{"schemaVersion":"jobsearcher.job.v1","id":"db208291a017f098be3e6c63","url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/db208291a017f098be3e6c63","canonicalUrl":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/db208291a017f098be3e6c63","title":"Forward Deployed Engineer","description":"About idler\n\nidler is a frontier data research lab. We build the evals and environments that the world's leading frontier labs use to measure and train their models.\n\nAfter raising a $9m seed round led by Paradigm, we spent the last year developing coding evals for top coding models you know and love. At the same time, we've expanded into other domains besides coding: RSI & Auto-Research, Law, Enterprise Business, Cybersecurity, and others. Now, we are facing more lab demand for our data than we can serve, and are rapidly scaling the team to grow the business.\n\nOur approach to creating training data scales using technology, and all of our data products are built on a unified self-reinforcing platform that learns through experience.\n\nYou would be joining a close-knit team that has reached product market fit, and your work would directly help to multiply our revenue.\n\nYou can see some of our work here: https://idler.ai/collections\n\nAbout the Role\n\nForward Deployed Engineers are heavily customer and partner-facing technical experts who own the entire system that turns our partners’ real work into evals & RL environments.\n\nYou’ll work directly with researchers at top AI labs to understand how they measure and train their models, identifying capability gaps and proposing what we should build next. You’ll establish and maintain partnerships with leaders of companies, civil institutions, and research labs, and you’ll build reusable, robust technical infrastructure to model entire organizations’ workflows to a high degree of precision.\n\nThis role combines hands-on technical work, customer & partner management, and rapid execution. You'll switch context frequently and stay ahead of issues before they become blockers. You're expected to employ sophisticated systems-level thinking, make sound judgment calls, and take ownership of outcomes.\n\nIn this role, you will:\n\nOwn the end to end product pipeline — you will maintain a clear, complete model of customer demand and partnership opportunities, and you will directly shape our product roadmap.\n\nManage both the technical AND relational sides of the customer and partner lifecycles — you will build the tooling you need to manage relationships successfully, while also advocating for customers’ and partners’ needs with the rest of the team.\n\nBuild systems rather than one-off solutions — every customer or partner onboarding should be easier than the last because you built the tooling that made it so.\n\nWhat we value\n\nCustomer & partner empathy — you enjoy the process of understanding what people want, and you come up with creative and repeatable ways to create win-win scenarios.\n\nGrit, coupled with good judgement — you’re comfortable operating in ambiguous, high-intensity environments. You’re independent and resourceful, but you know when you should ask for help before acting.\n\nMeticulous attention to detail — you would rather find and fix the problems in your work than let someone else discover them for you.\n\nOwnership mindset — you take responsibility for results, not just tasks.\n\nGlobal curiosity — you explore far beyond your scope, and you easily make connections between topics which are not obviously related.\n\nRequirements\n\nStrong engineering foundation from a rigorous technical environment.\n\nAdvanced in at least one modern programming language (Python, TypeScript, or similar), with experience writing and debugging production systems.\n\nExtraordinary literacy, as evidenced by written and verbal communication. You can hold your own with senior researchers and non-technical executives alike.\n\nA track record of exceptional performance in whatever you've pursued — academic, athletic, professional, or entrepreneurial.\n\nA high tolerance for ambiguity, intensity, and sustained effort when the problem demands it.\n\nWillingness to travel.\n\nYou might excel if you…\n\nHave worked at an early-stage startup, or in a role where you operated well beyond your job description.\n\nLearn quickly by being embedded in challenging, real-world environments.\n\nHave thought seriously about starting your own company.\n\nDetails\n\nIn-person in San Francisco\n\nCompetitive salary + meaningful equity\n\nFree meals in office\n\nHealthcare, 401(k), 15 days of PTO per year\n\nRelocation assistance\n\nSmall, ambitious team\n\nThis is an in-person role in San Francisco. We're a tight-knit founding team and we play to win. Join us if you like to win too.\n\nCompensation Range: $125K - $400K","company":"Idler","rawCompany":"idler","city":"Millbrae","state":"CA","isRemote":false,"isActive":false,"createdAt":"2026-08-27T09:02:38.425Z","occupations":[{"code":"15-1252.00","title":"Software Developers","slug":"software-developers"},{"code":"15-1299.08","title":"Computer Systems Engineers/Architects","slug":"computer-systems-engineers-architects"},{"code":"15-1221.00","title":"Computer and Information Research Scientists","slug":"computer-and-information-research-scientists"}],"industries":[{"code":"541511","title":"Custom Computer Programming Services","slug":"custom-computer-programming-services"},{"code":"541512","title":"Computer Systems Design Services","slug":"computer-systems-design-services"},{"code":"513210","title":"Software Publishers","slug":"software-publishers"}],"jobPosting":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"JobPosting","title":"Forward Deployed Engineer","description":"About idler\n\nidler is a frontier data research lab. We build the evals and environments that the world's leading frontier labs use to measure and train their models.\n\nAfter raising a $9m seed round led by Paradigm, we spent the last year developing coding evals for top coding models you know and love. At the same time, we've expanded into other domains besides coding: RSI & Auto-Research, Law, Enterprise Business, Cybersecurity, and others. Now, we are facing more lab demand for our data than we can serve, and are rapidly scaling the team to grow the business.\n\nOur approach to creating training data scales using technology, and all of our data products are built on a unified self-reinforcing platform that learns through experience.\n\nYou would be joining a close-knit team that has reached product market fit, and your work would directly help to multiply our revenue.\n\nYou can see some of our work here: https://idler.ai/collections\n\nAbout the Role\n\nForward Deployed Engineers are heavily customer and partner-facing technical experts who own the entire system that turns our partners’ real work into evals & RL environments.\n\nYou’ll work directly with researchers at top AI labs to understand how they measure and train their models, identifying capability gaps and proposing what we should build next. You’ll establish and maintain partnerships with leaders of companies, civil institutions, and research labs, and you’ll build reusable, robust technical infrastructure to model entire organizations’ workflows to a high degree of precision.\n\nThis role combines hands-on technical work, customer & partner management, and rapid execution. You'll switch context frequently and stay ahead of issues before they become blockers. You're expected to employ sophisticated systems-level thinking, make sound judgment calls, and take ownership of outcomes.\n\nIn this role, you will:\n\nOwn the end to end product pipeline — you will maintain a clear, complete model of customer demand and partnership opportunities, and you will directly shape our product roadmap.\n\nManage both the technical AND relational sides of the customer and partner lifecycles — you will build the tooling you need to manage relationships successfully, while also advocating for customers’ and partners’ needs with the rest of the team.\n\nBuild systems rather than one-off solutions — every customer or partner onboarding should be easier than the last because you built the tooling that made it so.\n\nWhat we value\n\nCustomer & partner empathy — you enjoy the process of understanding what people want, and you come up with creative and repeatable ways to create win-win scenarios.\n\nGrit, coupled with good judgement — you’re comfortable operating in ambiguous, high-intensity environments. You’re independent and resourceful, but you know when you should ask for help before acting.\n\nMeticulous attention to detail — you would rather find and fix the problems in your work than let someone else discover them for you.\n\nOwnership mindset — you take responsibility for results, not just tasks.\n\nGlobal curiosity — you explore far beyond your scope, and you easily make connections between topics which are not obviously related.\n\nRequirements\n\nStrong engineering foundation from a rigorous technical environment.\n\nAdvanced in at least one modern programming language (Python, TypeScript, or similar), with experience writing and debugging production systems.\n\nExtraordinary literacy, as evidenced by written and verbal communication. You can hold your own with senior researchers and non-technical executives alike.\n\nA track record of exceptional performance in whatever you've pursued — academic, athletic, professional, or entrepreneurial.\n\nA high tolerance for ambiguity, intensity, and sustained effort when the problem demands it.\n\nWillingness to travel.\n\nYou might excel if you…\n\nHave worked at an early-stage startup, or in a role where you operated well beyond your job description.\n\nLearn quickly by being embedded in challenging, real-world environments.\n\nHave thought seriously about starting your own company.\n\nDetails\n\nIn-person in San Francisco\n\nCompetitive salary + meaningful equity\n\nFree meals in office\n\nHealthcare, 401(k), 15 days of PTO per year\n\nRelocation assistance\n\nSmall, ambitious team\n\nThis is an in-person role in San Francisco. We're a tight-knit founding team and we play to win. Join us if you like to win too.\n\nCompensation Range: $125K - $400K","datePosted":"2026-08-27T09:02:38.425Z","dateModified":"2026-08-27T09:02:38.425Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Idler","sameAs":"https://jobsearcher.com"},"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Millbrae","addressRegion":"CA","addressCountry":"US"}},"identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"JobSearcher","value":"db208291a017f098be3e6c63"},"url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/db208291a017f098be3e6c63"}}