Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

Fin, now part of Salesforce, is on a mission to help businesses provide perfect customer experiences.

Our AI Agent Fin is the highest-performing AI Customer Agent on the market today, enabling businesses to deliver impeccable, always-on customer support across the customer journey, from service, to sales, to ecommerce. Powered by our own AI models, Fin resolves complex customer issues end-to-end across every channel...

Together with Salesforce, the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success, we're building the future of customer experience. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn't a buzzword, it's a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing, and we're looking for Trailblaze...

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 organization. 
Lead, coach, and nurture a high-performing FDE team while operating under pressure in high-stakes customer engagements.
Own end-to-end outcomes through clarity in communication, speed of execution, tight coordination, and technical quality.
Operate as a player-coach, actively engaging in strategic deals while developing team capabilities. We value leaders who are in the details, and “show, not tell”.
Support complex, seven-figure opportunities with technical guidance, architecture, demos, and product evaluation support, as well as sales expertise.
Codify successful deployments into reusable tools, playbooks, and inputs to the product roadmap, and create leverage for Fin and our customers. 
Champion a customer-obsessed culture, noticing early indicators of success or failure in customer engagements and raising and correcting them with urgency. 
Lead discovery, design, and delivery of tailored technical solutions, including PoCs, evaluations and business value assessments. 
Represent Fin and the FDE function externally through executive meetings and strategic events.

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.

This is a commercially fluent technical leader who can run enterprise deployments and shape how FDE operates at scale.
 
*Proof of eligibility to work in the United States is required.
The base salary range for candidates within the San Francisco Bay Area is $252,000 - $280,000. Actual base pay will depend on a variety of factors such as education, skills, experience, location, etc. The