Forward Deployed Engineer

Job description

ABOUT SPEAKEASY AI is moving from chat interfaces to operational systems. Across enterprises, AI agents are connecting to internal systems, using APIs, accessing data, and taking actions on behalf of employees. But while AI adoption is accelerating, governance, visibility, and control have not kept pace. Speakeasy is building the Enterprise AI Control Plane. We help organizations securely connect AI systems to their APIs, tools, and internal infrastructure while providing the identity, governance, permissions, auditability, and observability required to operate AI at scale. Our customers include companies like Mistral, Verizon, Cisco, Vercel, Redis, Glean, LaunchDarkly, PlanetScale, and Docusign. We are backed by Google Ventures, FPV, and Quiet Capital. Today, hundreds of companies rely on Speakeasy infrastructure across API platforms, MCP deployments, and enterprise AI systems. We’re a highly technical team based across San Francisco and London, building at the intersection of AI, infrastructure, security, developer platforms, and enterprise software. THE ROLE Forward Deployed Engineers sit at the center of our customers, product, and engineering teams. You will work directly with engineering leaders, platform teams, security teams, and AI initiatives at some of the most sophisticated companies deploying AI today. This is not a traditional solutions engineering role. You’ll operate across pre-sales, deployment, product feedback, and engineering, acting as the technical bridge between our customers and our platform. You will partner closely with customers from initial evaluation through production deployment. You’ll lead technical discovery, design integrations, solve architecture challenges, build proofs-of-concept, influence product direction, and help define how enterprises securely adopt AI agents and MCP infrastructure. One week you may be helping a customer connect internal APIs to AI systems. The next week you may be designing access control models, debugging identity flows, implementing MCP governance, or working with our product team on entirely new capabilities driven by customer feedback. You will often be the technical face of Speakeasy and one of the first people customers trust with mission-critical AI initiatives. WHAT YOU’LL DO DRIVE TECHNICAL SALES - Partner with Account Executives on strategic customer opportunities - Lead technical discovery and architecture conversations with prospective customers - Design and deliver demos, proofs-of-concept, and pilot implementations - Help customers evaluate how Speakeasy fits into their AI, security, and infrastructure strategy - Translate customer requirements into deployment plans and product feedback - Serve as the technical owner for complex opportunities from evaluation through production rollout DEPLOY AND INTEGRATE - Lead customer implementations of the Speakeasy AI Control Plane - Design integrations with APIs, MCP servers, SaaS platforms, identity providers, and internal systems - Build prototypes, proofs-of-concept, and deployment architectures - Troubleshoot complex technical issues across customer environments PARTNER WITH CUSTOMERS - Act as a trusted technical advisor to engineering, platform, security, and AI teams - Translate customer requirements into technical solutions - Guide customers through architecture decisions and implementation tradeoffs - Drive successful production rollouts and long-term adoption - Build strong relationships with engineering leaders, platform teams, security teams, and AI stakeholders SHAPE THE PRODUCT - Identify patterns across customer deployments - Influence product roadmap and prioritization - Work directly with engineering to improve platform capabilities - Create reusable deployment patterns, documentation, and best practices BUILD - Write production-quality code when needed - Build internal tooling and deployment accelerators - Create reference implementations and demos - Prototype new product ideas alongside customers WHO YOU ARE Successful candidates often come from backgrounds such as: - Founding Engineer - Forward Deployed Engineer - Solutions Engineer - Platform Engineer - Infrastructure Engineer - Technical Founder You are comfortable moving between code, architecture discussions, customer conversations, and product strategy. WE ARE PARTICULARLY EXCITED IF YOU: - Have 5+ years of software engineering experience - Have built or deployed APIs, developer platforms, infrastructure products, or security systems - Have experience working directly with customers in technical environments - Can quickly understand unfamiliar systems and navigate ambiguity - Enjoy solving open-ended problems with incomplete information - Have strong communication skills and can explain complex technical concepts clearly - Care deeply about customer outcomes BONUS POINTS - AI agent, MCP, or LLM application experience - Identity and access management experience - Security, governance, or compliance background - Experience with enterprise software deployments - Startup or founding-team experience WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE Within your first 6 months, you will: - Become a trusted technical advisor to both prospective and existing customers - Independently lead technical evaluations, pilots, and enterprise deployments - Help customers securely deploy AI agents, MCP servers, and internal tools at scale - Identify product gaps and influence the roadmap through direct customer engagement - Establish best practices for enterprise AI governance and agent infrastructure - Drive meaningful customer outcomes that directly impact company growth and adoption WHY SPEAKEASY We’re building infrastructure for one of the most important transitions happening in software. As AI systems evolve from chat interfaces into operational agents, every company will need governance, visibility, identity, and control over how those systems interact with the world. We believe the Enterprise AI Control Plane becomes a foundational layer of modern infrastructure. Joining now means helping define that category from the beginning. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS - $180,000-$230,000 base salary + meaningful equity - Medical, dental, and vision coverage - 401(k) - Flexible PTO - Regular company offsites - Offices in San Francisco and London - Small team, high ownership, significant impact