The Forward Deployed Engineer will embed with clients to implement AI applications, optimizing Spice.ai solutions in production and driving customer success in deploying distributed systems.
Building data-driven AI applications and agents is too complex, even for advanced developers.
This new generation of applications need fast, secure access to data across disparate systems, the ability to search and reason over that data, and infrastructure that’s reliable enough to run in production. Today, teams often need to piece together query engines, search systems, caches, and AI tooling, adding significant complexity along the way.
At Spice AI, we simplify this by unifying query federation, search, and AI into a single runtime for building intelligent applications. Our mission is to make building AI-powered software as easy building a modern web application and help developers build the next generation of applications. We offer both open source and fully managed cloud deployments.
For a deeper dive into the vision, watch Founder and CEO Luke Kim's CMU Databases talk on Spice.ai OSS at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyM-ec1lKfU and read his Materialized View interview at https://materializedview.io/p/building-a-cdn-for-databases-spice-ai.
At Spice AI, we hire for MEI: Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence. We're looking for exceptional, ambitious builders who are driven to solve hard problems and push the boundaries of what's possible for AI.
This role requires a Forward Deployed Engineer to embed with customers and partners, accelerating adoption through direct engineering contributions. Responsibilities include deploying, optimizing, and extending Spice.ai solutions in production environments, while collaborating on product improvements.
If open source, distributed systems, and real-world search & AI deployment drive you, apply.
Who We Are Looking For
- An exceptional engineer.
- A problem solver who starts with customer problems and solves them with technology.
- A thinker who challenges the status quo, rejects the current world model, and builds better for everyone.
- A positive force who asks what's possible instead of focusing on limitations.
- Someone who views work as meaningful, not just a job.
- Comfortable with ambiguity and unknowns, leading by creating clarity.
- Passionate about high performance with high standards.
What We're Looking For
- 5+ years in engineering roles, with focus on deploying data, search, and AI systems in enterprise environments.
- Experience designing, implementing, and scaling production database engines, distributed systems, search engines, and data & AI pipelines.
- Track record of strong design, architectural, engineering, and product decisions in customer-facing contexts.
- Excellent communication skills.
- Ability to ramp up quickly and deliver impact.
- Contributions to open-source projects preferred.
- Experience with Apache infrastructure, CNCF stack, or cloud-native development.
- Deep knowledge of databases, data warehousing, data lakes, search, virtualization, and mesh principles.
- Proficiency with Databricks, Snowflake, Starburst, Dremio, ElasticSearch, or similar.
- Strong SQL skills in queries, syntax, modeling, and optimizations.
- Familiarity with data storage like HDFS, Amazon S3, and relational databases.
- Skills in data integration, including ETL/ELT, ingestion, and transformation.
- Ability to tune performance and optimize systems.
- Knowledge of data security, privacy, authentication, authorization, and encryption.
- Problem-solving for complex data challenges.
- Presentation skills for technical and executive audiences.
- Ability to explain concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Relationship-building with customers and partners.
- Willingness to travel 20%+ based on customer needs.
In This Role, You'll
- Embed with enterprise customers and partners to deploy Spice.ai OSS/Enterprise and Cloud Platform in production.
- Build, configure, and optimize proof-of-concepts and deployments for performance, scalability, and security.
- Collaborate with engineering to incorporate customer feedback into core product features.
- Resolve technical blockers, debug issues, and extend Spice.ai capabilities on-site or remotely.
- Design end-to-end architectures using Spice.ai for data querying, search, and AI inference.
- Identify expansion opportunities and drive adoption of new features.
- Work side-by-side with founders as a leader in customer success engineering.
- Contribute to Spice.ai OSS improvements based on real-world usage.
- Own initiatives to refine offerings and deliver superior developer experiences.
Your First 90 Days
- First week: Deploy a Spice.ai instance for a customer scenario and fix a deployment issue.
- First month: Ramp up, lead a POC deployment, and contribute optimizations to Spice.ai OSS.
- 30-60 days: Take ownership of a customer deployment area, from architecture to production rollout.
- 60-90 days: Propose and execute a technical strategy for scaling customer integrations.
About Spice AI
Founded in June 2021 by Microsoft and GitHub alumni Luke Kim and Phillip LeBlanc, Spice AI creates technology to help developers build intelligent applications and agents that learn and adapt.
Before co-founding Spice AI, Luke was the co-creator of Azure Incubations in the Office of the Azure CTO, where he led cross-functional engineering teams to create and develop technologies including Dapr and OAM.
Spice AI is backed by some of the top industry angel investors and leaders, including Nat Friedman, Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure, and Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, who is also on the board.
Spice AI also has notable VC backing from Madrona Venture Group, Basis Set Ventures, Founders' Co-op, and Picus Capital.
Learn more:
- On TechCrunch and GeekWire
- About the team at spice.ai/careers
- The Spice.ai general availability announcement blog post
- The Spice.ai OSS project announcement blog post
Top Skills
Amazon S3
Databricks
Dremio
Elasticsearch
Hdfs
Rust
Snowflake
SQL
Starburst
Similar Jobs
Big Data • Fintech • Mobile • Payments • Financial Services
Lead the development and improvement of fraud prediction models using machine learning techniques, collaborating with various teams to ensure model effectiveness and operational robustness.
Top Skills:
AirflowCatboostDaskKubeflowLightgbmMlflowPythonPyTorchRaySparkXgboost
Artificial Intelligence • Hardware • Healthtech • Software
Lead the talent acquisition function, evolving it into a data-driven process while enhancing candidate experiences and employer branding during hyper-growth.
Top Skills:
Ai WorkflowsAtsRecruiting Analytics
Gaming • Information Technology • Mobile • Software • Esports
The Senior Technical Animator will design and maintain animation systems, mentor team members, and ensure high technical quality and collaboration between teams.
Top Skills:
Animation BlueprintsControl RigIk SystemsMayaState MachinesUnreal Engine
What you need to know about the Montreal Tech Scene
With roots dating back to 1642, Montreal is often recognized for its French-inspired architecture and cobblestone streets lined with traditional shops and cafés. But what truly sets the city apart is how it blends its rich tradition with a modern edge, reflected in its evolving skyline and fast-growing tech industry. According to economic promotion agency Montréal International, the city ranks among the top in North America to invest in artificial intelligence, making it le spot idéal for job seekers who want the best of both worlds.
Key Facts About Montreal Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 255,000+ (2024, Tourisme Montréal)
- Major Tech Employers: SAP, Google, Microsoft, Cisco
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, cloud computing, web development
- Funding Landscape: $1.47 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (BetaKit)
- Notable Investors: CIBC Innovation Banking, BDC Capital, Investissement Québec, Fonds de solidarité FTQ
- Research Centers and Universities: McGill University, Université de Montréal, Concordia University, Mila Quebec, ÉTS Montréal
