Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

About the Role

Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) is the engineering team that unblocks high-priority, customer-facing work for Handshake AI's most strategic partners. FDEs are technical builders: they ship end-to-end solutions in close collaboration with researchers, operators, and partner technical teams.

As Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering, you sit at the intersection of technical leadership and people management keeping one hand on the hardest customer problems while building and developing a team of 10 engineers across multiple engagements. You'll stay technically engaged, writing code and designing systems alongside your team, but your primary leverage is creating the conditions for exceptional engineering: setting the technical and operational standard for the FDE organization, shaping strategy and structure, and growing the people who deliver it.

This is a player-coach role  lead by example technically, develop strong TLMs and senior ICs beneath you, and build the systems and playbooks that make the team compounding.

• Own the technical strategy and delivery quality across all of FDE's highest-priority customer engagements.
• Stay close to the craft, contribute to architecture, design reviews, and production solutions on the most complex accounts.
• Lead and develop a team of 10+ FDEs, including Tech Lead Managers, set the bar, unblock, and grow the next generation of technical leaders.
• Serve as the executive technical point of contact for Handshake AI's most strategic partners; build deep trust through credibility, clarity, and execution.
• Define and evolve the FDE operating model, how the team scopes, staffs, ships, and measures success across engagements.
• Identify patterns across the portfolio and drive the development of reusable platforms, tooling, and internal infrastructure that multiply team output.
• Partner closely with Sales, Research, and Product to shape how new customer relationships are structured and handed off.
• Own capacity planning, hiring, and organizational design for the FDE function as it scales.

• 8+ years of engineering, solutions engineering, or technical delivery experience, with meaningful depth in backend, fullstack, or systems work.
• 2+ years leading high-performing technical teams, with a track record of developing strong ICs and managers.
• Proven experience leading customer-facing technical teams where success depended on credibility, clarity, and execution.
• Obsessed with operating alongside the team: reviewing designs, challenging assumptions, and stepping in when problems get ambiguous or high-stakes.
• Fluent across engineering and business context, equally comfortable debating architecture with engineers and aligning outcomes with sales, product, and customer leaders.
• Excellent communicator who can modulate the message across technical and non-technical audiences; strong executive presence in the room and in writing.
• Still codes regularly and wants to keep coding, technical credibility is non-negotiable in this role.
• Sharp instincts on prioritization and portfolio management across many concurrent, high-stakes engagements.

• Experience with AI/ML product integrations or production reliability in AI systems.
• Familiarity with distributed systems and backend architecture at scale.
• Experience building reusable platforms or internal tooling from bespoke customer solutions.
• Background working with operations-heavy or research-adjacent organizations.

Ownership:
Equity in a fast-growing company

Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching

Family Support:
Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching

Wellbeing:
Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend

Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development

Remote & Office:
Internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office

Time Off:
Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days

Connection:
Team outings & referral bonuses

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Location:

San Francisco, CA | 5 days/week in-office