Forward Deployed Engineer

About the role:

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at 8am, you embed directly with an internal business function - starting in Customer Support, Sales, Marketing, or Finance - to ship production agentic systems, not demos. You own the last mile between what's technically possible and what a specific team actually runs day to day.

You sit at the intersection of engineering, business process, and product discovery. You are judged on one thing: did the function you embedded measurably change how it works because you were in the room. You build the agent, the context, and the skills yourself — you don't just spec it out for someone else to build.

About us:

At 8am, our vision is to power a world where professionals thrive. We start every day on a mission to empower professionals with the most trusted, innovative technology to deliver world-class outcomes for their clients and exceptional financial results for their business. They count on our purpose-built solutions to simplify operations, ensure compliance, and fuel profitable growth, so they can focus on their clients and do more of the work that matters.

Founded in 2005, 8am™ (formerly AffiniPay) is the professional business platform built to help legal, accounting, and other client-focused professionals run stronger, more profitable businesses. Today, more than 250,000 professionals across the U.S. trust 8am to help them work smarter, serve clients better, and unlock their full potential. We have been recognized as one of Inc 5000’s fastest growing companies in the U.S. for 13 years in a row, and as a result, our teams continue to grow as well!

What you'll do:

• Own technical delivery end-to-end on an internal engagement - from discovery and scoping through building, launch, and steady-state support.
• Build agentic systems (agents, context/RAG, skills, tools, evals) that automate real workflows for CS, Sales, Marketing, Finance, or Product teams.
• Write production-grade code (Python and/or TypeScript) and SQL to connect internal systems - CRM, support tooling, BI platforms, data warehouse - into working automation.
• Run discovery directly with business stakeholders - understand their workflow well enough to build against it, not just automate around it.
• Diagnose and resolve issues in live deployments - reproduce problems, debug across the stack, and iterate quickly with the stakeholder team.
• Translate what you learn into reusable playbooks, skills, and templates so one-off wins become repeatable capabilities for the next engagement.
• Proactively build trust with the teams you support - the goal is for them to need less of your guidance over time, not more.

About you:

• 3+ years in Forward Deployed Engineering, Applied AI, Solutions Engineering, or a comparable hands-on, stakeholder-embedded engineering role.
• Can build agentic loops (agents, context, skills/tools, evals) yourself, end-to-end - this is a hands-on builder role.
• Strong backend or full-stack engineering background - production-grade Python and/or TypeScript, SQL, and REST API integration patterns.
• Has done this kind of role before - embedded delivery, translating a business process into a technical system - and can share a portfolio of shipped work.
• Comfortable working directly with non-technical stakeholders in CS, Sales, Marketing, or Finance and translating their process into a technical spec.
• Builder mindset - makes fast, sound decisions under ambiguity, and prioritizes shipping something real over a polished demo.
  

Nice to have: 

• Experience in fintech or financial services — payments, banking data, risk/compliance, or subscription billing.
• Hands-on with low-code/orchestration tools (n8n, Zapier, Make) in addition to custom-built agents.
• Familiarity with SOC 2, PCI-DSS, or data-security practices for regulated financial data.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP), CI/CD, and observability.

Additional Information

The annual salary range for this position is $170,000 to $200,000. The salary range for performing this role outside of the US / Austin / California may differ.  8am is committed to offering competitive, fair and commensurate compensation and has provided an estimated pay range for this role. Actual compensation may vary based on job-related knowledge, skills, experience and education.
Why 8am: 

At 8am, our culture is shaped by the people who bring it to life every day. Together, we build a company rooted in continuous learning, genuine community, holistic wellness, and meaningful engagement—values that empower us as individuals and unite us as a team. Our culture is grounded in our core values: Work Smart, Win Fast; Outshine Ordinary, and We Find a Way. These values drive how we serve our customers and work with each other in a collaborative, inspiring, and empowering environment, every day.

Here’s how we support our 8Team:

• Health Insurance Coverage: We offer our 8Team a variety of medical, dental, and vision plans, designed to fit your needs, including a 100% company-paid HDHP plan for employees.
• Financial perks: We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package including annual bonuses, equity options and 401(k) or RRSP if in Canada, with a company match for all team members.
• Time for what matters: Flexible Time Off, paid holidays, and a parental leave program for our new parents.
• Wellness: Wellness stipends, mental health support, and one-on-one nutrition coaching.
• Learning and Development: Continuous learning through 8am.edu, leadership programs, professional development funds, and individually focused talent development.
• Giving back to the communities around us: Participate in our charitable matching gift program, paid time off for volunteer service, and company-sponsored volunteer events (both local and virtually).
• Engagement: Virtual and in-person team-building events, quarterly award recognition through our Rise & Shine Award of Excellence Program, and our peer-to-peer appreciation platform.

At 8am, we don’t just offer benefits - we create an environment where people can thrive, grow, and make a real impact every day.

Diversity, equity & inclusion at 8am:

At 8am, we recognize that innovation occurs with a strong team of people who are diverse in background, personality, talent and ideas. Experience comes in many forms and ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace where we continue to learn from each other is an integral part of our culture. We are committed to creating a welcoming and transparent environment for all that embraces those differences through education, equal access to opportunities and information, inclusionary programs, and community outreach. 

Security advisory:

Our hiring teams at 8am are dedicated to recruiting top talent that share our passion for serving the professional services industry through innovative financial technology.  As such, our Talent Acquisition Team only follows legitimate hiring practices.  We will always communicate with our candidates using emails with the 8am domain and will never ask for sensitive/personal data during the application process.  All interviews take place over phone call, Zoom/Google Meet or in person.  All offers are communicated verbally by our Talent Acquisition Specialists with a written offer letter as a follow up.