Forward Deployed AI Engineer
Quick facts
- Pay
- $180,000–$300,000 + equity
- Type
- Full-time
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
- Skills
- Python, TypeScript
- Industry
- Information Technology — 671 open jobs
- Visa in listing
- H-1B, OPT
- Apply
- Free to apply — never pay anyone for a job offer or visa sponsorship
Job description
San Francisco, CA · On-site (5 days/week) · Full-time
Compensation: $180K–$300K + equity
About the Company
Our client is a Series A company building an AI platform that automates the operational drudgery inside the insurance brokerage industry — a large, legacy market that has seen little modern technology. The product is already deeply embedded with enterprise brokerages, saving customers meaningful time and cost, and the team is scaling quickly on the back of strong early traction.
Series A · ~25 people · Industry: AI, Enterprise, Insurance, Software Development
The Role
This is a hands-on, customer-facing engineering role at the intersection of AI, product, and implementation. You'll work directly with the company's largest enterprise customers to understand their workflows, build AI automations on the platform, and ship solutions in days rather than months. The split is roughly 70% coding and 30% customer-facing scoping — no pre-sales or demos, just deep domain understanding and building.
What you'll be doing
- Own enterprise customer engagements end to end, from requirements gathering to deployed solution
- Build and ship AI agents and automations on the platform, deepening adoption within the largest accounts
- Work directly with enterprise customers post-sales to scope and solve business problems
- Ship fast — often delivering working solutions the same week as the customer conversation
- Fold successful customer-specific work back into the core platform
- Partner with product and engineering to turn customer insight into scalable features
Tech stack: Python and/or TypeScript, plus LLM/AI automation tooling (e.g. OpenAI, LangChain or similar)
Requirements
- 3–6 years in software engineering, forward-deployed, solutions, implementation, or product engineering (no new grads)
- Post-sales customer-facing engineering experience — scoping a problem, building the solution, and shipping it in a tight turnaround
- Background at a VC-backed startup that raised Series A or later from a top-tier investor
- Track record scaling enterprise deployments — shipping multiple features or automations for large customers
- Strong hands-on proficiency in Python and/or TypeScript
- A degree from a strong university (e.g. Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Duke, Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, UIUC, or equivalent) is strongly preferred
- Comfortable switching between customer conversations and heads-down coding
- Able to work on-site in San Francisco 5 days a week
Nice to Haves
- Experience building or deploying AI/ML automations or agentic workflows in production
- Experience building or integrating LLM/AI automation pipelines (e.g. OpenAI, LangChain, or similar)
Why Join
- Extreme ownership from day one — you work directly with customers and ship end-to-end automations that land in their workflows immediately
- Top-of-market comp: $180K–$300K base plus meaningful founding-team equity at an ~30-person company
- Join a senior team from marquee high-growth tech companies and top consulting, building in person in San Francisco
- Work on cutting-edge AI agents transforming a massive industry that has barely been touched by modern software
Details
- Location: San Francisco, CA
- Work policy: On-site, 5 days/week (SoMa)
- Compensation: $180,000–$300,000 + equity
- Visa sponsorship: Open to visa transfers (e.g. OPT, H-1B transfers)
- Employment type: Full-time
Visa sponsorship record
No public sponsorship records foundWe didn't find H-1B, H-1B1, E-3 or green card (PERM) filings under the name David Joseph & Company in the Department of Labor and USCIS data. That doesn't mean the job can't be sponsored — the company may file under a different legal name, be new to sponsorship, or sponsor a visa that isn't in these datasets (for example H-2B or J-1).
Tip: ask the recruiter early, in writing, which visa they sponsor and whether they cover the legal and filing fees.
Which visas can work for this job
Occupation: Software Developers (SOC 15-1252).
- Mentioned in the listing
H-1B, OPT
- H-1B cap-exempt employer
Regular cap-subject employer — a new H-1B needs to win the lottery in March (unless you already hold cap-counted H-1B status).
- TN (citizens of Canada and Mexico)
This kind of role may fit the USMCA profession “Computer Systems Analyst (or Engineer, for engineering-degree holders)” — it depends on the actual duties. No lottery, no cap; you need the matching degree or license.
- E-3 (Australia) and H-1B1 (Chile, Singapore)
Same degree requirement as H-1B, but no lottery and a separate quota that is rarely filled.
- O-1 (extraordinary ability)
For candidates with awards, publications, press, a high salary or critical roles at distinguished organizations. No cap, no lottery; the employer files a petition.
- STEM OPT extension (F-1 students)
Requires an E-Verify employer. We didn't find this company in the E-Verify list — ask HR.
Salary vs prevailing wage
Level II (qualified)Software Developers · San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. Annual prevailing wages set by the Department of Labor (OFLC).
| Level | Prevailing wage | H-1B lottery odds* |
|---|---|---|
| Level I | $137,093 | ~15% |
| Level II | $165,131 | ~31% |
| Level III | $193,149 | ~46% |
| Level IV | $221,187 | ~61% |
This job pays $180,000–$300,000 a year — that's Level II (qualified). In the wage-weighted H-1B lottery a Level II registration gets 2 entries; estimated selection chance about 31%.
* Odds are DHS projections for the FY2027 wage-weighted lottery (actual results vary by year and employer). Since the FY2027 cap season the H-1B lottery is weighted by wage level: Level I = 1 entry, II = 2, III = 3, IV = 4. The level is set by the offered wage against the prevailing wage for the occupation and worksite. Separately, a $100,000 fee for new H-1B petitions for workers outside the US was announced in 2025; as of September 2026 a federal court ruling keeps it unenforceable while appeals continue — check the current status.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor OFLC disclosure data (H-1B/H-1B1/E-3 LCA, PERM), OFLC prevailing wage data, USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub, E-Verify participating employers. Data loaded: LCA FY2024–FY2026, PERM, USCIS Data Hub, OFLC wages; updated 2026-10-03. Employers are matched by name, so records of companies with similar names can occasionally be mixed up. This is general information, not legal advice — talk to an immigration attorney about your case.