Forward Deployed Engineer

Manifold Industries • New York, NY

10d • Hybrid

About The Position

Manifold builds software for people making critical decisions on behalf of the United States, aiming to enhance their judgment with better tools rather than automating decisions. This role is for Manifold's first Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), who will bridge the gap between customer needs and product development by coding and working directly with users. The FDE will act as the technical point of contact for customers, prototyping solutions with a fast turnaround time and influencing product direction.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, electrical engineering, math, physics, or a related technical field OR equivalent experience shipping production software
• 2+ years of experience writing production code in a setting where someone other than you had to use, debug, or maintain it.
• U.S. citizenship (for security clearance eligibility)

Nice To Haves

• Shipped technical work to non-technical customers in a messy environment.
• Scoped, built, and delivered something for a customer who couldn't write the spec themselves.
• Pushed back on a request when the technical reality didn't match what they wanted, without a clean problem statement or fixed constraints.
• Worked with government, defense, or operational customers before.
• Secret / Top Secret Clearance
• Prior exposure to Typescript, React, Python.
• Ability to stand up a full-stack v0 in 48 to 72 hours (Frontend, backend, deployed, in someone's hands).
• Experience at a small team or early-stage startup.
• Builds things outside of work (open source contributions, side projects).

Responsibilities

• Embed with lighthouse customers to understand their workflows and capability gaps, planning for weekly contact and bi-weekly onsite visits to grasp the 'why' behind workflows and identify areas where Manifold can assist.
• Translate operational requirements into technical specifications and constraints, determining customer needs, buildability, and feasibility.
• Build and ship workflow prototypes end-to-end, from initial conversation to deployment, including aspects like authentication, data plumbing, and ensuring functionality on government laptops. Recognize when to discard prototypes.
• Close the loop with the rest of engineering by bringing learnings back in a usable format for the product team, providing clear insights for future development.

Benefits

• 401(k) with matching
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents
• Unlimited PTO
• Health & Wellness stipend
• Company-wide break the last two weeks of the year
• Supportive leave of absence including time off for military service, medical events, and parental leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level