SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
VAST Data is building the enterprise software infrastructure for the AI era, focusing on capturing, cataloging, refining, and protecting massive datasets for real-time analysis and AI training. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will be embedded directly within strategic, large-scale customer environments as a core member of the engineering team.
You will work side-by-side with customer architects, operators, and developers to understand their scale challenges, solve complex infrastructure issues, and translate real-world requirements into product improvements. You own the technical success of strategic customer deployments from design through production operation, acting as the face of VAST Engineering on the ground.
Day-to-day responsibilities include collaborating globally with the engineering team on hotfixes and roadmap updates, co-engineering solutions with customer technical teams to optimize infrastructure and debug complex issues, and developing custom API endpoints, automation tools, and scripts to unblock critical workflows. You will drive product development by translating operational insights into precise technical requirements for core development teams, and act as an internal advocate for your customer's long-term technical needs.
Required expertise includes deep knowledge of distributed systems, high-performance file systems, and storage protocols; strong understanding of high-throughput networking fabrics (InfiniBand, RoCE, 100GbE+); advanced Linux systems knowledge; and proficiency in Python and C/C++. You should have 5+ years in highly technical engineering roles such as Forward Deployed Engineer, Resident Engineer, or Systems Software Engineer with proven customer-facing collaboration experience.
Desirable qualifications include experience operating large-scale AI training environments or HPC clusters, familiarity with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes), and knowledge of modern AI/ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow). You must demonstrate composure under pressure, exceptional communication skills to translate between technical and business contexts, strong organizational abilities, and a continuous learning mindset. The role requires up to 25% travel to customer locations.
