You enjoy working directly with external users, conducting discovery, and translating ambiguous requirements into working solutions. You have excellent communication skills and the ability to simplify complex technical topics.
- Rapid prototyper. You are biased towards action and are comfortable delivering minimal‑viable solutions, collecting feedback and iterating quickly.
- Collaborative & global. You’re effective working across time zones with leadership in California and engineering in Bangalore. You embrace CommerceIQ’s leadership principles of ownership, deep diving into details, getting stuff done, thinking from first principles and winning as a team.
- Independent & adaptable. You thrive in ambiguity, can manage your own backlog and priorities, and are motivated by the opportunity to create a new function.
- Bachelor's degree, in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field
Nice to Haves:
- Prior experience in a forward‑deployed, solutions engineering or customer implementation role. Candidates coming from companies known for forward‑deployed engineering (e.g., Palantir, Scale AI, Ramp, etc.) are strongly encouraged to apply.
- Familiarity with e-commerce, retail, supply‑chain or ad‑tech data.
- Exposure to large‑language‑model applications (fine‑tuning, prompt engineering, building retrieval‑augmented generation workflows).
Compensation and Benefits:
The typical base pay range for this role across the US is USD: $199,100 - $270,300/per year. In addition to salary, there is a 15%-20% annual cash bonus, along with an equity package provided as high potential pre-IPO stock options.
This base pay range may be inclusive of several career levels at CommerceIQ and will be narrowed based on a number of factors including the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and location.
Base salary is just one part of your total rewards package at CommerceIQ. You may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of company stock options, as well as potential discretionary bonuses. You will also receive access to:
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage
- A 401(k)-retirement plan
- Short & long-term disability insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid parental leave
- Monthly reimbursements for gym, phone, and internet
- 10+ paid company holidays in each calendar year, quarterly Global Recharge Fridays, and unlimited PTO
Check out our LinkedIn page to learn more about what it’s like to work at CommerceIQ!
