Harrison Clarke · 1 day ago
Head of Forward Deployed Engineering ($400-500K base, sign on + equity!)
San Francisco Bay Area
Full-time
Onsite
Director/Executive
$400K/yr - $500K/yr
10+ years expHarrison Clarke is a Series B startup building a groundbreaking platform for intelligent systems. They are seeking a Head of Forward Deployed Engineering to lead a team that works directly with flagship customers, ensuring successful implementations and driving customer outcomes at scale.
ConsultingDevOpsHuman ResourcesInformation TechnologyStaffing Agency
Responsibilities
Recruit, mentor, and grow a world-class team of Forward Deployed Engineers, Engagement Leads, and Platform Specialists
Define hiring bar, interview loops, onboarding, and progression paths for deeply technical field roles
Create repeatable delivery playbooks for: customer-specific agent deployments, SDLC / developer workflow integration, API and platform acceleration, reference architectures and implementation patterns
Continuously refine the FDE “service catalog” as our product evolves and we expand into new customer segments
Own delivery excellence for our most complex and high-value accounts where success requires deep technical partnership
Collaborate with Sales + CS leadership to define: who qualifies for FDE support, engagement triggers and success criteria, escalation pathways and technical accountability
Design and implement customer solutions such as: multi-agent systems, Centers of Excellence frameworks, integration patterns that become reusable across Fortune 500 and digital-native customers
Balance bespoke 1:1 deployments with scalable 1:many motions — deciding when we lead directly vs. enable partners
Convert field learnings into product feedback that materially influences roadmap, platform tooling, and developer experience
Partner with Product and Engineering to translate customer pain into high-leverage platform primitives
Define “handoff systems” between FDE, Customer Success, Solutions, and partners
Build measurement frameworks for customer impact, including: time-to-value, deployment velocity, adoption depth, expansion readiness, quantified business ROI
Create engagement scoping frameworks, pricing models, and delivery structures that scale
Establish best practices around IP, co-development, and contractual realities
Build capacity planning and prioritization models to allocate scarce high-seniority FDE bandwidth
Create executive-level reporting (e.g., QBR-ready) showing: lighthouse wins, reusable architectures, outcomes and transformation metrics
Qualification
Required
10+ years in technical roles, with 5+ years leading engineering / solutions / applied teams
Built a team or function from scratch (0→1), or scaled one through high growth
Strong track record attracting and retaining senior technical talent
Deep understanding of modern software deployment, APIs, integrations, and developer workflows
Fluency in AI-enabled systems (LLMs, agent frameworks, model integration), even if you're not a research specialist
Experience embedding alongside customer engineering teams and shipping production-grade solutions
Comfortable being in the details: whiteboarding architectures, debugging issues, reviewing code, and coaching your team in the field
Designed professional services or forward deployed engagement models, including scoping and pricing
Understand how to balance customer outcomes with margin, leverage, and scalability
Proven success navigating enterprise stakeholders and complex technical buying environments
Strong cross-functional instincts: you can align Sales, Product, Engineering, and CS around shared definitions of success
Company
Harrison Clarke
Harrison Clarke is the Leading Staffing & Recruiting Firm in XOps & Cybersecurity.
11-50 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageLeadership Team
Firas Sozan
Founder & CEO
Company data provided by crunchbase