Forward Deployed Engineer

Runway

6d•$225,000 - $270,000

About The Position

Runway is building AI world models to simulate the world, with the goal of enabling general-purpose simulation and accelerating progress in areas such as storytelling, science, and robotics. Applied AI connects this research to customers and helps the world’s largest studios, brands, and platforms move Runway from a demo into production. The Forward Deployed Engineer owns customer problems rather than accounts. Working with major studios, brands, and Fortune 100 companies, the role identifies what is blocking production and builds solutions such as workflows, plugins, and integrations. Solutions developed for one customer may become reusable products for others. The work spans discovery, prototyping, evaluation, deployment, onboarding, executive and technical presentations, and feeding customer needs back into product development. The role is based at one of Runway’s offices in NYC, San Francisco, Seattle, or London, with travel to customer meetings expected.

Requirements

Build production-running solutions using Python or TypeScript, APIs, integrations, and data pipelines.
Be able to read and debug code and explain its design in detail, including to a customer’s engineering team; coding agents may be used.
Have shipped a workflow, integration, plugin, or internal tool that a customer actually used.
Have deployed AI or ML systems and integrations within complex organizations and be able to explain the outcomes.
Communicate effectively with both executive and engineering audiences and translate between them.
Be willing to travel for customer engagements.
Be comfortable with open-ended problems and unstructured environments, and create structure without waiting for it.
Prioritize customer outcomes over personal credit, investigate beyond surface-level answers, and iterate on prototypes with customers until they work.
Be adaptable and willing to learn, guide, lead, and follow.

Nice To Haves

Experience with data tooling such as SQL, BigQuery, or Retool.
Experience in media, entertainment, or advertising production.

Responsibilities

Work with customer creative, technical, and executive teams to understand their processes and identify blockers to production.
Build proofs of concept and tailored demos using customers’ own brands, footage, or catalogs.
Turn one-off customer solutions into reusable workflows, plugins, or integrations.
Own evaluation plans, guide managed trials, build customer-specific demos, and support the technical side of deal cycles with account executives.
Scope customer deployments, including defining success criteria, engaging a hands-on customer builder and executive sponsor, and keeping work in scope.
Help new technical and non-technical customers reach production quickly after contract signing.
Grow API-only accounts into Platform plus API usage and improve onboarding to reduce support tickets.
Present technical pipelines and production plans to audiences including analysts, studio leaders, executives, and engineers.
Work with Product, Engineering, and Creative teams to turn customer observations and recurring requests into product roadmap requirements.
Measure customer outcomes such as time to production, usage before and after a project, and customer deliverables; track results using Salesforce and the data warehouse.