Senior AI Solution Engineer

The RoleWe're hiring a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer — a technically elite, customer-obsessed builder who operates as a startup within a startup.This is not a traditional implementation or solutions engineering role. The Sr. FDE is Formant's Pathfinder: the person who goes first, goes deep, and shapes how our AI-powered platform gets adopted across some of the world's most complex industrial environments. You'll own the full arc of an enterprise engagement — from initial discovery through onsite bootcamp, POC, pilot, and production deployment — while maintaining trusted relationships from end users all the way to the C-suite.You will be supported by a team of other FDEs and Engineers to implement the customer strategy and solution.You'll be Formant's most direct line to what our product needs to become. The insights you surface in the field will shape our roadmap, our blueprints, and how we scale every engagement that follows.What You'll DoPathfinding & DiscoveryLead onsite discovery bootcamps with enterprise customers — living in their environment, learning their operations, and surfacing requirements that no requirements doc could captureDefine measurable success metrics and establish clear checkpoints across POC, Pilot, and production deploymentTranslate ambiguous operational problems into concrete technical architectures and solution designsBuild genuine buy-in with customer stakeholders at every level — from operators on the floor to engineering leads to executive sponsorsTechnical ExecutionOwn end-to-end technical delivery: sales engineering, solution architecture, rapid prototyping, integration with production environments, and full deploymentBuild and iterate on LLM-powered workflows, AI-assisted investigation pipelines, and automation tooling that operates under real-world constraints (latency, connectivity, hardware)Integrate deeply with customer systems, APIs, and existing operational infrastructureProduce reusable blueprints and integration patterns that accelerate all future deploymentsStrategic Account OwnershipServe as the primary technical relationship owner for a portfolio of enterprise accountsPartner with Account Directors to connect technical outcomes to business value and renewal healthLead executive-level conversations with confidence — translating technical progress into ROI languageIdentify expansion opportunities and surface the product gaps that, if closed, unlock the next stage of the engagementField Intelligence & Product InfluenceAct as the feedback loop between the field and Formant's product and engineering teamsIdentify patterns across engagements and contribute to the evolving playbook, integration library, and deployment frameworksWho You AreRequired Experience5+ years in a customer-facing technical role — Forward Deployed Engineering, Solutions Architecture, Implementation Engineering, or equivalent field engineering experienceDemonstrated ability to own complex enterprise engagements end-to-end, from discovery through productionExperience with LLMs, AI workflows, or agentic systems in production environmentsStrong full-stack engineering skills — Python and/or TypeScript required; comfortable across the stack when neededProven track record leading technical conversations with both engineering teams and senior business stakeholdersComfortable with significant travel for customer engagements (40–50% of the time spent in bootcamps onsite with customers)Nice to HaveExperience in robotics, industrial automation, or physical systems — including ROS, AMRs, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, SCADA systems, or semiconductor fabricationIntegrating LLMs and agentic systems with physical hardware and infrastructureData curation and machine learning experienceBackground working with semiconductor, pharmaceuticals, automotive, oil & gas, electronics or other regulated verticalsExperience building or scaling an FDE practice, onboarding playbooks, or deployment frameworksStartup experience — especially in a role with high autonomy and ambiguityWho Will Thrive in This RoleEngineers who want to be the person in the room when the hard problems get defined — not just solvedPeople who find it energizing to move between a factory floor, an engineering whiteboard, and a C-suite meeting in the same dayBuilders with strong opinions, loosely held — who can design a system, prototype it fast, and throw it out when the customer teaches you something betterPeople who understand that proximity to the real problem is the only sustainable competitive advantageSalary range: $160,000–$180,000 based on experience and geographical location.This position is remote with significant onsite customer travel. Formant currently hires in: AZ, CA, CO, IL, KS, MA, NC, NY, OK, OR, PA and TX.

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