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Blank Metal is an AI-native engineering company that partners with enterprises to deliver production AI systems. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will be a senior technical leader embedded with enterprise clients, responsible for turning strategic AI opportunities into shipped, production-grade systems.
You will work across the full engagement lifecycle: partnering with client executives to identify high-value AI opportunities, leading proof-of-concept work to de-risk builds, architecting technical solutions, and owning deployment through live operation. You'll build concrete artifacts clients run in production—MCP servers, sub-agents, agent skills, and supporting pipelines—working across the full stack and model layer while navigating real enterprise IT systems and security constraints.
This is a high-autonomy role where you carry a small number of accounts deeply and are measured on outcomes clients can see. You'll spend 25-40% of your time traveling to client sites, particularly during kickoffs and go-lives; the remainder is flexible. You balance executive-level advisory conversations with hands-on coding, leading a lean team of AI engineers while maintaining strong technical judgment about architecture, hard tradeoffs, and production readiness.
Success requires 7+ years shipping software with proven technical leadership that executives trust, a track record owning production systems end-to-end, and hands-on experience deploying LLM-powered systems (agents, retrieval, evals). You need strong Python and TypeScript/JavaScript skills, the ability to pick up new stacks quickly, and experience building or maintaining eval frameworks. You're comfortable with ambiguity, communicate technical complexity in plain language, and have either founded a company, served as CTO, or been a first engineer shipping a product. Bonus experience in healthcare or private equity is valued. The role emphasizes low ego, high cooperation, and the ability to make those around you better.
