Forward Deployed Engineer

FourKites•Chicago, IL

3d•$80,000 - $110,000

About The Position

At FourKites we have the opportunity to tackle complex challenges with real-world impacts. Whether it’s medical supplies from Cardinal Health or groceries for Walmart, the FourKites platform helps customers operate global supply chains that are efficient, agile and sustainable. Join a team of curious problem solvers that celebrates differences, leads with empathy and values inclusivity. As a Forward Deployment Engineer, you sit at the intersection of software engineering and customer impact. You build and deploy AI-powered integration and agentic workflow solutions directly with enterprise customers — from the first technical discovery conversation through post-launch enhancements. You are the engineer in the room who hears a customer problem and builds the solution. Speed matters here — the ability to write optimized, production-grade code fast and deploy it to customers without long feedback cycles is what makes the FDE function valuable. Strong data structures and algorithms fundamentals and an innovative, non-obvious approach to problem solving are core to what we look for. AI fluency — building agentic workflows and using LLMs as a daily engineering tool — is a baseline expectation for everyone on this team, not a specialization. About the team: At FourKites, our teams solve complex, high-impact problems that move the world’s supply chains—from delivering critical medical supplies to keeping grocery shelves stocked. We’re a group of curious, customer-obsessed problem solvers who value empathy, inclusivity, and diverse perspectives. Working closely with Fortune 100 customers, our teams sit at the intersection of cutting-edge AI and real-world enterprise systems to build solutions that are practical, scalable, and transformative.

Requirements

0–4 years of software engineering experience — what matters more than tenure is the depth and quality of what you have built
Strong proficiency in Java (required) — writes clean, optimized, production-grade code with proper error handling, test coverage, and clear design thinking from day one
Strong foundations in data structures and algorithms — able to reason about time and space complexity, choose the right data structures for the problem, and write code that performs at scale without being told how
Strong software design instincts — designs integration solutions that are modular, maintainable, and built to evolve; doesn't just write code that works today, writes code that holds up over time
Writes code at speed without sacrificing quality — can take a customer requirement from problem statement to working, deployed solution faster than traditional development cycles allow; this is a core expectation, not a nice-to-have
Innovative problem solver — approaches integration and AI workflow challenges with genuine curiosity, finds non-obvious solutions, and doesn't default to the first approach that comes to mind
Proficient in REST APIs, HTTP/HTTPS, SFTP, and core data formats — XML, EDI, JSON, flat files — can read, write, and transform all of them
Working knowledge of enterprise integration patterns and how to apply them in distributed, multi-tenant systems
Solid working understanding of LLMs, prompt engineering, and agentic workflow design — hands-on, not theoretical
Uses Claude, OpenAI, or equivalent LLMs across the full workflow — requirements documentation, integration design, code generation, debugging, testing and deployment; not just as a coding assistant but as a core engineering tool
Familiar with agentic frameworks such as LangGraph or LangChain and has built or configured at least one AI workflow in production or a meaningful side project
Understands authentication patterns: OAuth 2.0, API keys, basic auth, token lifecycle management
Comfortable on customer calls — communicates technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Able to deploy agentic workflows live with customers present, handling configuration and troubleshooting in the moment

Nice To Haves

Experience in supply chain, logistics, transportation, or B2B SaaS platforms is a strong plus
Familiarity with enterprise integration patterns and the ability to select the right approach for a given business and technical scenario
Familiarity with EDI standards, carrier integrations, TMS/WMS systems, and supply chain data flows
SQL proficiency — Snowflake experience is a plus
Experience with low-code/no-code workflow automation platforms such as Pipedream, n8n, Temporal, or equivalent
Proficient with Lucidchart, Miro, draw.io, or similar tools to document and communicate integration designs visually — the ability to make a complex data flow readable to a customer or a non-technical stakeholder matters as much as the build itself
Experience working with enterprise customers in a post-sales, implementation, or technical account role
Familiarity with webhook and callback delivery architecture

Responsibilities

Build and deploy integration solutions — EDI (214, 315), callbacks, custom payload mapping, and API integrations — with production-grade quality and full test coverage
Deploy agentic AI workflows that orchestrate supply chain operations live with customers present — configuring and deploying in the call, not gathering requirements to build later
Write and extend LangGraph-based workflow extensions and wrapped action customizations in Agent Studio
Use Claude, OpenAI, and other LLMs across the entire workflow — requirements documentation, integration design, code generation, testing and deployment; LLMs are not a convenience tool, they are how this team works
Participate in customer discovery and technical clarification calls — answering complex technical and product questions with concrete, innovative solutions in real time
Write thorough root cause analyses for integration failures and own the fix through to resolution
Perform code reviews on integration and AI workflow work and maintain the team's quality standards before any customer deployment
Contribute to the team's reusable integration package and AI workflow template library as you build
Mentor incoming FDEs — pair on hard problems, accelerate their ramp-up, and share institutional knowledge
Collaborate with Implementation Managers, Customer Success Managers, Solutions Consultants, Product Managers, and Engineering to deliver seamless customer outcomes