AI Forward Deployed Engineer

Job Description

AI Forward Deployed Engineer
150,000–$250,000 base + 0.5–1% equity | In-office 5 days/week | 7 openings
This AI company is building technology to systematically identify and combat fraud, waste, and abuse in US government spending. Its agentic platform combines public and government-restricted data including federal spending and contracting databases, Medicare and Medicaid claims and reasons across that information to identify specific cases of potential fraud.

The platform doesn’t just surface anomalies. The company is already in active discussions with federal health agencies, defense, homeland security, and state governments. With significant contracts within reach, the biggest constraint is now engineering capacity. The company is building its first cohort of Forward Deployed Engineers to work directly with government partners.

We’re looking for early-career engineers who already operate like founders. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you’ll sit at the intersection of software engineering, applied AI, and real-world government missions. You’ll build and deploy AI systems that solve high-impact problems, working directly with government stakeholders and taking ownership from initial concept through production.

Build and deploy LLM-powered agent systems for real-world government applications
Build data pipelines and ML infrastructure supporting AI systems
Strong Python skills and end-to-end software engineering ability
Hands-on experience shipping LLM and agent systems to production
Experience building data pipelines and ML infrastructure
Strong engineering fundamentals, not just AI coding-tool proficiency
Founder or founding engineer at an AI startup
Forward-deployed or applied engineering at companies such as Palantir, Anduril, Shield AI, Vannevar Labs, Scale AI Federal, or Applied Intuition
Applied engineering at agentic AI companies such as Sierra, Decagon, Glean, Cresta, Perplexity, Cursor, or Cognition
Active US security clearance, Secret, Top Secret, or TS/SCI
Experience with Medicare, Medicaid, or healthcare fraud
Work on-site at the Pentagon approximately 2–3 days per week
Top Secret clearance sponsorship available
Federal Health & State/Local Government
Work directly with federal health agencies and state/local governments

Must be based in Washington, DC or willing to relocate quickly
Candidates with internship-only experience
Engineers without strong software fundamentals
Candidates who rely heavily on AI coding tools without understanding the underlying systems
Pure ML researchers without production engineering experience
Engineers who prefer to work independently without customer or stakeholder interaction
Candidates unwilling to relocate to DC or work in person
Candidates who are uncomfortable working on US government applications

The process is designed to assess both technical depth and the ability to operate effectively with customers and stakeholders.

You’ll be evaluated on your engineering fundamentals, production AI experience, problem-solving ability, communication, and ownership.

This is an opportunity to join an early FDE team, work directly on high-impact government problems, and build production AI systems where the results have real-world consequences.