Forward Deployed Engineer
LiveKit · Remote · New York, NY (Remote) · San Francisco, CA (Remote) · Seattle, WA (Remote) · United States (Remote) ·
COMPENSATION
$180k – $320k
Listed on the employer's job board (Ashby)
- Fully remote possible
- 7+ years experience
- Go, Python, Rust
- Real-time media focus
- Customer-facing role
LiveKit provides the infrastructure for developers to build, test, and deploy AI agents and real-time communication apps. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you sit at the intersection of engineering and customer success, partnering with clients to solve complex technical challenges as they move from experimentation to production.
You will work alongside customer teams to design scalable systems, build integrations, and troubleshoot issues in live environments. This role involves translating customer feedback into product improvements and contributing to the open-source ecosystem to enhance the developer experience.
What you'll do
- Collaborate with customer engineering teams to design and implement real-time applications
- Design scalable architectures for voice AI and real-time media use cases
- Build prototype integrations and reference implementations to accelerate development
- Guide customers through SDKs, APIs, and deployment strategies for production
- Debug and troubleshoot complex technical issues in live customer environments
- Lead technical workshops and architecture sessions with developers
- Translate customer needs into insights for product and platform development
- Contribute code or improvements to LiveKit’s open-source ecosystem
What you'll need
- 7+ years of experience in backend or infrastructure engineering
- Proficient in Go, Python, Node, Rust, or C++
- Comfortable working with APIs, SDKs, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure
- Experience building or integrating developer platforms or real-time systems
- Ability to quickly understand complex systems and debug real-world issues
- Strong communication skills for collaborating with customer and internal teams
- Thrives in fast-paced, low-process environments with high ownership
Nice to have
- Experience with WebRTC, real-time media, or telephony/SIP infrastructure
- Familiarity with voice AI, conversational agents, or AI infrastructure
- Background in customer-facing engineering roles like Solutions Engineer
- Experience contributing to open-source projects or developer ecosystems
- Previous experience building with or integrating LiveKit
Stack
- Go
- Python
- Node
- Rust
- C++
- WebRTC
- LiveKit
How you'll work
- Remote work with on-site visits when necessary
- Hiring across multiple levels: FDE, Senior FDE, Staff FDE
What you get
- Competitive salary and equity package
- Health, dental, and vision benefits
- Flexible vacation policy
- Opportunity to contribute to open source