Forward-Deployed Engineer - Enterprise (Founding Team)
About Fractional AI
Fractional AI builds bespoke software to help organizations solve complex, high-impact problems.
Every C-suite in the country is trying to bridge the gap between AI in theory and AI in practice. We close this gap with exceptional engineering talent and custom end-to-end AI builds (see some of our case studies to learn more).
By joining Fractional AI, you’re stepping onto a San Francisco, NYC, NC, and Dubai-based team working on AI projects for top companies from the comfort of an engineering-first startup.
Fractional AI is launching a new enterprise division, which is physically headquartered in the Triangle of North Carolina. The enterprise division is initially focused on healthcare and life sciences (an area where our leadership team has deep experience), with plans to expand into other industries as we grow. This unique opportunity allows you to be a part of the founding team to help build the division from scratch, but with the stability and resources of an established and profitable startup.
About the Role
Joining Fractional AI as a Forward-Deployed Software Engineer, you’ll play a leading role in building and shipping AI applications for our customers - from understanding customer needs to deploying solutions in their environments - all while shaping our engineering and broader Fractional culture for the next 100+ engineers.
“Forward-deployed” means we combine software engineering with customer-facing problem solving, owning delivery from early scoping through deployment and iteration. You’ll spend most of your time coding, but close enough to customers to shape the right solution end-to-end.
By the time you’ve completed your second project, you’ll have shipped LLM applications across more companies and use cases than the vast majority of AI engineers in the world.
What you bring to the table
You write exceptional code + deeply care about the craft of coding (5+ years of experience): you build elegant, production-ready code; you have strong proficiency across multiple programming languages.
You are excited about AI. Many strong candidates will be building AI systems for the first time in a production context, so curiosity and learning speed matter more to us than prior buzzword exposure.
You love solving hard, new problems: you are comfortable self-teaching, asking “why?,” and experimenting to solve problems you haven’t seen before.
You thrive in high-ownership environments: you take initiative, function well with limited structure, and enjoy shaping how work is done. Whether you come from prior start-up experience or a mature organization, you have owned internal systems, shipped production software, and/or made the transition from data/ML work into scalable engineering.
You are comfortable talking with users: you deeply care about the user and skillfully navigate user conversations to ensure what we’re building meets their needs.
You are a great teammate: you are comfortable helping others (and asking for help), you champion integrity in everything, and want to build a one-in-a-career culture of personal growth.
What you'll do
Design and develop custom AI solutions tailored to the unique needs of our customers, ensuring seamless integration and scalability.
Partner with a high-caliber team across the full project lifestyle, from requirements gathering, to prototyping, system design, coding, testing, deployment, and support.
Actively shape our engineering and broader company culture - from how we learn, to how we hire, to how we celebrate - you’ll shape how we make Fractional a place we all love working.
Our tech stack
We’re generally tech stack agnostic - we work in our customers’ environments and code bases, so we choose tools based on their needs rather than fixed preferences. A lot, but definitely not all, of our work is in Python, Typescript, Vercel, and Terraform.
After working at Fractional AI for a few years, you’ll become fluent in the modern applied AI stack (e.g., LangGraph, DSPy, VLLM), from foundation model APIs to evaluation tools (e.g., Braintrust, Pydantic, InspectAI), as well as retrieval and deployment frameworks (e.g., OpenPipe, Pinecone, ChromaDB).
A day in the life
You're on a "Project Team" designed for that client's high-impact AI need- it may be automating a call center with AI phone agents or building an AI content moderation system – each project is different.
You’ll dive into one of the higher priority items for the morning (say building out an evals suite). You have a weekly standup with the customer (the CTO at the client) to chat through tradeoffs, progress, and timeline.
You join team lunch (which doubles as the Fractional AI cross-project standup) to hear about different projects we’re working on … the lunch will turn into a lively debate about Weights and Biases v. Braintrust capabilities.
You’ll have some solo heads down time to continue jamming on the high priority pieces for that print.
Maybe you join a prospective customer call to share your perspective on what’s technically feasible on that potential project.
We move quickly, but sustainably, and believe strong execution comes from good judgment, not burnout.
Who you'll work with
You’ll report to Rebecca, who leads our Enterprise engineering team, and will also collaborate closely with Kyle, who leads Enterprise sales and business development.
You’ll work very closely with other engineers on the Enterprise team -- most project teams consist of 2-5 engineers and a Forward-Deployed Product Manager. We also love collaborating and knowledge-sharing with our counterparts in the SF, NYC, and Dubai offices (we’re all on the same Slack, which makes that easy even across time zones).
You’ll also spend time partnering with Eddie, our Co-Founder and CTO, our CEO, Chris, and Chairman, Travis.
Why you should (and shouldn’t) join us
We’re big believers in transparency and know joining a company is a big decision. We’re not the best fit for everyone and try to be clear on what we are and what we’re not so you make the choice that’s right for you.
Why join Fractional?
Build on the forefront of applied AI: You’ll have a front row seat to how the world’s leading companies are actually deploying AI solutions. By the time you’ve completed your second project, you’ll have shipped LLM applications across more companies and use cases than the vast majority of AI engineers in the world.
Solve big, real problems: Companies come to us when they can’t solve some of their biggest problems themselves. For you, that means learning everyday, never getting bored, and working across a range of industries, customers, and products.
Learn with and from the best in person: We're a team of senior engineers (some former founders, some former engineering leaders) who only want to work on high-impact projects. Working elbow to elbow in our NC office means things like team lunches, quick brainstorming, and the right amount of banter.
Why shouldn't you join Fractional?
Preference for just speed or quality: We love hacking things together for a proof of concept but ultimately our code will be put into production in our customers’ environments - you need to enjoy balancing elegance and expediency.
Predictability is important to you: You’ll be working across customers, programming languages, industries and projects, which means you won’t be becoming an expert in the same product suite or serving the same user day after day.
Customers aren’t your thing: You’ll spend most of your time coding but will be closer to the customer than in most engineering roles. You’ll frequently interact with engineers from the customer’s team to ask questions and problem solve. A deep understanding and appreciation of the customer is crucial.
Our Values
Overdeliver.
Overuse AI.
Over "engineer" the culture.
Location
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area, NC
Work Arrangement: 4 days in-person, Fridays remote
Benefits
🏦 Competitive Compensation Package: Attractive salary aligned with your experience and skills.
📈 401k with Matching: Invest in your future with our company-matched retirement plan.
🌴 Unlimited PTO: Take the time you need to relax and rejuvenate.
🏥 Exceptional Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage: Comprehensive health benefits to keep you and your family healthy.
🚑 Health FSA: Manage out-of-pocket health expenses effectively.
🚌 Commuter Benefits: Make your travel to work easier and more affordable.
🏥 Life Insurance: Providing peace of mind for you and your loved ones.
🎉 Team Events and Activities: Regular events to build camaraderie and a strong team spirit.