Forward Deployed Engineer | GenAI/LLM | NYC or SF | $170K-$400K + Equity | Confidential
Quick facts
- Pay
- $170,000–$400,000 base + equity
- Type
- Full-time
- Location
- New York or San Francisco, New York or California
- Skills
- Python, SQL, Machine Learning
- Industry
- Information Technology — 671 open jobs
- Visa in listing
- H-1B
- Apply
- Free to apply — never pay anyone for a job offer or visa sponsorship
Job description
Forward Deployed Engineer — New York / San Francisco
NYC or SF (Hybrid, 3 days/week) | 💰 $170,000–$400,000 base + equity | 🔒 Confidential search — company revealed on application
The Opportunity
My client is a newly launched, enterprise AI deployment company — backed by a multi-billion-dollar funding round from a group of leading global investors, at a launch valuation in the tens of billions. They build and deploy production-grade generative AI systems for some of the world's largest and most technically demanding enterprises, working at the genuine frontier of applied AI not research, not theory, real production systems moving real enterprise workflows.
They're scaling aggressively across New York and San Francisco, with a long-run plan to build a 100-person Forward Deployed Engineering team in each city. This is a ground-floor opportunity to shape that build.
The Role
As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll be a senior technical owner across customer engagements shaping architecture, setting engineering standards, and moving enterprise teams from prototype to durable, production-grade AI systems. It's a hands-on player-coach role: you write code, review designs, mentor engineers, and own customer outcomes directly — with direct exposure to CEO/CTO-level stakeholders from day one.
What you'll do
- Lead software engineering workstreams for customer deployments — architecture, implementation quality, evaluation strategy, production readiness for LLM-powered systems
- Build AI applications, agents, and workflow tools using LLMs, retrieval, orchestration, APIs, and production data systems
- Work directly with customer technical and business stakeholders to translate real workflows into reliable AI systems
- Prototype quickly, then harden what works into reusable reference architectures
- Design evaluation and monitoring approaches that improve quality, reliability, and customer trust
- Mentor engineers through ambiguous technical problems
What you'll bring
- Senior software engineering background — production applications, microservices, APIs, scalable data pipelines, cloud infrastructure
- Strong Python and SQL — non-negotiable
- Hands-on production LLM experience — agents, retrieval, evaluation, fine-tuning, prompt engineering, model integration — not proof-of-concept work alone
- A track record of taking projects from prototype to production and setting a high bar while keeping pace
- Comfort operating with executive-level stakeholders — client relationship as a first-order priority
- A "founder" or "company builder" mentality — Forward Deployed backgrounds (Palantir-style, in particular) especially well regarded
- Clear, structured communication across technical and non-technical audiences
Compensation & Logistics
- Base: $170,000–$400,000, dependent on level and location
- Meaningful equity as an early participant in a fast-scaling, well-funded business
- Hybrid — 3 days/week in NYC or SF office
- Up to 50% travel including client on-site work
- H-1B/O-1 candidates considered (12+ months remaining on current status)
Full company details, brand, and specifics shared once we connect — apply to find out more.
Keywords: Forward Deployed Engineer, GenAI, LLM Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, AI Engineer, Agentic AI, RAG, Python, SQL, Production AI, MLOps, LLMOps, Enterprise AI, Applied AI, Founding Engineer
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 Xcede 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
- 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 IV (fully competent)Software Developers · United States (national median of areas). Annual prevailing wages set by the Department of Labor (OFLC).
| Level | Prevailing wage | H-1B lottery odds* |
|---|---|---|
| Level I | $79,290 | ~15% |
| Level II | $100,152 | ~31% |
| Level III | $120,422 | ~46% |
| Level IV | $141,190 | ~61% |
This job pays $170,000–$400,000 a year — that's Level IV (fully competent). In the wage-weighted H-1B lottery a Level IV registration gets 4 entries; estimated selection chance about 61% — better than average.
* 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.