Forward Deployed Software Engineer

Company details

Description of the offer

About Keru.ai

Founded by engineers that build critical systems at institutions like Palantir and Citadel, Keru.ai is building the first AI-augmented deep research platform for the financial services industry.

The global financial services market reached $26.5 trillion in 2024 and is projected to hit $42.1 trillion by 2033. Our platform integrates seamlessly with the complete finance professional’s toolkit, orchestrating research across internal datasets / tools while simultaneously leveraging external platforms including Tegus, Bloomberg, AlphaSights, AlphaSense, and other essential research tools. Rather than replacing existing systems, Keru serves as an intelligent layer that synthesizes insights across the fragmented landscape of data sources and research platforms that finance teams rely on daily.

Keru.ai is backed by the founders behind modern data and AI platforms, including OpenAI, Facebook AI, MotherDuck, DBT, Outerbounds, and others.

The Role

As a Forward Deployed Software Engineer at Keru, you’ll be the technical architect of our most strategic client relationships. You’ll work directly on-site with our lighthouse customers, sophisticated financial firms and research organizations. to deploy, customize, and optimize Keru’s AI-native research platform for their specific workflows and requirements.

You’ll live our core principle of ‘Forward-Deployed with Product DNA – embedding directly with clients to own their outcomes while simultaneously building the platform that serves the entire market. We don’t win if our customers don’t win, which means you’ll be iterating and deploying where the most critical decisions happen. You’ll spend significant time embedded with client teams, understanding their research processes, identifying optimization opportunities, and co-developing critical workflows that become competitive advantages. Your work directly shapes both our product roadmap and our clients’ analytical capabilities.

This role is ideal for engineers who thrive at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and high-stakes business environments, where your code decisions can impact million-dollar research outcomes.

By the way, we’ve all spent time as Forward Deployed Engineers at Palantir.

Key Responsibilities

• Field Engineering & Rapid Prototyping: Build and deploy custom AI research workflows directly at client sites, rapidly prototyping solutions that push the boundaries of what’s possible with our platform
• Product Innovation in the Field: Identify technical gaps and opportunities while embedded with clients, then architect and implement new platform capabilities that become core product features
• Technical Integration Leadership: Design and build complex integrations with client data infrastructure, research tools (Bloomberg, CapIQ, internal databases), and proprietary systems
• Platform Performance Engineering: Optimize and scale our AI platform for client-specific use cases, solving complex performance challenges in real-world research environments
• Dual-Mode Engineering: Rotate between forward deployed work with clients and core platform development, bringing field insights directly into our product roadmap and technical architecture
• Advanced Workflow Development: Engineer sophisticated AI-driven research pipelines that transform how clients approach complex analytical challenges, from initial data ingestion to final insights
• Technical Problem Solving: Serve as the primary technical resource for complex client challenges, debugging issues across the full stack and implementing solutions in production environments
• Platform Evolution: Drive product development by translating real-world deployment learnings into technical requirements, new features, and architectural improvements Critical Systems Deployment: Own the technical success of deployments at our most strategic clients, ensuring our platform performs reliably for their most critical research operations

What We’re Looking For

• A future technical startup founder
• 4+ years of software engineering experience with a track record of deploying complex systems in enterprise environments
• Client-facing technical experience: Previous experience as either an FDE or similar role working directly with enterprise customers
• Full-stack capabilities: Strong development skills (Python/TypeScript preferred) with experience in distributed systems, data pipelines, and API development. Rust is a bonus.
• Enterprise integration expertise: Experience with SSO/SCIM, RBAC, database integrations, and enterprise security requirements
• Data platform experience: Background working with large-scale data processing, ETL pipelines, or analytics platforms
• Financial services exposure: Previous experience working with financial firms, understanding of research workflows, or familiarity with financial data sources (preferred but not required)
• Problem-solving mindset: Ability to quickly understand complex client requirements and translate them into technical solutions
• Communication skills: Excellent written and verbal communication, comfortable presenting to C-level executives and technical teams
• Travel flexibility: Willingness to travel regularly (30-50%) for on-site client engagements
• Startup mentality: Thrives in fast-paced environments where you’ll wear multiple hats and directly impact company growth

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, 401k insurance for employees and dependents
• Automatic coverage for basic life, AD&D, and disability insurance
• Daily lunch and snacks in office
• Global deployment support – we cover everything from temporary housing to local transportation when you’re embedded long-term with international clients
• Unlimited PTO policy
• Comprehensive parental leave and family building benefits including adoption, surrogacy, and fertility support
• “Build anything” budget – dedicated funding for whatever tools, datasets, or infrastructure you need to solve customer problems, no questions asked
• Personal AI lab access – your own dedicated compute cluster for experimenting with cutting-edge models and prototyping solutions
• Learning budget – attend any conference, course, or program that makes you better at what we’re building

Keru.ai’s Operating Principles

Forward-Deployed with Product DNA: We own customer outcomes, while building a product company. We don’t win if our customers don’t win. That means embedding, iterating, and deploying where our customers are.

Extreme Ownership: We have a big vision and everyone owns it. If you notice a problem, you own it – diagnose, coordinate, and close the loop. Authority comes from initiative, not job titles, and once you step up, you’re accountable for the outcome.

Production-First Engineering: We design for customers’ most critical workloads from day one. The platform runs on durable execution paths, blue/green deploys, automated rollbacks, and a continuous-delivery pipeline with end-to-end observability, so every change lands safely and stays resilient under real-world load.

Trust as the Default: We operate on the simple premise that people do their best work when confidence is mutual and earned in the open. That means we show our work, keep our promises, and flag risks before they bite. Automated tests, uptime dashboards, and clear communication back our competence; predictable delivery proves our consistency; candid retros and honest trade-offs reveal our character. Put together, trust isn’t an aspiration, it’s the baseline everyone can count on.

Keep Raising the Bar: We block time for training, code-health sprints, and deep-dive tech talks, because a sharper team and a cleaner stack pay compounding dividends. Continuous learning isn’t a perk, it’s part of the job.

Location of employment

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