Deepsetai

Forward Deployed Engineering Manager

Berlin, Germany full-time Mid Salary not listed
full-time Mid level Technology & IT Curated
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About the role

TL;DR
We’re hiring a Manager to lead our Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team in Customer Engineering. You build a healthy, high-trust team and make sure it delivers deepset’s AI Platform into enterprise and public sector production environments, on target and on quality. You came up close to the work and still go deep when it matters.

Why deepset
At deepset, we’re on a mission to make custom AI solutions accessible to every organization. With Haystack, thousands of developers build advanced LLM applications every day, while our enterprise-ready AI Platform helps companies turn large language models into business value. We’re remote-first, flexible, and built on a culture of trust and ownership. You’ll collaborate with top-tier tech talent, tackle meaningful challenges, and help transform complex AI into solutions that are simple, powerful, and ready for the real world.

What you will do
Lead and Develop the Team
Own team health and culture across the four FDE profiles (Advisory, Builder, Operating, Support): a safe space where hard questions are welcome and engineers share patterns instead of working in silos.

Run strong 1:1s and career conversations so every FDE knows where they stand and how to grow.

Build the hiring and onboarding pipeline for a remote-first, async-heavy team.

Clear blockers fast, and escalate the ones you can’t resolve before they become delivery risks.

Run the Delivery Engine
Staff the right FDE profile to the right engagement and deliver against your team’s utilization targets, protecting against both burnout and idle capacity.

Hold the technical bar: review architecture and solution decisions across RAG pipelines, retrieval quality, deployment topology, and production operations.

Deliver engagements on scope and on plan, follow our delivery processes, and own resolution of customer escalations.

Collaborate Across the Organization
Partner with the Delivery Lead and Value Engineers on scope, feasibility, and staffing, with clear ownership at each handoff.

Feed field insight to Product and Engineering, and build reusable patterns that reduce custom work.

What you bring to the team
Experience leading customer-facing engineering, professional services, or delivery teams in enterprise software, AI, or infrastructure.

Strong coaching instincts: you develop engineers and build high-trust teams.

Technical depth to hold the bar: RAG (retrieval, embeddings, re-ranking, evaluation), cloud and self-hosted deployments, model optimization, APIs, integrations, and IAM/security fundamentals.

Commercial awareness: you understand how scope, staffing, and execution affect utilization, revenue, and margin.

Clear, written and verbal communication with technical and executive audiences, and comfort with ambiguity in a remote-first setup.

Nice to have
Experience running services or delivery inside a SaaS or platform company navigating the move to enterprise and self-hosted deployments.

Experience with OKR frameworks and squad-based delivery organizations.

Familiarity with agent-based systems, LLM platforms, and AI-native engineering tooling-

Benefits
Remote-first setup with flexible hours & tech of your choice

30 days vacation + extra days for family sick leave

Competitive salary & stock options for every team member

Monthly sports & mental health support allowance with Oliva

Annual learning & development budget

Monthly team socials & in-person meetups

Dog-friendly Berlin HQ

About us
Founded in 2018, deepset builds open and enterprise-grade tools that help teams build AI with purpose. From Haystack, our open-source framework, to the Haystack Enterprise Platform, we give developers and organizations the building blocks to solve complex, high impact challenges with AI with full control, transparency, and sovereignty. Backed by GV and Balderton, we’re growing the world’s production AI community and customer base solving challenges too critical to get wrong.
‍Visit us to learn more: deepset Website | Haystack Website | GitHub | Linkedin | X deepset (Twitter) | X haystack (Twitter)
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Interview prep

Walk in with sharper answers.

Use this as a quick practice sheet before you speak with the employer.

Mid
Technology & IT Remote Collaboration Sales Forward Deployed Engineering Mid level

Likely questions

  1. Tell us about work you have done that is close to the Forward Deployed Engineering Manager role.
  2. How would you approach your first 30 days at Deepsetai?
  3. Which of Remote Collaboration, Sales and Forward have you used recently, and what did it help you achieve?
  4. Describe a time you solved a problem without waiting to be told exactly what to do.
  5. How do you handle busy days, changing priorities, or pressure at work?

Prepare before the call

  • A recent example that proves your experience with Remote Collaboration, Sales and Forward.
  • One short story with a problem, your action, and the result.
  • Two examples that show the strengths listed on your CV.
  • A clear reason why this role and company interest you.
  • Your availability, preferred work style, and salary expectations.

Ask them

  • What would success look like in the first 90 days?
  • What are the main problems this hire should help solve?
  • How does the team give feedback and measure good work?
  • What does a normal working week look like for this role?
Practice line

I am interested in the Forward Deployed Engineering Manager role because I can bring practical experience in Remote Collaboration, Sales and Forward, learn the team quickly, and contribute to the outcomes Deepsetai needs from this hire.

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