Forward Deployed Software Engineer

Forward Deployed Software Engineer London – hybrid, (4 days per week in the office) £100,000–£160,000 + share options Permanent, full-time I’m working with a fast-growing European technology company building software and AI solutions for complex, high-stakes environments. They’re looking for a Forward Deployed Software Engineer who enjoys being close to the customer, solving difficult real-world problems and taking products from early concepts through to reliable production systems. Work is completed both on the premises of the clients as well as in the London office, so some travel will be involved. This is a role for someone who wants to build software that gets used in the real world – not simply ship features from behind a desk. The role: You’ll design, build and deploy full-stack applications supporting mission-critical workflows, working closely with both technical teams and end users. You’ll be involved in: Building scalable, robust full-stack applicationsDeveloping web applications that can operate in restricted, intermittent or low-bandwidth environmentsWorking directly with customers to understand operational problems and translate them into technical solutionsCollaborating with AI and engineering teams to turn prototypes into reliable production systemsBuilding data pipelines from customer data sources to support AI-driven featuresIntegrating applications with existing customer systemsDeploying and maintaining secure, reliable systems in challenging operational environmentsSupporting live deployments at customer sites What we're looking for: 3+ years' professional experience in full-stack, software, platform engineering or a closely related technical roleExperience contributing to system design or architectureStrong backend engineering skills across APIs, databases, data modelling and service architectureExperience building modern frontend applications – ideally with ReactExperience with cloud infrastructure, containerisation and production deploymentsAbility to work directly with end users and understand complex operational requirementsComfortable working with significant autonomy and ownershipWillingness to travel to customer sites when requiredDegree-level education in Computer Science or a related technical discipline Nice to have: Experience in any of the following would be beneficial: Regulated, high-trust or safety-critical environmentsGCP or similar cloud platformsDocker, Kubernetes and modern infrastructure toolingLLMs, AI agents or AI-driven data workflowsDeploying software into constrained, on-premises or disconnected environmentsForward-deployed, customer-embedded or professional services engineeringExperience working in defence, security or other operationally demanding environments What's on offer: 💰 £100k–£160k basic salary, depending on experience 📈 Share options 🏥 Private medical and dental cover for you and your family 👶 Competitive parental benefits 💷 Pension contributions 📚 £500 annual learning and development budget 🏢 Premium central London office 🍱 Free lunches and snacks 🎉 Regular socials and annual company trips Most importantly, you'll be joining an ambitious early-stage business where you'll have genuine ownership, significant technical challenges and the opportunity to work closely with an experienced technical leadership team. If you're a strong full-stack engineer who enjoys building, deploying and solving problems directly with customers, I'd be keen to hear from you.