Forward Deployed Engineer

About Caylent

Caylent is a cloud-native services company that helps organizations leverage Amazon Web Services (AWS) to their full potential. We offer a comprehensive suite of AWS services, including workload migrations and modernization, cloud-native application development, DevOps, data engineering, security and compliance, and more.

At Caylent, our people are our top priority. We are a global, fully remote company with employees across Canada, the United States, and Latin America. We embrace and celebrate the diverse cultures of our team members and foster a community driven by technological curiosity. Join us to discover what it means to be a Caylentian!

About This Role

Caylent's Anthropic Business Unit is a specialized AI services practice, developed in partnership with Anthropic. We are Anthropic's inaugural pure-play delivery partner.

As the technical engine of AI engagements, you will be responsible for hands-on delivery. This includes rapid prototyping, conducting evaluations, configuring Claude Code tooling, and building production-grade AI systems within client environments. You will be deeply integrated into client codebases, stand-ups, and architecture decisions, owning the technical outcomes.

There are two primary Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) archetypes:

Technology-Workforce FDE

This archetype targets engineering, product, and IT organizations, specializing in AI-enabled developer tooling, AIOps, and LLM-native product development.

Operational FDE

This archetype targets operational and business-unit workforces, specializing in workforce automation, process transformation, and AI-augmented business operations.

What You'll Do

Technical Delivery

• Own the technical delivery for AI engagements, collaborating closely with the strategy and architecture lead.
• Build rapid prototypes to validate AI approaches early, proving feasibility before full implementation.
• Design and execute evaluation frameworks, defining metrics, running evaluations against client use cases, and iterating on solutions based on results to inform strategic recommendations.
• Configure and customize Claude Code tooling to align with each client's specific codebase, coding standards, and development practices.
• Design and build production-grade AI systems, including agents, data pipelines, and AI-augmented workflows, directly within the client's codebase.
• Manage the technical relationship with client engineering teams, serving as the primary technical contact from individual contributors to engineering leadership, building trust for challenging conversations.
• Lead technical discovery sessions, architecture reviews, and hands-on workshops with engineering stakeholders, translating strategic direction into actionable, scoped work.
• Identify and communicate technical risks and opportunities, using field observations to shape engagement strategy.

Delivery Quality

• Ensure lasting capability transfer by building with a focus on future handoff, including comprehensive documentation, runbooks, and self-sufficient working software.
• Contribute reusable patterns, evaluation templates, and field-tested intellectual property back to the practice upon engagement completion, fostering continuous learning.

Internal Contribution

• Support pre-sales scoping and technical discussions in collaboration with the account team.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to the refinement of our delivery methodology.
• Collaborate with the engagement team to enhance delivery patterns and streamline handoffs between strategy and implementation.

What We're Looking For

Required

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time spent in a client-facing or embedded delivery role.
• Hands-on experience with Claude Code or similar AI-assisted development tools, including configuration, prompt engineering, and workflow automation.
• In-depth, hands-on expertise in at least one of the following: LLM application development, cloud-native architecture (AWS preferred), Kubernetes, or large-scale backend systems.
• Proven experience with rapid prototyping, capable of developing a working proof-of-concept for ambiguous problems within days.
• Familiarity with evaluation frameworks for AI systems, including metric definition, evaluation execution, and iterative solution refinement.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently within a client environment, managing priorities, stakeholders, and delivery quality while aligning with overall engagement strategy.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to be technically precise with engineers, clear and confident with technical leadership, and conceptually accessible to business stakeholders.
• High tolerance for ambiguity, with the ability to deliver value even when requirements are not fully defined.

Preferred

• Experience building production AI systems, such as RAG pipelines, agents, fine-tuned models, or LLM-native applications.
• Direct experience with Claude Code's extensibility model, including custom skills, hooks, MCP servers, and prompt architecture. Claude Certified Architect Certification is a plus.
• Background in a consulting firm, systems integrator, or professional services environment.
• Familiarity with Statement of Work (SOW)-based delivery and scope management in a professional services context.
• Relevant AWS certifications (e.g., Solutions Architect Professional, DevOps Engineer Professional, or equivalent).
• Experience designing and facilitating technical workshops or enablement sessions for engineering teams.

Who Thrives Here

Forward Deployed Engineers who excel at Caylent typically share these characteristics:

• Earns Trust Quickly: Client engineers readily include you in critical discussions due to your transparent communication about trade-offs. Both technical credibility and interpersonal judgment are key.
• Proves Before Building: You excel at rapid prototyping, use evaluations to validate assumptions, and leverage data to guide development. You avoid over-investment until an approach is proven.
• Writes Lasting Code: You build with the future in mind, creating clean, well-documented, and transferable code, as is often required in a services environment.
• Thinks Systemically: You understand the long-term implications of technical decisions on operational constraints, balancing a zoomed-out perspective with detailed focus.
• High Learning Agility: You possess a T-shaped skill set, with broad domain knowledge and deep expertise in at least one area. You are comfortable learning new technologies quickly and becoming productive within days.
• Collaborative Partner: Your field insights and technical judgment inform engagement strategy, and you maintain awareness of the bigger picture rather than working in isolation.
• Drives to Completion: Once a problem is resolved, you efficiently move to the next priority, maintaining momentum without lingering on past issues.

This role is not a good fit if you prefer rigid processes, close supervision, or environments where scope is fully defined upfront. Ambiguity is the standard condition here.

Why This Team

• Ground Floor Opportunity: This Business Unit is in its early stages, well-resourced, and strategically aligned with Anthropic. You will be instrumental in defining our approach, not following an established one.
• Cutting-Edge Work: You will engage in advanced projects, including LLM-native delivery, agent development, and AI product creation, working with organizations at the forefront of AI adoption.
• Autonomy with Support: Enjoy significant autonomy in the field, backed by a robust technical team available for complex challenges.
• AI-Native Operations: This team integrates AI into its own workflows, not just its client deliverables, utilizing an agentic Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for rapid prototyping to production.
• Outcome-Focused: Compensation and career advancement are tied to delivery performance and revenue generation, not simply hours worked.
• Accelerated Growth: Gain broad technical experience across a diverse client portfolio at a pace unmatched by traditional single-company roles.

Benefits

• Medical insurance for you and eligible dependents
• 401k plan with a 4% company match and immediate vesting
• Competitive phantom equity
• Company-issued laptop
• Dental and vision insurance
• Term disability and life insurance
• Flexible Spending Account
• Equipment and office stipend
• Annual stipend for learning and development
• Unlimited paid time off
• 10 paid holidays

This role may require up to 50% travel, depending on business needs.

NOTE: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future.

Base Salary Range: The expected base salary for this position is $165,000 - $180,000 per year, commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Additional Compensation Components: The compensation package may include bonuses, commissions, equity, and other incentives, varying based on the role, individual, and/or company performance.

NOTE: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship now or at any time in the future.

At Caylent, we are committed to fair, transparent, and inclusive hiring practices. As part of our recruitment process, we may utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools or automated systems to assist with screening and evaluating applications, helping to match candidate qualifications with job requirements. These tools are designed to support, not replace, human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are always made by our trained recruitment professionals. If AI or automated tools are used, it will be in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and your information will be handled securely and confidentially. For questions, please contact [email protected].

Caylent is a place where everyone belongs. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Our approach helps us build a winning team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and abilities. Regardless of how your diversity expresses itself, you can find a home here at Caylent. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, veteran status, genetic information, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. If you would like to request an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at [email protected].