Director, Forward Deployed Engineering

Let’s face it, a company whose mission is human transformation better have some fresh thinking about the employer/employee relationship. We do. We can’t cram it all in here, but you’ll start noticing it from the first interview. Even our candidate experience is different. And when you get an offer from us (and accept it), you get way more than a paycheck.

You get a personal Better Up Coach, a development plan, a trained and coached manager, the most amazing team you’ve ever met (yes, each with their own personal Better Up Coach), and most importantly, work that matters. This makes for a remarkably focused and fulfilling work experience. Frankly, it’s not for everyone. But for people with fire in their belly, it’s a game-changing, career-defining, soul-lifting move.

Join us and we promise you the most intense and fulfilling years of your career, doing life‑changing work in a fun, inventive, soulful culture. If that sounds exciting—and the job description below feels like a fit—we really should start talking.

We are a hybrid company with a focus on in‑person collaboration when necessary. Employees are expected to be available to work from one of our office hubs at least two days per week, or eight days per month. Our US hub locations include:
Austin, TX;
New York City, NY;
San Francisco, CA; and the Washington, DC metro area. Please ensure you can realistically commit to this structure before applying.

Forward Deployed Engineering is where Better Up’s platform meets the hardest, highest‑value enterprise problems. You’ll lead the team that embeds with our largest and most strategic customers—translating ambiguous, executive‑level requirements into working software, fast. This is a builder‑leader role: you’ll set technical direction, own delivery across marquee accounts, and grow a team that is equally comfortable in a customer’s boardroom and in the codebase.

• Own technical delivery for strategic enterprise accounts. Lead FDE engagements end to end—from scoping with customer stakeholders through prototype, production rollout, and handoff to core platform teams.
• Be the bridge between field and platform. Turn what you learn in the field into durable platform capability; feed real customer signal back into the roadmap.
• Build and lead a high‑trust team. Hire, develop, and retain forward‑deployed engineers who thrive in customer‑facing, high‑ambiguity environments. Set the bar for technical rigor and customer judgment.
• Move fast without breaking trust. Ship prototypes and integrations on aggressive timelines while maintaining security, data‑governance, and enterprise‑readiness standards.
• Partner across the org. Work hand‑in‑glove with product, sales engineering, security, and platform leadership to unblock deals and de‑risk delivery commitments.
• Operate as a technical executive in the room. Earn credibility directly with customer engineering and executive stakeholders; represent Better Up’s technical vision in working sessions and escalations.

• 12+ years in software engineering, with 4+ years leading engineering teams (manager‑of‑managers, or a strong senior‑IC‑to‑lead trajectory).
• Track record delivering complex software in customer‑facing or forward‑deployed settings—FDE, solutions engineering, or professional services with real engineering depth.
• Strong hands‑on technical foundation: UI, distributed systems, APIs and integrations, identity and provisioning and other Enterprise requirements. Cloud platforms experience (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.) a strong plus.
• Demonstrated ability to operate amid ambiguity—taking vague, executive‑level asks and producing working software on tight timelines.
• Excellent stakeholder skills: credible with both customer engineers and senior business leaders.
• Sound judgment on enterprise concerns: security, data governance, compliance, and scalability.

• Experience with composability / configurable‑product architectures and group‑level governance models.
• Background working with very large enterprise customers (Fortune 100 / regulated industries).
• Experience standing up or scaling an FDE / forward‑deployed…