Engineer senior

Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

£100,000-£200,000 + equity

✈️ ~25% travel

UK-based

We're partnered with an ambitious, well-backed AI company building technology that's already being deployed into some of the most demanding, high-stakes environments in the world.

You'll be one of the first Forward Deployed Engineer. Fully embedded with customers in high-stakes, mission-critical environments, turning their hardest problems into software that ships. One day you're deep in the codebase; the next you're on-site translating a frontline need into a working build. You own it end-to-end: scope, build, integrate, debug, ship.

It’s the perfect opportunity to have real, tangible impact at your speed, no waiting around!

How the role actually works

You get real access, not read-only APIs. You'll work directly with the systems and data that matter, own builds from blank page to production, and carry what you learn in the field straight back into the roadmap. As a founding hire, you're not slotting into a process, you're defining what the FDE function becomes, writing the playbook as it comes.

What you'll do

Embed with customers and ship solutions to their hardest problems. Take AI from proof-of-concept to live production where the stakes are real. Be the technical bridge between the engineering team and the people relying on the product. Not just building the MVP but working e2e, seeing the product to fruition and owning the customer side of the process. As a founding hire in this area, you’ll help shape the playbook the next 10 FDEs will run on.

What we're looking for (the bar)

This role leads with engineering. You write and ship production-grade code with no one holding your hand. On top of that, you're genuinely strong on the customer side. You can earn trust with a frontline user and a C-suite in the same day. You don't need to be world-class at both; you need to be world-class at building and excellent in the room. Comfort with ambiguity and fast context-switching is essential.

Why it's different

Founding ownership, real equity, and a front-row seat to a company scaling fast in one of the most demanding AI markets there is. The network and growth ceiling here is rare.

Process:

• short intro call,
• Tech chat/review
• a practical build exercise (real live problem),
• and a conversation with the founding team

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