Forward Deployed ML Engineer

Position Overview

Modal is seeking an experienced Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to partner with the sales team and drive technical sales success. As an FDE, you will be the technical voice in the sales process, working directly with Account Executives to help enterprise customers understand how Modal can transform their AI/ML infrastructure. You will partner with Account Executives to identify, qualify, and close strategic enterprise opportunities while leading technical discovery sessions with prospective customers.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Account Executives to identify, qualify, and close strategic enterprise opportunities
• Lead technical discovery sessions with prospective customers to understand their current infrastructure, pain points, and requirements
• Design and present compelling technical solutions that demonstrate how Modal addresses customer needs
• Conduct technical demos, experiments, and proof-of-concepts that showcase Modal's capabilities
• Navigate complex technical evaluations and address security, compliance, and integration concerns
• Build trusted advisor relationships with technical decision-makers including CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and ML Engineering leads
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to communicate customer feedback and influence product roadmap
• Support contract negotiations by providing technical expertise on implementation timelines, resource requirements, and success metrics

Requirements & Skills

• Experience working with AI applications (ideally some cool examples you want to demo!)
• Understanding of ML/AI infrastructure challenges including model training, inference, and MLOps workflows
• Exceptional presentation and communication skills with ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and business audiences
• Strong business acumen with understanding of enterprise buying processes and procurement
• Experience selling or implementing serverless computing, container platforms, or ML infrastructure solutions preferred
• 2+ years professional software engineering experience
• Willing to work in-person in New York City, San Francisco or Stockholm