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Jobs · Washington

Principal Forward Deployed Engineer, HLS

Talkdesk · Bellevue, WA · 1 mo ago
Hybrid$230k–$275k/yrFull-time

About the role

The Principal Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) is a technical leader responsible for shaping how Talkdesk’s most strategic global enterprise customers deploy and scale our Agentic AI platform. Sitting at the intersection of enterprise architecture, hands-on software engineering, and strategic client leadership, you will own the end-to-end technical strategy for tier-one accounts, design reusable multi-agent architectures, and elevate engineering standards across the entire FDE organization.

Responsibilities

  • Architecture and systems strategy: Act as the lead Technical Architect for Talkdesk’s largest, most complex global deployments. Design robust, scalable, and secure multi-agent systems, establishing architectural blueprints for enterprise integration across heterogeneous technology stacks. Ensure designs meet stringent enterprise standards for security and scale.

  • Engineering and Technical Delivery: Write production-grade, highly optimized code (Python, TypeScript, Node.js) to build custom AI agents, orchestration layers, and complex integration patterns. Author foundational SDKs, reusable agent templates, and deployment automation tools that multiply the velocity and quality of the entire FDE team. Resolve the most critical, high-risk technical bottlenecks across tier-one deployments.

  • Solution design and Technical Consulting: Serve as the primary technical authority for key accounts, building deep consensus with customer stakeholders including executive and principal architects. De-risk high-stakes implementations by anticipating systemic integration challenges, performance bottlenecks, and security vulnerabilities before they impact production.

  • Product, Core Engineering & Strategy Alignment: Partner directly with Talkdesk Core Product and AI Engineering teams to translate customer requirements into core platform capabilities. Codify frontline deployment learnings into standard solution patterns, directly influencing Talkdesk’s long-term Agentic AI roadmap.

  • Maintain high engineering standards and mentor: Mentor and raise the technical bar for FDEs through code reviews, architecture reviews, and design documentation standardizations. Define and champion engineering best practices for prompt engineering, agent evaluation, agentic workflow orchestration, and enterprise software delivery.

Requirements

  • 10+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, systems architecture, or technical solutions engineering, with 3+ years focused on cloud services architecting and deploying complex AI/ML/Agentic solutions in production.

  • Proven Track Record at Enterprise Scale: Experience leading client-side architecture and integration for large IT environments (e.g., global ERPs, legacy contact center infrastructure, enterprise CRMs).

  • Deep Mastery of Agentic AI Systems: Proven experience designing and orchestrating multi-agent systems, complex RAG pipelines, planning algorithms, long/short-term memory structures, and tool-use/function-calling frameworks.

  • Advanced Software Engineering: Exceptional proficiency in TypeScript, Python, JavaScript, or similar modern languages, with an uncompromising standard for secure, scalable, and fully tested production code.

  • Complex Systems Integration: Expert knowledge of enterprise integration patterns (REST/GraphQL APIs, webhooks, gRPC, event-driven architectures, Kafka/RabbitMQ) and enterprise data flows.

  • Executive Presence & Influence: Demonstrated ability to build trust, navigate complex organizational dynamics, and drive technical consensus with C-suite executives and VP-level engineering leadership.

Qualifications

  • Deep expertise with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture, advanced vector database management (Pinecone, Qdrant, Milvus, pgvector), and LLM evaluation frameworks.

  • Specialized domain expertise in key enterprise verticals: Healthcare (Epic, Cerner, Aetna/Payer systems), Retail/E-commerce (Salesforce, SAP, complex inventory management platforms), Contact Center (CCaaS), Unified Communications (UCaaS), or Customer Experience (CX) industry.

  • Prior experience in the Contact Center (CCaaS), Unified Communications (UCaaS), or Customer Experience (CX) industry.

  • Contributions to open-source AI frameworks, developer tools, or public technical thought leadership.

Skills

  • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to think creatively under pressure.

  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate with senior stakeholders.

  • Experience with Agile methodologies and DevOps practices.

  • Ability to work independently and as part of a team.

Benefits

  • Health Insurance: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life and Disability Insurance, Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

  • Retirement Benefits: 401(k) plan.

  • Paid Time Off: Uncapped paid time off for exempt employees and an accrual-based program for non-exempt employees.

  • Paid Holidays: 14 paid holidays each year.

  • Paid Sick Leave: Uncapped paid time off and sick leave follows accrual standards.

Pay

Pay Range (Base Pay): $230,000 - $275,000

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