Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Enterprise AI

HandshakeSan Francisco, CAEngineering

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Opens the official Handshake careers page

Salary

$220K – $300K

Job type

Full-time

Posted

16 Sept 2026

Status

Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

Role Overview

The Senior Forward Deployed Engineer for Enterprise AI at Handshake is a full-time, in-office engineering position based in San Francisco, California. This role suits experienced developers who want to embed with enterprise clients, build production-grade AI agents, and shape the future of the AI economy.

Key Responsibilities

Embed directly with enterprise customers as part of a small deployment team, developing a deep understanding of their business and workflows.

Define AI-driven solutions based on real business needs rather than theoretical use cases.

Build and deploy production-grade agents tailored to specific customer use cases, owning end-to-end delivery.

Design and run evaluations to measure agent performance, iterating until results measurably improve.

Become a domain expert in the customer's vertical and use that expertise to build better AI over time.

Work closely with Product and Platform engineers on the team to ship cohesive and reliable solutions.

Establish engineering best practices, agent patterns, and reusable frameworks to help the forward-deployed team scale output.

Surface insights from deployments to inform the Handshake platform and product roadmap.

Requirements

6+ years of engineering experience, featuring full-stack capabilities with strong backend depth.

Real-world experience building and shipping AI applications in production beyond fine-tuning or prototyping.

Strong understanding of agent architectures, evaluations, and how to systematically improve AI performance.

Comfort working directly with enterprise customers in ambiguous, high-stakes environments.

Strong systems thinking to navigate between macro business problems and micro technical solutions.

High ownership mentality focused on outcomes rather than just outputs.

Strong communication skills to earn the trust of senior stakeholders regularly.

Ability to work 5 days a week in the San Francisco, CA office.

Nice to Have

Background at a company utilizing a forward deployment or field engineering model.

Experience building multi-agent systems in production.

Domain expertise in a specific enterprise vertical such as recruiting, finance, ops, or legal.

Familiarity with enterprise security requirements, VPC deployments, or on-prem configurations.

History of building evaluation infrastructure or AI quality measurement tooling.

Skills and Tools

Full-stack software engineering with backend depth

AI application development and production deployment

Agent architectures and evaluation design

Systems thinking and enterprise client communication

Salary and Benefits

Annual salary ranging from $220,000 to $300,000 USD

Equity in a fast-growing company

401(k) match and competitive compensation

Financial coaching and mental health support

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

$500 wellness stipend

Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, and parental coaching

$2,000 learning stipend for ongoing professional development

Internet and commuting stipends, plus free lunch and gym access in the San Francisco office

Flexible paid time off, 15 holidays, and 2 flex days

Team outings and referral bonuses

About the Company

Handshake was founded on the belief that everyone deserves a path to a great career regardless of background or connections, powering millions of job seekers, employers, and educational institutions. Handshake AI works directly with frontier AI lab researchers to create evaluations, publish benchmarks, and advance data capabilities. The company partners with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners, and top educational institutions while scaling a massive business.

How to Apply

To apply for this position, please visit the official company careers page at joinhandshake.com/careers.

Skills and tech stack

Fine-tuning

Questions candidates ask

What is the location and work arrangement for this role?

This position is located in San Francisco, California, and requires working in the office 5 days a week.

What is the salary range for the Senior Forward Deployed Engineer?

The salary ranges from $220,000 to $300,000 USD per year.

How many years of experience are required?

The role requires 6+ years of engineering experience with strong backend depth and production AI background.

What benefits are provided for full-time US employees?

Benefits include equity, 401(k) match, medical/dental/vision coverage, parental leave, a $500 wellness stipend, a $2,000 learning stipend, flexible PTO, and office perks like free lunch and gym access.

How do I apply for this job?

Candidates can apply directly on the official company careers page at joinhandshake.com/careers.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official Handshake careers page.

Apply on company site