Director, Forward Deployed Engineering & Technical Support

Stack

Responsibilities

• ▹Lead and scale both the FDE and Technical Support teams: engagement models, operating standards, headcount plans, career development frameworks
• ▹Own the FDE engagement lifecycle: technical discovery, environment assessment, solution architecture, PoC validation, deployment guidance
• ▹Engage Sales at the right moments so FDE coverage goes to the customers where it drives the most value
• ▹Set the standard for how FDEs operate: trusted advisors first, hands-on contributors where the situation calls for it
• ▹Own the field feedback loop: synthesize patterns from FDE engagements and support escalations into clear, prioritized product input
• ▹Run Technical Support across all tiers (Tier 1-3) with defined SLA/SLO frameworks, CSAT and TTR targets, escalation paths, and a developer-first knowledge base
• ▹Drive operational discipline across Zendesk (support operations), HubSpot (customer health), Linear (engineering escalations), and Notion (internal knowledge)
• ▹Partner with Sales, Account Management, Product, and Engineering on pre-sales strategy, QBRs, escalations, and roadmap alignment

Requirements

• ▹10+ years in technical customer-facing roles (solutions engineering, field engineering, or a hybrid FDE function), with at least 4 years leading a team in a high-growth cloud, SaaS, or AI/ML company
• ▹Deep technical fluency in GPU compute and AI/ML infrastructure; hands-on coding ability (Python, Docker/Kubernetes) expected
• ▹Demonstrated experience building or leading a technical engagement function spanning pre- and post-sales with clear ownership of solution architecture and customer outcomes
• ▹Proven ability to build and run tiered support organizations: SLA/SLO frameworks, on-call structures, escalation paths, and the tooling to operate them at scale
• ▹Strong systems-builder instinct, comfortable creating structure where little exists: playbooks, triage frameworks, onboarding programs, knowledge base architecture
• ▹Proficiency with Zendesk, HubSpot, Linear, and Notion; comfort using AI tools (Claude, Gemini, GPT) to accelerate documentation and triage
• ▹Exceptional communicator across audiences, equally at home in a technical architecture discussion and translating field observations into product priorities
• ▹Successful completion of a background check

Soft skills

What we offer

• ▹Competitive base pay of $200,000-$300,000
• ▹Meaningful equity in a fast-growing company
• ▹Generous medical, dental & vision plans — 100% coverage for employees, partial for dependents
• ▹Flexible PTO
• ▹Remote-first role with Slack as the main communication channel
• ▹$1,200 Home Office & Equipment Stipend

About the company

Runpod is the AI Developer Cloud: more than one million developers use it from research to production, and the platform has processed more than 20 billion inference requests; Runpod closed a $100M Series A in June 2026.