Forward Deployed Engineer at Automattic

<p>At&nbsp;<strong>WordPress VIP</strong> (part of <strong>Automattic</strong>), we power the most influential properties on the web, from the White House to Meta and Salesforce. We are looking for a <strong>Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)</strong> to join our mission in redefining how the world’s largest enterprises scale.</p> <p>This isn't your typical engineering role; it’s an advanced, consultative position where you operate as a hands-on architect and a growth catalyst. As an FDE, you are the front line of trust, embedded with our most strategic customers to solve high-stakes technical challenges in real-time. By combining engineering excellence with deep customer proximity, you won’t just solve problems <em>for</em> customers, you’ll solve them <em>with</em> them, driving business expansion across the world’s most scaled environments. If you thrive in high-impact, ambiguous environments and want to help define the future of open-source technology at the enterprise level, we want to talk to you.</p> <h3><strong>About the Team</strong></h3> <p>The <strong>Customer Engineering and Architecture (CEA)</strong> team at <a href="https://wpvip.com/"><strong>WordPress VIP</strong></a> works directly with our most important customers to ensure they achieve their core technical outcomes and expand their investment in WordPress, VIP, and Automattic.</p> <p>The team’s mission is to drive measurable technical success and long-term growth for VIP’s largest customers through a hands-on, scalable Forward Deployed Engineering practice that combines deep technical partnership with rapid, high-impact solutioning.</p> <h2><strong>Role Overview</strong></h2> <p>As a <strong>Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)</strong>, you will serve as an embedded technical partner to one or more complex WordPress VIP customers in Media, Enterprise, and Government.</p> <p>You’ll work at the intersection of engineering, consulting, and customer success—diving deep into customer architectures, identifying and resolving complex technical challenges, and shaping scalable solutions that drive long-term adoption and expansion.</p> <p>This is not a pure support or implementation role. It’s an advanced, consultative engineering position where you’ll operate as a <strong>hands-on architect</strong>, a <strong>trusted advisor</strong>, and a <strong>growth catalyst</strong>, helping customers succeed with WordPress VIP and related open-source technologies.</p> <h2><strong>What You’ll Do</strong></h2> <h3><strong>Deliver Customer Technical Outcomes</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Engage directly with large VIP customers (often embedded in their teams) to ensure successful adoption, integration, and scaling of WordPress VIP solutions.</li> <li>Directly identify and solve complex architectural and technical problems.</li> <li>Partner with customers as they leverage VIP’s support capabilities, ensuring they fully utilize VIP's high-availability support.</li> <li>Conduct technical discovery and design sessions, producing architecture recommendations, migration plans, and implementation guidance.</li> <li>Maximize the customer’s value from VIP’s platform, integrations, and partner ecosystem.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Drive Expansion Through Services-Led Growth</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Identify and shape professional services opportunities through ongoing technical engagement. Document and refer engagements to other VIP PS teams.</li> <li>Define scopes of work (SOWs) for technical expansion projects, collaborating closely with Services, Account Management, and Commercial teams.</li> <li>Participate in presales and renewal discussions as the technical voice of confidence and credibility.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Hold and Share Deep Customer Context</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Maintain a living technical knowledge base of customer architectures, deployments, and patterns.</li> <li>Act as the internal authority on assigned customer environments, proactively identifying risks and opportunities.</li> <li>Contribute to team-wide tooling and process improvements, including delivery platforms, AI workflows, and documentation systems (e.g., Rocketlane, Notion, or similar).</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Contribute to the Forward Deployed Engineering Practice</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Using data, help refine the operating model for FDE engagements, balancing presence, value, and scalability.</li> <li>Experiment with and adopt AI-assisted workflows to improve delivery efficiency and insight generation.</li> <li>Collaborate with the leadership to expand the practice into a repeatable, revenue-driving function.</li> </ul> <h2><strong>Qualifications</strong></h2> <h3><strong>Required</strong></h3> <ul> <li>5+ years of hands-on experience in web or application engineering, minimally in PHP and/or JavaScript.</li> <li>Strong familiarity with <strong>WordPress at scale</strong>, including common architectures, REST APIs, caching/CDNs, performance optimization, integration methods and security hardening.</li> <li>Experience working directly with <strong>large customers</strong> in technical consulting, architecture, or professional services.</li> <li>Proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues in distributed or high-traffic environments.</li> <li>Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills: equally comfortable in a debugging session and an executive briefing.</li> <li>Commercial mindset: ability to spot opportunities for value expansion and articulate ROI to non-technical stakeholders.</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Ideal</strong></h3> <ul> <li>Experience with <strong>WordPress VIP</strong>, <strong>enterprise hosting</strong>, or similar SaaS/PaaS platforms.</li> <li>Prior experience as a <strong>solutions architect</strong>, <strong>senior developer</strong>, or <strong>forward deployed engineer</strong> in a consulting or SaaS/PaaS context.</li> <li>Familiarity with <strong>AI-assisted development</strong>, observability tools, and modern DevOps practices (CI/CD, GitHub Actions, etc.).</li> <li>Domain experience in <strong>Government</strong>, <strong>Media</strong>, or <strong>Enterprise</strong>.</li> </ul> <h2><strong>Key Competencies</strong></h2> <ul> <li><strong>Technical Depth &amp; Breadth:</strong> Rapidly understand diverse architectures and technologies.</li> <li><strong>Customer Empathy:</strong> Translate customer needs into actionable technical and business outcomes.</li> <li><strong>Problem Ownership:</strong> Take responsibility for technical success, even beyond formal scope.</li> <li><strong>Commercial Awareness:</strong> Balance engineering rigor with business objectives.</li> <li><strong>Learning Agility:</strong> Continuously adapt to new tools, patterns, and customer contexts.</li> <li><strong>Collaboration:</strong> Work fluidly with Services, Support, Product, and Commercial teams to deliver holistic outcomes.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Salary range: $180,000-$230,000 USD.</strong>&nbsp; Please note that salary ranges are global, regardless of location, and we pay in local currency.</p> <p>We are searching for high-caliber candidates with the skills and qualities to have a net positive for Automattic. Pay will reflect the potential contribution and the impact you can bring, which may, in some cases, go beyond the range stated.<em><br></em></p> <p>This isn’t your typical work-from-home job—we are a fully-remote company with an open vacation policy. Read more about our<a href="https://automattic.com/compensation/">&nbsp;compensation philosophy.</a>&nbsp;To see a full list of benefits by country, consult our&nbsp;<a href="https://automattic.com/benefits/">Benefits Page</a>. And check out these links to learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://automattic.com/how-we-hire/">How We Hire</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://automattic.com/expectations/">What We Expect from Ourselves</a>.&nbsp;<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">#LI-DNI</span></p><div class="content-conclusion"><p><strong>About Automattic</strong>&nbsp;</p> <p>Now in <a href="https://timeline.automattic.com/">our 20th year</a>, we’re the people behind <a href="http://wordpress.com/">WordPress.com</a>, <a href="https://href.li/?http://woocommerce.com/">WooCommerce</a>, <a href="https://www.beeper.com/">Beeper</a>, <a href="https://href.li/?https://www.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>, <a href="https://href.li/?http://simplenote.com/">Simplenote</a>, <a href="https://href.li/?http://jetpack.com/">Jetpack</a>, <a href="https://href.li/?http://longreads.com/">Longreads</a>, <a href="https://href.li/?https://dayoneapp.com/">Day One</a>, <a href="https://href.li/?https://www.pocketcasts.com/">PocketCasts</a>, and more. We believe in making the web a better place.</p> <p>We’re a distributed company with more than 1500 Automatticians in nearly every corner of the globe, speaking over a hundred different languages. Enriched by this diversity, we’re united by a singular mission: to democratize publishing, commerce, and messaging so anyone with a story can tell it, anyone with a product can sell it, and everyone can manage their communications from a single source. In short, we help maintain a balance in society, creating and continually refining powerful tools people can use to compete fairly—regardless of income, gender, politics, language, or where they live in the world.</p> <p><a href="https://github.com/Automattic">We believe in Open Source</a>, and the vast majority of our work is available under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License">GPL</a>. Automattic is a <a href="https://mostlovedworkplace.com/companies/automattic-inc/">Most Loved Company</a>, an Equal Opportunity employer, and <a href="https://disabilityconfident.campaign.gov.uk/">Disability Confident Committed</a>. (<a href="https://happinessengineer.blog/2022/09/08/happiness-for-everyone-working-with-a-disability-at-automattic/">Here’s what that might mean for you</a>.) If you need disability-related accommodations during the application or interview process, please <a href="https://automattic.com/disability-related-accommodation-request/">fill out this form</a>. We are committed to ensuring an accessible hiring process for all candidates. Learn more about our <a href="https://automattic.com/automattician-resource-groups/">Employee Resource Groups</a>.</p> <p>You can track your application status and more at <a href="https://my.greenhouse.io/users/sign_in" target="_blank">MyGreenhouse</a>.</p> <p>To learn about how we handle your data, please review our <a href="https://automattic.com/privacy/">Privacy Policy</a>.</p> <p><em>All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. View the “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” poster</em> <a href="https://automattic.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/22-088_eeoc_knowyourrights6.12.pdf"><em>here</em></a><em>. Automattic participates in the</em> <a href="https://automattic.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/e-verify_participation_poster_eng_es.pdf"><em>E-Verify program</em></a><em> in certain locations, as required by law</em>.</p></div>