Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

MCP is how AI connects to tools and data — the standard created by Anthropic and adopted by OpenAI, Google, Microsoft. We know because we helped establish it.

Our team built AI Actions for OpenAI, shipped Zapier Agents to millions of users, and launched the first remote MCP server with Anthropic. We're now building what enterprises need to adopt MCP safely.

Runlayer is the control plane for enterprise MCP — security, observability, and management that lets organizations connect AI to their systems without the risk. We raised $11M from Khosla Ventures and Felicis
, and the creator of MCP is on our cap table.

We're a team of 15, mostly engineers, shipping fast and signing customers. If you want to work at the center of how AI gets things done — this is the moment.

We're hiring a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to work directly with our top enterprise customers, building custom MCP solutions and translating real-world usage into product improvements. You'll sit on the Product team, writing production code while also presenting to customers and showing them how to use the product. The goal: deeply understand customer needs and help inform our roadmap.

• Impact: Your work with customers directly shapes product direction. What you learn on Monday could be in the roadmap by Friday.

• Excellence: Work alongside top-tier engineers (who you'll pair with regularly) and directly with enterprise customers, learning from both technical challenges and business needs.

• Ownership: Own the full loop from customer discovery through solution delivery and product feedback.

• Work directly with enterprise customers to understand their needs. You'll conduct discovery sessions, demos, and ongoing collaboration to learn how they're using the product and where they're getting stuck.

• Shape our product roadmap. You'll translate customer patterns and pain points into product requirements, helping prioritize what we build next.

• Build solutions that validate product direction. You'll prototype and ship code that tests hypotheses about what customers need, whether that's custom integrations, new features, or workflow improvements.

• Present to customers and show them how to use the product. You're comfortable demoing, training, and gathering feedback in real-time.

• Pair with our engineering team, reporting to our CPO . You'll work closely with engineers who bring deep technical expertise while you bring customer context.

• Close the feedback loop. You'll track how customers use what you've built and iterate based on real-world usage.

• Senior engineering expertise. 4+ years of software engineering experience with proficiency in Python, Type Script/JavaScript, and modern development practices.

• Customer obsession. You genuinely enjoy working with customers, understanding their problems, and iterating until you've solved them. You're comfortable presenting and demoing.

• Product instincts. You see patterns across customer conversations and know which problems are worth solving at the platform level vs. one-off solutions.

• API and integration experience. Deep experience building integrations with various APIs, databases, and enterprise systems.

• AI and LLM familiarity. Experience working with AI/ML systems and comfort with AI-assisted development workflows.

• Communication skills. Excellent written and verbal communication, able to translate between customer needs and engineering requirements.

• MCP or agent framework experience. Direct experience with Model Context Protocol, FastMCP, Vercel AI sdk, Agents SDK, Lang Graph, or similar AI agent frameworks.

• Enterprise software experience. Background working with enterprise systems like Salesforce, Service Now, Jira, Slack, or similar platforms.

• Dev Ops and deployment experience. Experience with containerization, cloud deployments, and CI/CD pipelines for customer-facing solutions.

• Security and compliance knowledge. Understanding of enterprise security requirements, data privacy, and compliance frameworks.

We provide a competitive package designed to attract and retain top talent who can work effectively with enterprise customers.

• Competitive salary and equity — compensation that reflects your expertise and customer-facing responsibilities.

• Paid time off — 4 weeks paid vacation, paid sick leave, and paid parental leave.

• Professional development — budget for conferences, courses, and certifications in AI, enterprise software, and customer success.

• Top-tier equipment — your choice of laptop and accessories to create your ideal work environment.

• Health benefits — comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.

• Customer interaction opportunities — work directly with innovative companies and see the immediate impact of your work.

Not quite the right fit? Reach out to with details about your experience and interests.