Forward Deployed Engineer

New York City, NY · San Francisco, CA · On-site (in-hub) · Full-time Compensation: $115,000–$175,000 + founding-hire equity (competitive)

About the Company

Our client helps law enforcement search evidence and solve crime — police and prosecutors across the US use it to accelerate investigations into homicides, cold cases, and other major offenses by cutting through digital evidence overload. The founding team includes engineers who have built national-scale government systems before. There are roughly 10 active customer deployments today, with a path to 25–40 over the next nine months.

Founded 2025 · 1–10 people (Seed) · Industry: Public safety / law-enforcement AI

The Role

Own customer outcomes end to end as a Forward Deployed Engineer: scope pilots, ingest messy evidentiary data, configure the product per-agency, write scripts and integrations when the product doesn't quite fit, and sit with detectives and prosecutors while they work cases — feeding learnings straight into the roadmap. A typical engagement runs from a 2–6 week pilot to an annual contract to in-agency expansion. Time split is roughly 60% customer-facing, 30% building/scripting/configuring, and the rest on internal work.

Tech stack: Python and/or TypeScript; APIs; data pipelines.

Requirements

• A strong engineer: Python and/or TypeScript, APIs, data pipelines
• Customer-facing comfort (a sheriff's bullpen, a DA's office)
• An owner mindset, bias to action, and tolerance for ambiguity
• Mission-aligned with public safety
• FBI background check and CJIS clearance required

Nice to Haves

• Prior FDE, solutions-engineering, or implementation-engineering work selling into non-tech-native customers (a Palantir FDE background is the canonical archetype)
• Exposure to law enforcement, prosecution, intelligence, defense, or e-discovery/forensics through past work, military background, or family connection
• Engineering depth: shipped Python or TypeScript that processed real data pipelines in production, and can ship small tools without an engineering handoff
• A demonstrated customer-facing track record, comfortable on agency floors, not just on Zoom
• A mission-aligned public-safety stance, treating law-enforcement customers as the users they are

Why Join

• Founding-hire ownership: meaningful founding-level equity, 4-year vest, 1-year cliff
• End-to-end scope: own the customer relationship from pilot through first renewal and expansion, not a hand-off role
• Serious mission and pedigree: real public-safety impact, built by engineers who have shipped national-scale systems
• Real traction: ~10 live deployments today, scaling to 25–40 within nine months

Details

• Location — New York City, NY · San Francisco, CA
• Work policy — On-site (in-hub)
• Compensation — $115,000–$175,000 + founding-hire equity (competitive)
• Visa sponsorship — Not available
• Employment type — Full-time