Forward Deployed Engineer

About Exa

We raised a $250M Series C to build the search engine for AIs. Led by a16z with existing investors Benchmark Lightspeed and YC doubling down the round brings Exas valuation to $2.2 billion.

Exa is building a search engine for the AI era. Our Search API currently powers Agents Fortune 500s and AI labs as we transform an industry that hasnt been disrupted since the 90s. Were a team of 100 from Harvard MIT Meta Google Research ex-founders and dropouts alike. We are rapidly building the most intelligent search engine in history. Were high agency low-ego and united by the feeling that this is one of the last problems worth getting right.

About the Role

Forward Deployed Engineers are the technical tip of the spear at Exa. You sit at the intersection of product engineering and customer success turning complex integrations into production wins. You need to be someone who can ship code in the morning and close a deal in the afternoon.

Youll embed directly with customers engineering teams to solve real problems with Exas API. Youll context-switch constantly across accounts codebases and industries. When something breaks you fix it. When a feature is missing you build it. When a customer is stuck you unblock them before they even ask. This is not a support role. You are an engineer who sells and a seller who ships.

In this role you will:

• Take a customer from first cold outbound to production integration to closed deal

• Build and ship demos tutorials and sample applications that show what Exa can do

• Debug and resolve technical issues across the full stack from API behavior to frontend rendering

• Identify patterns in customer feedback and translate them into product improvements shipping fixes yourself when possible

• Run many sales and technical calls each week adapting your pitch to CTOs engineers and PMs alike

• Analyze usage data and customer interactions to spot churn risk early and drive expansion

Requirements

• Several years of programming experience. You could build and deploy a production server from scratch

• Track record of high performance in demanding environments whether thats a top CS program a competitive sport a startup or something else entirely

• Comfort with direct customer interaction. Youve sold something supported someone or otherwise held your own in high-stakes conversations

• High tolerance for context-switching ambiguity and sustained intensity

• Willingness to travel as needed for customer engagements

You might excel if you...

• Have built and shipped user-facing products end to end

• Have closed revenue or driven commercial outcomes at a previous company

• Thrive in early-stage environments where your job description changes monthly

• Are energized by the idea of being the person customers think of when they think of Exa

• Care deeply about the problem of organizing the worlds knowledge and making it accessible to machines

This is an in-person opportunity in New York City. Were happy to sponsor international candidates (e.g. STEM OPT OPT H1B O1 E3). In addition to premium healthcare benefits (medical dental vision) we also offer fertility benefits and a monthly wellness stipend to all of our employees.

Exa is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race creed color religion sex sexual orientation gender identity or expression national origin disability age veteran status marital status pregnancy or related conditions criminal histories consistent with applicable law or any other basis protected by applicable law.

Required Experience:

IC