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Director of Forward Deployed Engineering

Chalk

Skills

Required

  • Python
  • SQL
  • customer architectures
  • data infrastructure
  • ML

Preferred

  • pilots

Join Chalk, a fast-growing startup at the intersection of technology and various industries. As the Director of Forward Deployed Engineering, you will lead a team of exceptional software engineers, define the strategy for customer engagement, and shape the future of the FDE function. You will work closely with the founders, sales, and engineering leadership, and serve as a technical counterpart to customer leadership at our largest accounts.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and define the strategy for the Forward Deployed Engineering team, ensuring alignment with company goals and customer needs.
  • Develop and implement processes and playbooks that enable the team to scale effectively, from pre-sales pilots through onboarding and support.
  • Collaborate closely with Sales, Engineering, and other stakeholders to drive technical pilots, evaluations, and the technical strategy behind important deals.
  • Experience across both pre-sales and post-sales complex enterprise motions: technical pilots and evaluations as well as onboarding, support, and account expansion
  • Proven ability to hire, develop, and retain exceptional engineers, including senior ICs
  • Experience building the processes and playbooks that let a customer-facing engineering team scale

Requirements

  • Strong hands-on technical skills — proficient in Python and SQL, comfortable going deep on customer architectures and data infrastructure
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent
  • Executive-level communicator who can bridge technical, business, and customer contexts

Previous experience at an early-stage, high-growth startup

  • 10+ years of engineering experience with 3+ years leading customer-facing engineering teams (forward deployed, solutions architecture, field engineering, or similar)
  • Experience building production ML systems, ML infrastructure, or data platforms
  • Previous experience as a forward deployed engineer or FDE leader at a high-growth startup

Preferred

  • Experience scaling a customer-facing engineering function from single-digit to multi-team
  • Experience working with enterprise customers in regulated industries (fintech, healthcare)

Pay

USD 300,000 - 350,000