Forward Deployed Engineer, New Verticals

We’re hiring a founding Forward Deployed Engineer to help build a new vertical from the ground up.

You’ll be the first FDE dedicated to this vertical, working directly with the GM to define the market, strategy, and early commercial motion. Your job is to turn early customer demand into durable technical capability: defining what the vertical needs, building reusable infrastructure on top of our existing platform, and establishing the technical patterns that future engagements and future hires can build on.

This is not a standard implementation role. It sits at the intersection of engineering, product judgment, and customer reality. You should be excited to work from first principles, operate in ambiguity, iterate quickly, and partner with product engineering to make strong calls about what should become a core platform capability versus what should remain vertical-specific.

- Partner with the GM and early customers to define what the vertical actually needs technically.

- Build the first MVP of reusable patterns, integrations, and tooling that future engagements will run on, leveraging our core platform where it fits and extending it where the vertical requires something new.

- Make architectural decisions about what belongs in the platform layer versus vertical-specific tooling.

- Create the initial technical playbook so future FDEs can build on a real foundation rather than starting from scratch.

- Lead the first customer engagements in the vertical, from technical scoping through delivery and post-launch support.

- Write robust code that solves immediate customer problems while compounding into reusable infrastructure.

- Navigate real-world complexity across customer data, integrations, workflows, and stakeholder dynamics.

- Translate messy customer requirements into systems that are durable and maintainable.

- Partner with Product and Engineering to identify which patterns from early customer work should become core platform capabilities.

- Surface repeatable use cases, infrastructure gaps, and product opportunities from live engagements.

- Help determine when the vertical is ready to evolve from bespoke delivery into a repeatable product motion.

- Work directly with the GM or Solutions Lead to define the vertical’s technical strategy and commercial approach.

- Partner with Data Lab on domain-specific data and research questions.

- Collaborate with other FDEs on shared patterns, tools, and approaches that should compound across verticals.

The shape of this role depends on the vertical you're deployed into, so we measure success based on trajectory rather than a fixed set of outputs. In the first 90 days, we expect the following to happen:

Develop a strong understanding of the vertical, the market dynamics, and the GM's strategy for building and scaling the business. Gain context on the customer landscape, commercial motion, and the unique technical requirements that will shape the vertical's success.

Build a deep understanding of what customers and data partners need, what Protege's platform can already support, and where meaningful gaps exist. Develop a clear point of view on which constraints are temporary, which require new infrastructure, and which represent opportunities for future product investment.

Evaluate the technical landscape and identify the most important investments that will unlock customer success, accelerate delivery, and create long-term leverage for the vertical. Prioritize decisions thoughtfully, balancing immediate customer needs against durable architecture.

Build the initial technical foundation for the vertical by leveraging the core platform where it fits and extending it where the vertical requires new capabilities. Deliver production-grade systems, integrations, workflows, and tooling that create a foundation future engagements can build upon.

Own early customer engagements from technical scoping through delivery and post-launch support. Use learnings from those engagements to continuously improve the underlying infrastructure, implementation patterns, and technical playbook.

Successfully reuse the vertical's technical foundation across multiple customer engagements, demonstrating that the systems being built are durable rather than one-off solutions. Surface repeatable patterns, infrastructure gaps, and product opportunities, and partner with Product and Engineering to elevate proven capabilities into the core platform.

- 3+ years of engineering experience, including meaningful 0→1 work as a founding engineer, early technical lead, or builder in a highly ambiguous environment.

- Strong engineering generalist instincts with a backend and data orientation.

- Comfort working across infrastructure, application logic, and data systems.

- Ability to create structure where none exists and move quickly without a fully defined roadmap.

- Strong technical judgment, especially around short-term delivery versus long-term architecture.

- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to work directly with senior technical and business stakeholders.

- Ability to independently run technical scoping conversations with customers and translate them into concrete execution plans.

- Prior founding engineer experience at a successful startup.

- Experience extending an existing platform into a new domain or use case.

- Track record of turning customer-specific work into reusable internal infrastructure or product capabilities.

This is a rare opportunity to define the technical foundation of a new business line inside a company that already has a real platform, real customers, and real momentum.

You won’t just be executing against a spec. You’ll help decide what the spec should be. If you enjoy building in ambiguity, working directly with customers, and creating systems that become the basis for an entire vertical, this role is for you.