Forward Deployed Engineer

Description

About Buildkite

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 - giving them the speed, reliability, and flexibility to ship with confidence.

About the Role

Our largest customers run CI/CD at frontier scale. AI is driving their build and test workloads up sharply, and more of these large, established companies want a partner to come in and build alongside them so they can grow and scale even faster.

As one of Buildkite's first Forward Deployed Engineers, you'll take on scoped engagements with strategic customers from design through delivery. Customers pay for an outcome: you work out what they actually need, agree on a clear deliverable, build it as production code, and land it in the platform. It's hands-on engineering with real customer access.

You'll spend time on site with the platform teams behind some of the most demanding CI workloads in the world, in the room with their engineers and executives, and you'll stay accountable until what you built works and is handed off. You'll also shape how it runs (how we scope, value, and hand off work) by actually implementing the first engagements, not by writing the playbook first.

You'll sit in our Revenue org alongside Solutions Architects and Technical Account Managers, close to customers and Sales, and work hand in hand with Product and our Engineering team in Australia. The role is based on the US West Coast, with regular travel to customer sites (around 25%).

Responsibilities

• Work through the customer's reality and scope engagements before the deal closes: partnering with Solution Architects and TAMs to dig into what stands between a customer and Buildkite, identifying true gaps. 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, then keep the work inside that scope as new asks come up.
• Build core platform features, held to the same bar (and using the same frontier tools) as our product engineers. Then hand off cleanly to Product and Engineering so what you build becomes a supported part of Buildkite, benefitting all customers.
• Help Solutions Architects and Account Executives recognize FDE opportunities in their deals and explain what FDE is (and isn't) in plain terms, especially as we build the role together through iteration on engagements.
• This Is You If...
• You've shipped production software end to end in the last few years: code you owned and were accountable for, not just contributed to.
• You'd pass the same technical bar as our product engineers.
• You can translate a business need into a technical spec and back again, and you stay composed when a customer's executive is frustrated.
• 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, be clear about scope, and balance that line when new asks show up mid-engagement.
• 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 and letting what you learn shape the playbook.
• This Probably Isn't You If...
• You want to focus on code with little customer time, or on customers with little code. This role is both.
• You prefer a well-defined roadmap to working out what the problem is and taking initiative.
• You're looking for hourly consulting, training, or migration work. Those matter, but they're a different role.
• You'd rather not travel. Time on site with customers is a core part of this job.
• Bonus Points If...
• 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.

Conditions

This role sits on our engineering compensation bands: base salary plus equity. There's no commission: you're measured on outcomes delivered, not on what the customer spends. The base salary range is $223,000 - $247,000 USD. Compensation is determined based on geographic location, relevant experience, and qualifications.

Benefits

• 20 days paid annual leave plus 10 days sick & carer's leave — actively encouraged, we want you to be at your best and time off is a part of that.
• An ongoing remote-work allowance to help you do your best work — we want you to have everything you need, from great wifi to wellness options that are right for you.
• Retirement and health coverage (based on your region) — build towards your future, your way.
• 16 weeks paid parental leave for primary carers (6 weeks for secondary) — becoming a parent is life changing and we're committed to supporting you and your family through it.
• Confidential EAP & mental health support — sometimes life gets hard. You should be able to access the resources and support you need.
• Support for learning and growth — with time and budget for conferences, courses, and coaching so you have the opportunity to grow, improve your craft, and build mastery.
• Flexibility to work from anywhere in the world for up to 6 weeks a year — great work doesn't have to happen from one desk.
• Exact benefits may vary slightly by country. We'll walk through the specifics for your location.