Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

Description:

A YC-backed Security startup is looking for a Founding Forward Deployed Engineer to join the team at a pivotal stage of growth.

They’re building AI-native products for institutions and moving from early traction into scale. As one of the earliest engineering hires, you’ll sit at the intersection of engineering, product, and customers — helping translate complex real-world problems into elegant technical solutions.

This is a role for people who enjoy speed, ownership, and solving difficult problems in environments with very little structure and very high ambition.

The role

• Work directly with customers to understand requirements and deliver technical solutions at pace
• Build production-grade systems and features that create immediate customer value
• Deploy, iterate, and continuously improve implementations based on feedback
• Partner closely with founders on product direction and technical decisions
• Help establish engineering processes and shape how the team scales
• Own outcomes, not just tickets

Who they’re looking for

• Exceptional software engineers with strong technical fundamentals
• Experience at a high-calibre startup or leading technology company preferred
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and taking initiative
• Strong product instinct and ability to work closely with end users
• Bias toward action and shipping
• Excited by joining early and helping build something from first principles

You’ll do well here if you…

• Prefer building over discussing
• Enjoy high autonomy and high accountability
• Like solving new problems rather than maintaining legacy systems
• Want close proximity to customers and business impact
• Are energised by ambitious teams and fast execution cycles

Why join?

• Early ownership with meaningful technical influence
• Direct access to founders and strategic decisions
• Opportunity to shape an AI product from early scale through growth
• Collaborative, highly driven team environment
• Competitive compensation and meaningful upside