Forward Deployed Engineer

Role Description:

As a Forward-Deployed Engineer at ShipBob, you'll embed directly within business teams to eliminate manual, repetitive, error-prone workflows. You'll map out how work really happens, identify automation opportunities, and rapidly build end-to-end solutions.

This is an AI-first engineering role where you'll design and deploy agentic workflows using code, APIs, and AI agents. You'll work on everything from micro-automations to large-scale AI-driven solutions, bridging the gap between operations and engineering while maintaining ShipBob's structured engineering principles.

This role is ideal for a high-agency engineer who loves being close to real users and thrives in ambiguity. You iterate fast and ship working solutions quickly, with a proven ability to translate modern AI capabilities into meaningful operational outcomes while leveraging AI-assisted coding to operationalize automation at scale. This role reports to Vice President, Forward Deployed Engineering.

What you’ll do:

• Embed with our operational teams to observe workflows, uncover root causes, and identify where AI agents can meaningfully reduce friction
• Break down complex, manual processes into clean system flows and technical requirements
• Own the full lifecycle: observe → prototype → validate with domain experts → harden → productionize
• Build reliable systems with logging, retries, monitoring, and guardrails for edge cases
• Collaborate with Product and Engineering when automations interface with core systems; operate independently for everything else
• Validate solutions with domain experts and iterate quickly based on feedback
• Document and publish reusable modules into our Automation Hub that accelerate future automation projects
• Drive fast iteration: ship small, gather feedback, and improve quickly

What you’ll bring to the table:

Must have:

• 1-5 years of experience building AI agents that automate real workflows and eliminate manual work
• Deep proficiency in Python, TypeScript (Node/React), and relational databases
• You've designed and built multiple RESTful APIs from scratch
• Proficiency with CLI tools. You must use CLI-based agents (Claude Code, Codex) as your primary workflow.
• Experience with observability platforms (logging, tracing, monitoring your agents in production)

Big plus:

• Hackathon experience (wins, shipping under pressure, chaotic builds)
• Contributions to open source repositories.
• Early-stage startup background (you've worn many hats)
• Experience building or extending CLI tools

Things to know:

We're hiring this role on a contract basis with the opportunity to convert to full-time, think of it as a mutual try out.