Description
We are seeking a commercially-minded engineering leader to build and lead our Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) New Business team. This role is pivotal in helping Intercom scale its AI-first platform to the world's most complex organisations.
This role is both strategic and hands-on. You will lead a Forward Deployed Engineering team that focuses on winning complex, large deals and navigating ambiguous customer engagements. Unlike traditional engineering management roles, this position demands high commercial fluency and a tight feedback loop with our R&D teams.
You will collaborate closely with Sales, Solutions and Product to not only deliver customer transformation but also to translate field experience into sharp, actionable feedback that shapes our roadmap. You will be responsible for codifying what works in the field into tools and playbooks that create leverage for the wider organisation.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading, coaching and nurturing a high-performing FDE team while operating under pressure in high-stakes customer engagements.
- Owning end-to-end outcomes through clarity in communication, speed of execution, tight coordination and technical quality.
- Operating as a player-coach, actively engaging in strategic deals while developing team capabilities.
- Supporting complex, seven-figure opportunities with technical guidance, architecture, demos and product evaluation support, as well as sales expertise.
- Codifying successful deployments into reusable tools, playbooks and inputs to the product roadmap, and creating leverage for Intercom and our customers.
- Championing a customer-obsessed culture, noticing early indicators of success or failure in customer engagements and raising and correcting them with urgency.
- Leading discovery, design and delivery of tailored technical solutions, including PoCs, evaluations and business value assessments.
- Representing Intercom and the FDE function externally through executive meetings and strategic events.
Requirements include:
- 5+ years of technical experience in roles such as Software Engineer, Forward Deployed Engineer, Solutions Architect, Applied AI or related technical roles.
- Having 3+ years of experience leading technical customer-facing teams, with a proven track record of hiring, mentoring and managing high-performing teams.
- Experience selling and deploying AI, data or highly technical products in complex enterprise environments.
- Comfortable with a problem space that is ambiguous in nature, and capable of translating that ambiguity into clear signals for Product and Engineering and for positive customer outcomes.
- Ability to flex working hours to partner with global teams.
Excellent communication and presentation skills.