About the Role
Forward Deployed Engineer (AI Platforms & Browser Agents)Location: San Francisco, CA (In-Office, Mission District)Compensation: $170,000 - $210,000 Base + Meaningful Early-Stage Equity
The OpportunityI am partnering directly with the CTO and founders of a fast-growing AI startup backed by Y Combinator, Felicis Ventures, and Khosla Ventures. They are building autonomous, computer-use visual AI agents designed to replace legacy, brittle RPA systems.
Their platform operates directly inside web browsers and enterprise UIs, executing complex, non-API workflows without traditional integration bottlenecks.
Why This Role Is Different
• Code-Native Execution, Not Consultative Presales: You won't be making pitch decks or passing implementation tasks over the fence to core engineering. You will own 2 to 3 enterprise accounts end-to-end, diving into code, debugging execution loops, and deploying production browser agents directly.
• AI-Native Engineering Sandbox: You will spend your time inside modern AI coding tools like Cursor, Claude Code, Playwright, and BrowserUse. You'll use these to manipulate the platform, write TypeScript or Python scripts, and orchestrate agent reasoning loops.
• Clean Architecture & Self-Healing Focus: You are not just hacking together one-off scripts. You will evaluate workflow node structures to ensure compatibility with platform self-healing mechanisms and Model Context Protocol (MCP) tooling, preventing long-term maintenance debt.
• Pattern Matching for Product Engineering: You will work directly with the CTO, spotting execution patterns across enterprise client environments, identifying system edge cases, and directly influencing core platform architecture.
What You'll Do
• End-to-End Account Ownership: Partner directly with client operations and IT teams to map messy, non-API workflows and drive account go-live, adoption, and long-term expansion.
• Workflow Architecture & Agent Building: Translate customer walkthrough videos, SOPs, and system rules into structured, autonomous agent workflows using Playwright, TypeScript or Python, and AI coding agents.
• Debug & Optimize: Inspect raw DOM trees, debug API payloads, analyze stack traces, and refine prompt/reasoning loops to maintain 100% operational uptime.
• Product Pattern-Finding: Identify recurring failure modes across client platforms and feed structured patterns back to internal core engineering to refine the product's core architecture.
What We're Looking For
• Software Engineering Foundation: B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a proven background in software engineering.
• Code-Native Stack: Strong hands-on proficiency in TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, or REST APIs.
• Browser Automation & AI Toolkit: Direct experience using browser automation frameworks like Playwright, Puppeteer, or BrowserUse along with daily use of AI-assisted coding tools like Cursor or Claude Code.
• Architectural Rigor: Ability to look at generated code and workflow structures to ensure maintainability, cleanliness, and system self-healing compatibility.
• Client Presence: High EQ and IQ with the communication skills to run technical discovery alongside enterprise executives while maintaining deep technical authority.