Forward Deployed Engineer

Buildkite's CI platform is trusted by the world's leading engineering teams, helping ship software used by more than 1 billion people every day. Companies including Canva, Meta, Mistral AI, and NVIDIA rely on Buildkite to run builds, tests, and deployments on their infrastructure, ours, or both.

As one of Buildkite's first Forward Deployed Engineers, you'll take on scoped engagements with strategic customers from design through delivery. You'll work out what they actually need, agree on a clear deliverable, build it as production code, and land it in the platform. You'll spend time on site with platform teams, in the room with their engineers and executives, and stay accountable until what you built works and is handed off. You'll also shape how the function runs by implementing the first engagements. The role is based on the US West Coast, with regular travel to customer sites (around 25%).

• Work through the customer's reality and scope engagements before the deal closes, partnering with Solution Architects and TAMs.
• Spot patterns across customers and bring them back to Product so recurring workarounds become roadmap items.
• Turn true gaps into defined engagements: a clear deliverable, an estimate, and exit criteria that the customer and Buildkite both sign off on.
• Build core platform features, held to the same bar (and using the same frontier tools) as our product engineers.
• Hand off cleanly to Product and Engineering so what you build becomes a supported part of Buildkite.
• Help Solutions Architects and Account Executives recognize FDE opportunities in their deals.

• You've shipped production software end to end in the last few years: code you owned and were accountable for.
• You'd pass the same technical bar as our product engineers.
• You can translate a business need into a technical spec and back again.
• You're at ease with large, established enterprises: structured evaluations, security reviews, and leaders who want to understand the why before they commit.
• You can scope: take a vague ask, craft it into something defined and shippable.
• You'd rather solve the customer's problem than either selling them more or building something shiny.
• You have product judgment: you can tell a one-off from something every customer needs.
• You want to build and stay close to customers, and you don't want to give up either.
• You're excited to help build a new function, and you know that means running the first engagements yourself.

• You've led or supported a migration from another CI/CD system.
• You've been an early engineer at a developer tools, infrastructure, or B2B SaaS company, or worked in a forward deployed role.
• You've worked inside, or alongside, the engineering org of a growth-oriented SaaS company or large enterprise.
• You already use Buildkite.

• 20 days paid annual leave plus 10 days sick & carer's leave — actively encouraged.
• An ongoing remote-work allowance to help you do your best work.
• Retirement and health coverage (based on your region).
• 16 weeks paid parental leave for primary carers (6 weeks for secondary).
• Confidential EAP & mental health support.
• Support for learning and growth — with time and budget for conferences, courses, and coaching.
• Flexibility to work from anywhere in the world for up to 6 weeks a year.

This role sits on our engineering compensation bands: base salary plus equity. There's no commission. The base salary range is $223,000 - $247,000 USD.