Responsibilities
- Design and architect technical solutions in the core product that align with client needs.
- Leverage the latest AI/ML models and techniques to automate solutions in novel ways.
- Fix bugs, implement features, and solve the most critical problems our customers are facing across our entire platform.
- Build solutions and relationships with the subject-matter experts, users, managers, and executives that rely on our platform in a way that builds trust.
- Serve as the technical expert for our products and services.
- Clearly communicate the technical aspects of our solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences, addressing questions and concerns effectively.
- Work closely with cross-functional teams, including sales, product management, and product engineering, to ensure seamless solution implementation.
- Provide valuable feedback to enhance our products based on client needs and market trends.
- Leverage your experience to build solutions that improve the product across our quickly growing customer base.
- Work with other product and engineering teams to build in a way that is accretive towards long-term product vision.
Requirements
- 5+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering.
- Motivated by solving real-world problems that drive mission outcomes.
- Have an entrepreneurial spirit and a growth mindset.
- Deeply empathetic and have a strong desire to solve problems for customers in a highly leveraged way that is accretive towards product strategy and builds trust along the way.
- Enjoy building software iteratively with subject matter experts, ultimately delivering an exceptional solution that solves the problem.
- Strong collaborator and influential engineer who communicates and partners well with internal and external clients.
- Thrive in fast-paced environments.
- Want to move fast and deliver at a high quality bar.
- Know how to unstick yourself and others when necessary.
Work Arrangement
On-site
Testimonial: Hear from one of our FDEs at Candid!
My day-to-day varies a lot, which is one of my favorite aspects of the job! Some days, it is similar to a typical software engineering role where I am writing and reviewing code. Other days, I am working with my team to design a solution to a problem or scoping out requirements for a new feature. A major difference in the day-to-day from my experiences in a traditional software engineering role is that I am frequently interfacing directly with our customers. We talk about what we can do to improve their experience as Candid customers, and then get to go execute on those opportunities. We work closely with our teammates on the Strategy and Operations team to understand customer requirements and devise solutions for our customer’s problems.
What’s the coolest thing you’ve accomplished so far? Any notable customer outcomes you’d like to highlight?
Our team supports the engineering efforts behind going live with new practices for our largest customers. This often involves enabling the integrations with their systems and third party vendors, developing features to support new workflows, and setting up custom configurations for new customers. Since starting 6 months ago, I have contributed to successful launches with 2 of the largest organizations on Candid. For both of these customers, my team was on-site to resolve issues in real-time and deploy updates based on the signal that we gather from observing users on Candid for the first time.
What do you like most about your role?
I love that in my role no day is the same. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, I get to work on all parts of the app depending on what is most important to the customer. Additionally, we have the privilege of interfacing directly with our customers. Seeing the look on our customers' faces after resolving a pain point that they mentioned just a day before is priceless!
What are some examples of skills that are important for your team/role?
The skills that are important on the Forward Deployed Engineering team differ slightly from a traditional software engineering role. Of course, a strong technical skillset is important when developing software, but there are some nuances in this role that require a unique skillset. We are often not provided with explicit product requirements, but rather a problem statement or a desired capability. The ability to translate that into requirements, implementation specifications, and a realistic timeline is crucial. The role also requires a lot of collaboration. Since we do not have ownership over a specific product domain, but rather customer outcomes, we are often contributing to products owned by other teams. Being able to learn about an unfamiliar system, ask good questions, and consider tradeoffs is key to success as a Forward Deployed Software Engineer.
Additional Information
- The role requires translating problem statements or desired capabilities into requirements, implementation specifications, and realistic timelines.
- Ability to learn about unfamiliar systems, ask good questions, and consider tradeoffs is key.
- Engineers frequently interface directly with customers.
- Team often contributes to products owned by other teams.
- No ownership over a specific product domain, but rather customer outcomes.
