Forward Deployed Engineer

Who We Are:

Why We Do This:

What You’ll Do

1. Strategy & Discovery

• Operate as a first-principles thinker: conduct market and vocational research to identify high-opportunity trades where Emerge can build new pathways.
• Validate new vocation ideas using labor market data, wage trends, licensing requirements, and employer demand.
• Define success metrics and “kill-switch” criteria for each new program before launch.

2. Stakeholder Engagement

• Engage directly with external partners — training vendors, employers, and credentialing bodies — to ensure programs are designed with end-to-end alignment.
• Translate stakeholder feedback into actionable product and operational requirements.
• Collaborate with internal ops and coaching teams to ensure field readiness for pilots.

3. Development & Prototyping

• Prototype MVPs for early-stage tools, systems, and automations supporting each new vocation (using React, TypeScript, Retool, Zapier, and AI-native tools).
• Collaborate with other engineers to translate prototypes into scalable, production-ready systems.
• Collect field data and user insights to refine both the technical and operational blueprint.

4. Program Launch & Scale

• Lead the “first cohort” for each new vocation, combining product, data, and human touch to ensure success from enrollment through employment.
• Build dashboards, automations, and integrations that make early manual processes scalable.
• Document and codify what works — turning pilot learnings into SOPs, playbooks, and reusable infrastructure.

Who You Are

• You’re a first-principles problem solver. You don’t accept “that’s how it’s done” — you find a better way.

Requirements

• Excitement for building AI-native features that enhance—not replace—human work

• Experience with workflow automation tools (Zapier, N8N, Retool, Customer.io)
• Experience launching or scaling vocational or training programs
• Comfort working with justice-involved or low-income populations

Benefits

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity
• Full medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Relocation support to New York City
• Paid work trial (2–5 days, $500/day, travel covered)

About the Interview Process

1. Intro Call: 20-min
2. Technical Interview: Systems Design (45 min)
3. Technical Interview: Pair Programming (45 min)
4. Getting to know you (60 min)
5. Reference checks (3–4 people)
6. Paid work trial onsite (2–5 days)