Forward Deployed Engineer

Job description

DEPARTMENT Engineering LOCATION Minneapolis, MN (Hybrid) TYPE Full time REPORTS TO CTO THE ROLE Enterprises come to Blank Metal to get production AI live. That work is led by senior people who can sit across from a client's executives, diagnose the real problem, and then go build the thing that fixes it. As a Forward Deployed Engineer you'll turn advisory conversations into shipped software, closing the gap between a promising demo and a system that runs in production, where most enterprise AI initiatives stall. You embed with a client, earn trust at the executive level, and stay hands-on from the first scoping session through the live deployment. You are equal parts technical leader and trusted advisor: you shape what gets built, you build it with a lean team of AI engineers, and you own whether it actually works in production. The playbook for this practice is still being written, and you will write a lot of it: how we embed, how we prove value, and what we bring back from each engagement. Forward deployed means what it says. Expect roughly 25 to 40% travel to client sites, heavier during kickoffs and go-lives. The rest of the time you work wherever you work best. This is a senior, high-autonomy role with real ownership: you carry a small number of accounts deeply, and you are measured on outcomes clients can see. WHAT YOU GET TO DO Set the conditions - Partner with client executives to find the highest-value AI opportunity, then frame it in the client's own language - Lead scoping and proof of concept work that de-risks the build before a full engagement starts - Shape the technical approach and scope alongside our growth team; they own the close, you make sure what's promised is what can actually be built Build it for real - Deploy alongside a lean team of AI engineers and own the architecture, the hard calls, and the code that ships - Deliver the concrete artifacts clients run in production: MCP servers, sub-agents, agent skills, and the pipelines around them - Work across the full stack and the model layer - Navigate real enterprise environments: the client's IT systems, security constraints, and the stakeholders who own them Own the outcome - Stand behind results with observability and evals the client can check for themselves - Win over the people who use the system day to day; a deployment succeeds when they rely on it - Carry accounts end-to-end: some weeks are executive workshops, some weeks are debugging and agentic orchestration - Bring patterns back to the team so the next engagement starts further ahead WHAT WILL HELP YOU SUCCEED - Typically 7+ years building and shipping software, including real time as a technical leader who executives actually trusted - A track record of owning production systems end-to-end, from first commit through live operation - You have shipped LLM-powered systems to production: agents, retrieval, evals, and the judgment to know when each is the wrong tool - Strong hands-on skills in Python and TypeScript or JavaScript, and comfort picking up whatever the client's stack demands - You have built or maintained eval frameworks that showed whether a system actually worked - You can hold your own with a CTO in the morning and be in the codebase in the afternoon - At home with ambiguity and a small team: you would rather figure it out than wait for a playbook - A straightforward communicator who explains hard technical calls in plain language - Low ego, high cooperation: you balance competing priorities with integrity and make the people around you better - You have been a founder, CTO, or first engineer building a product or startup and know what it costs to get something live. - Bonus: depth in healthcare or private equity, where much of our current work lives If this role sounds like you but you don't check every box, apply anyway. We care more about what you've shipped than how the resume reads. WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT HERE - Build AI that ships - Shape the practice: the way Blank Metal does forward deployment will carry your fingerprints - Craft meets velocity: we obsess over quality while delivering at startup speed - Outcome-driven model: our work aligns with client success, not billable hours - AI-native culture: you'll work with peers who deeply understand modern AI's potential and limits - Real collaboration: open conversations, shared ownership, and space to bring your voice COMPENSATION & BENEFITS This role pays a base salary commensurate with experience, plus a revenue-based variable comp structure tied to the accounts you carry: when your clients win and the company grows, your comp grows with it. We offer comprehensive health coverage, 401(k) with match, flexible time off, flexible work arrangements, and support for professional development. ABOUT BLANK METAL Blank Metal is an AI-native engineering company that partners with enterprises to deliver production AI fast. We blend strategic insight with hands-on execution, shipping high-impact systems that turn AI initiatives into measurable business results. We're builders, not theorists. Our team of seasoned engineers, designers, and strategists work across industries to create AI applications that actually get used and make a difference. Blank Metal is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all backgrounds and perspectives. Diversity makes our work better and our team stronger.