Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

Handshake AI supports all of the frontier AI labs, working on their most complex data at the largest scale. We're hiring a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to work directly with frontier AI labs to solve their most complex engineering challenges. As a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll own the end-to-end lifecycle of customer deployments—from understanding technical requirements to architecting, building, and scaling production systems that improve customer workflows and model performance. You'll operate across the stack, partnering closely with Engineering, Research, Product, and Operations teams in both India and the US to deliver solutions for our most strategic customers.

Responsibilities

Partner directly with frontier AI labs to understand complex technical challenges and translate them into scalable engineering solutions; Partner closely with Engineering, Research, Product, and Operations teams in the US to execute against a shared roadmap; Design, build, and deploy production-grade applications that solve high-impact customer problems; Own technical architecture for customer deployments with a focus on reliability, scalability, security, and maintainability; Rapidly prototype, test, and iterate on solutions based on customer feedback; Build reusable tools, frameworks, and deployment patterns that improve delivery across customer engagements; Mentor engineers through technical leadership, code reviews, and engineering best practices; Help establish a strong engineering culture as we continue building our India engineering organization

Requirements

6+ years of professional software engineering experience; Experience leading technically complex customer-facing, solutions engineering, or forward deployed engineering projects; Strong proficiency with TypeScript, React, and modern backend architectures; Deep understanding of relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL), system design, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure; Experience building and operating production systems on AWS or GCP; Strong technical judgment and the ability to solve complex engineering problems in fast-moving, ambiguous environments; Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; Experience collaborating effectively with globally distributed engineering teams, including teams based in the US

Nice to have

Experience building AI-powered products, LLM infrastructure, or machine learning platforms; Experience working directly with enterprise customers or strategic technical partners; Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines; Experience supporting applied AI or ML research teams; Experience working in a fast-growing startup or high-growth engineering organization

Benefits

Generous Equity Grant vested over 4 years; Housing Bonus: 1.3 Lakhs spread throughout the first year; Well Defined Performance Bonus ranging between 10 - 100% of base; Medical Insurance Coverage; Food credit for every in person day