Endeavor AI — Forward Deployed Engineer

Type: Full-time | On-site (customer sites + travel) | Chicago, IL & DMV area (DC / Maryland / Virginia) Compensation: $120K–$140K + competitive equity Hiring count: 5 (goal: 5 hires within a month, 10 within two months) Visa sponsorship: No — not open to any visas (US citizens / Green Card holders only) Reports to: Nandita Iyer, Head of Product Engineering

About Endeavor AI

Endeavor AI builds proprietary, enterprise-grade AI systems that customers own outright — custom AI for manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, life sciences, defense, and other mission-critical industries. The pitch: own your intelligence instead of renting it from third parties. Initially product-focused, the company is now pursuing custom enterprise deals across industries including manufacturing and healthcare.

Founded: 2023 | Team size: 20 | Total funding: $40M (Series A) | Valuation: $250M Industry: AI, Defense, Enterprise, Life Sciences, Logistics, Manufacturing Website: www.endeavor.ai Office: Chicago, IL (+1)

Why Candidates Should Join

• Top-tier backing: Backed by David Sacks (Craft Ventures), BoxGroup, and Contrary, plus founders of Palantir, Snowflake, and ServiceTitan.
• Well-capitalized: $40M Series A raised.
• Elite early crew: Team of 20 built by American engineers from Stanford, MIT, and UC Berkeley.
• Outsized ownership: Small team means early hires get massive ownership and direct customer impact from day one.

Intake Call Summary

• Company: Series A, valued at $250M, $40M raised. Shifting from product-only to custom enterprise deals across manufacturing, healthcare, and more.
• Role: FDEs to staff custom enterprise contracts — client engagement, process mapping, building solutions from scratch.
• Candidate bar: 1–4 years experience per intake (see conflict flag), open to strong internships / strong academic background. Python + React preferred, plus basic database and infrastructure knowledge.
• Comp & logistics: $120K–$140K, flexible for exceptional candidates. Primarily on-site with clients (mostly Chicago and Virginia); travel expected.
• Urgency: High — 5 hires in a month, 10 in two months.
• Ideal profile: Solid engineering background, high ownership, startup-capable, client-facing, works independently.
• Pain point: Revenue scales with headcount — contracts must be staffed fast with engineers who adapt and build from the ground up.
• Team: ~20 total, ~10 engineers. Reports to Head of Product Engineering. Flat, high-autonomy, flexible tech stack.
• Interview: HM screen technical/systems design onsite (4–6 hrs across team members).

The Role

A Forward Deployed Engineer working directly with customers to architect and build AI-powered solutions to real operational problems, owning projects end-to-end in small agile teams.

What You'll Be Doing

• Working side by side with customers to rapidly understand their toughest operational challenges
• Owning high-stakes projects in small, agile teams from conception to deployment
• Traveling to customer sites to ensure successful implementation and adoption

Tech stack: Python, C++, TypeScript, JavaScript, AI/ML, React

Qualifications

Seniority

• 0–3 years of experience in software engineering or forward deployed engineering [Required]

Work Experience

• Owned technical end-to-end deployments as a Software Engineer or Forward Deployed Engineer [Must have]
• Proficient in Python (backend) and React (frontend) [Required]
• Customer-facing or client-facing technical work [Required]
• Strong internship experience for new graduates [Required]
• Prior experience at an early-stage startup or ex-founders [Strongly preferred]
• Manufacturing / distribution / supply chain experience is a plus [Strongly preferred]

Education

• B.S. in Computer Science or other STEM-related degree [Required]

Miscellaneous

• Willing and able to travel to customer sites [Must have]

Traits to Avoid

• Needs structured guidance or clear processes to operate — this is a chaotic early-stage environment
• Only Big Tech with no startup or ambiguous-environment experience

Role Details

• Salary | $120K–$140K (flexible for exceptional candidates)
• Equity | Competitive
• On-site policy | Primarily on-site with customers; travel to customer sites expected
• Visa sponsorship | Not open to any visas (US citizens / Green Card holders)
• Employment type | Full-time
• Location | Chicago, IL & DMV area (DC / Maryland / Virginia)

Screening Questions

1. Describe a time you owned a technical enterprise deployment end-to-end inside a customer's environment — what was the system and what outcome did you drive?
2. Can the candidate be on-site? If not, is the candidate willing to relocate?
3. What is their salary expectation?
4. How actively is this candidate exploring new opportunities?

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Submit candidate After submitting, you'll be notified if the hiring manager wants to proceed.

Stage 2 — Behavioral Interview (30 min) Introductory phone screen assessing background, interest in Endeavor AI, and alignment with the FDE role. Evaluates communication, motivation, and basic qualifications including engineering background and graduation timeline.

Stage 3 — HackerRank Technical Screen (60–90 min) HackerRank technical screen sent by Endeavor for candidates to complete.

Stage 4 — System Design / Technical Interview, Nandita Iyer (Head of Product Engineering) (60 min) Evaluates ability to architect and build solutions leveraging business-critical data and AI. Assesses how candidates approach complex environments, deliver reliable results, and bridge AI models with real-world systems. Includes a technical component.

Stage 5 — Final Conversation with CEO, Sami Senapathy Final conversation on background, experience, and fit.

Stage 6 — Offer Extended

Stage 7 — Candidate Hired

Ideal Companies & Backgrounds

Updated Aug 3, 2026

Early-stage startups in supply chain, manufacturing, or distribution tech Fictiv, Flock Freight, Flexport, Veryable, Tulip Interfaces, Sight Machine, Instrumental Inc., Verusen AI, Kinaxis

Consulting-adjacent tech firms and solutions engineering companies with client-facing technical roles Slalom Build, Thoughtworks, BCG X, Deloitte Digital, Capgemini Engineering

Non-ideal — do not source (large enterprise, rigid / slow-moving cultures) Oracle, SAP, IBM, Cisco, VMware, Dell Technologies

Ideal Candidate Profiles

For reference only — do not source these specific profiles.

Justin Long — LinkedIn Software Engineer, ConnectWise | Greater Cleveland | BS Computer Science, University of Michigan (2022)

Background:

• ConnectWise — Software Engineer (Sep 2023 – present, ~3 yrs)
• Podium — Software Engineer (Jun–Dec 2022) and SWE Intern (Summer 2021). Stack: React, JavaScript, TypeScript, GraphQL, Elixir, PostgreSQL, Kafka. Co-authored a guided product walkthrough that lifted message-send activation from 14% to 80%; refactored the React contact-search experience onto a new API; built GraphQL/Elixir backend-for-frontend endpoints
• Earlier: intro Python instructor (The Coding School, 2020); product development intern (Adatasol, 2020)

Why the HM flagged this profile (stated reason: "strong SWE experience"):

• Core product-SWE fundamentals with clear end-to-end feature ownership and quantified impact
• Strong React / frontend depth plus full-stack backend exposure (GraphQL, Elixir)
• Top-tier CS pedigree (University of Michigan)
• Growth-stage startup exposure at Podium

Calibration read (what this signals for scoring real candidates):

• Experience band: ~3.4 yrs full-time — above the stated 0–3 ceiling, within the intake's 1–4. Reinforces the 1–4 read.
• Python: not a core professional skill in his stack (React/JS/TS/GraphQL/Elixir; only taught intro Python), yet the HM tagged him ideal — suggests "Proficient in Python (backend)" may flex for strong React + fundamentals.
• FDE title: none — a pure product SWE with no explicit client-facing deployment work was flagged ideal, so "FDE" experience reads as substitutable by strong core SWE ownership. Consistent with the rejected-candidate feedback.

Rejected Candidate Feedback

• Emphasize candidates with clear core SWE experience demonstrating end-to-end deployments in Python and React (not just AI or automation sales roles).
• Prioritize hires from early-stage, startup-like environments with evidence of agile, customer-facing project ownership.
• Focus on candidates showing quantifiable impact from production deployment ownership and direct technical client interaction.
• Filter out profiles with long tenures in rigid, slow, or consulting roles that do not reflect early-career FDE/SWE fundamentals.

Data Conflicts to Confirm

• Experience range: Role requirements and role description say 0–3 years; intake call says 1–4 years (open to strong internships). Scoring on 0–3 pending confirmation.
• On-site policy: Role Details field was blank; location + intake indicate on-site with customers (Chicago + Virginia/DMV) plus travel. Confirm exact cadence.
• HM identity: Page lists Ryan Peer as Hiring Manager; report-to is Nandita Iyer (Head of Product Engineering, runs the technical interview); Manish Dahal appears at offer/hired stages; final round is with CEO Sami Senapathy. Confirm primary HM contact.
• Industry framing: Role description narrows to "building materials supply chain"; company/intake describe broader industries (manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, life sciences, defense, healthcare).
• Equity: Listed as "Competitive" — no specific % given.