Forward Deployed Engineer
Raydar
Forward Deployed Engineer
Raydar
AI-powered recruiting agency for tech roles
Raydar · New York, United States · Full-time · Posted 2026-08-14
Salary: USD 200,000–300,000
Workplace: on_site
Our client is a Lightspeed-backed AI holding company modernizing the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. The company acquires profitable engineering firms and embeds software teams directly with their operators to identify high-leverage workflows and ship applied-AI products. It has raised a $5M seed round, has $100M in acquisition capital, and is building a small, founder-minded team in New York.
You will embed directly inside acquired engineering firms and own the complete arc from customer discovery to production deployment. This is a true forward-deployed engineering role: you will build software, develop trusted operator relationships, make product decisions from noisy feedback, and turn one firm's successful workflows into reusable platform capabilities.
You will work on-site with acquired firms, own discovery through production iteration, build full-stack applied-AI products, lead working sessions with non-technical users, and mentor junior engineers.
5+ years of full-stack product-engineering experience, including genuine customer-facing or forward-deployed ownership. Demonstrated ability to own discovery, build, deployment, and iteration end to end with real users. Strong product judgment and the ability to translate ambiguous operator pain into clear build decisions without detailed specifications. Production experience with LLMs, RAG, agent frameworks, document parsing, or adjacent applied-AI systems. Excellent English communication. Experience as a founder, founding engineer, early engineer at a Seed-to-Series-C startup, or an FDE is especially relevant. Willingness to travel Monday through Thursday, two to three weeks per month, during the first 100 days after an acquisition.
$200K-$300K base salary. 0.1%-0.75% non-dilutive profit interests with anti-dilution protection at platform acquisitions. Full-time and on-site five days per week in SoHo, New York City, with frequent acquisition-related travel. Visa sponsorship and transfers, including OPT, H-1B, and TN, may be considered.
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Raydar is an AI-powered talent acquisition firm that serves tech-focused organizations on a contingency basis, charging client companies only after a successful hire. It uses proprietary AI to identify a large pool of candidates and conducts a short 15-minute AI-driven interview (recorded and transcribed) before human recruiters review materials, provide interview prep, and assist with offers and negotiations. What sets it apart is the blend of automated sourcing and screening with hands-on human oversight and tailored client support. Its goal is to help organizations hire more efficiently by speeding up sourcing while maintaining thorough evaluation and negotiation assistance.
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