Forward Deployed Engineer
Simple AI
San Francisco, CA · $120k–$200k a year · Posted November 3, 2026
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Where San Francisco, CA ranks
Where San Francisco, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for security jobs316 openings · of 20
- #1Best cities for technology jobs7,178 openings · of 100
- #1Best cities for financial services pay after cost of living$173k · of 33
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills35% · of 100
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills in the West Coast35% · of 54
- #1Cities with the most jobs that do not need a four-year degree in the West Coast902 jobs · of 47
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
Pay compared with the market
This listing pays about $160,000 a year. Across 131 open forward deployed engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $155,000 to $237,000 and the median is $195,000. That is inside the middle half of those listings, 18% below the median.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
Forward Deployed Engineer salaries by state · Check your own pay
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among software developers, AI is already used for some of the tasks. Measured exposure for software developers: 29% (some).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
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About the job
ABOUT SIMPLE
Simple AI http://usesimple.ai builds voice AI agents that help businesses grow revenue. Our customers include Omaha Steaks, DoorDash, and Renewal by Andersen. Our agents qualify leads, book appointments, take orders, and upsell, turning phone conversations into revenue opportunities.
Simple AI raised $14M from world-class investors and operators like Y Combinator, First Harmonic, Massive Tech Ventures, Michael Seibel, Jared Friedman, Alexandr Wang, Matt Van Horn, Suhail Doshi, and Scott Wu.
THE TEAM
The founders (Catheryn https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherynli/ and Zach https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-kamran/) met while running software teams at YC, where they shipped tons of new products for YC founders, including YC’s co-founder matching site. Cat previously worked at Instagram and Facebook and earned degrees in math and computer science at MIT. Zach previously studied computer science and statistics at U Chicago and led software at PEAK6. We have grown into a strong team of 20+ and are continuing to scale quickly.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer to own customer implementations end to end, turning Simple’s voice AI platform into production-ready agents tailored to each business.
This is a highly technical and highly customer-facing engineering role. You will work directly with customers across pre-sales and post-sales, translating their workflows and requirements into engineering solutions: building custom demos, developing integrations with customer systems, deploying agents, debugging edge cases, improving performance, and turning customer feedback into product improvements.
Every customer has different call flows, systems, products, policies, and edge cases. As their Forward Deployed Engineer, you will understand those details and own the technical implementation through production, making sure the agent works reliably in the real world. This role is a good fit for someone who wants to code, talk to customers, move fast, and be close to the business impact of what they build.
WHAT WE OFFER
- Competitive salary & meaningful equity
- Employee-friendly equity terms
- An office located in SF
- Health, dental & vision insurance
- Free lunch & dinner at the office
- Late night Ubers
- Regular team events & offsites
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
- 3+ years of software engineering experience.
- Strong problem-solving skills and enthusiasm for addressing technical challenges.
- A customer-first mindset with strong communication skills and interest in product design and prioritization.
- Self-motivated and able to work independently.
- Passion about learning and keeping up with latest AI advancements.
NICE TO HAVE
- Previous experience with prompt engineering or working with AI/LLM-based platforms.
- Experience with TypeScript, React, Python, Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, or AWS.
IF YOU ARE EXCITED TO WORK DIRECTLY WITH CUSTOMERS AND BUILD AI AGENTS THAT RUN IN PRODUCTION, WE WOULD LOVE TO CHAT.
Please note: At this time, Simple AI is unable to provide employment visa sponsorship for this role. We appreciate your interest and understanding.