Forward Deployed Engineering Team Lead

About Tavily

We're building the infrastructure layer for agentic web interaction at scale. Our API is designed from the ground up to power Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and real-time reasoning in AI systems. By connecting LLMs to high-quality, trustworthy web content, we help developers build agents that are not only intelligent — but also informed.

We work with some of the most innovative teams in AI — from small startups shaping the ecosystem to the largest enterprises deploying AI at scale. Whether it’s powering sales assistants, research copilots, or internal knowledge tools, we’re the missing link between LLMs and the real world.

The role

This is a full-time, on-site role for a Forward Deployed Engineering Team Lead based in our New York office.

We're looking for a player-coach engineering leader to build and scale the Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team at Tavily — the team responsible for how Tavily shows up technically in the field.

The team has two charters: owning the technical motion behind our largest enterprise deals (pre-sales through production), and driving Tavily's ecosystem engineering with the model providers, agent frameworks, and platform partners shaping the agentic AI stack.

As Team Lead, you'll set the bar for technical excellence, hire and grow a world-class team of FDEs, and stay deep in the work — leading architecture reviews with Fortune 500 customers, co-building integrations with our most strategic partners, and shipping reference implementations that the rest of the team builds on.

You'll operate across the full customer and partner lifecycle, and act as the connective tissue between Product, Engineering, Sales, Partnerships, and Customer Success — turning every engagement in the field into compounding leverage for the company.

Your responsibilities will include: 

• Build and lead the FDE team. Hire, onboard, coach, and grow a tight-knit team of top-tier customer- and partner-facing engineers.
• Own the enterprise technical motion end-to-end: pre-sales discovery, solution design, POC delivery, production rollout, and post-deployment expansion.
• Serve as the senior technical sponsor on strategic accounts. Lead architecture reviews, navigate complex stakeholder maps, and unblock deals that require senior technical judgment.
• Drive Tavily's ecosystem function: co-build integrations with model providers, agent frameworks, and ISV partners; ship joint reference architectures that drive mutual adoption.
• Stay hands-on. Lead the most strategic engagements personally, architect RAG and agent systems on Tavily, and ship reference implementations the rest of the team builds on.
• Define how the team operates: staffing model, engagement playbooks, deal qualification, success metrics, and handoffs with Sales, CS, and Partnerships.
• Build durable leverage through documentation, reference architectures, internal tools, and templates that make every future deployment faster.
• Be the loudest voice for the field inside Tavily. Synthesize patterns from customers and partners into clear roadmap input for Product and Engineering.
• Represent Tavily externally in executive conversations, partner QBRs, developer communities, and conferences

We expect you to have: 

• 7+ years of software engineering experience, with 2+ years leading a customer-facing technical team at a fast-growing infrastructure, API, or AI company.
• Proven track record of building or scaling a customer- and partner-facing engineering function. You've hired the team, defined the playbook, and shipped real outcomes against it.
• Fluency in the modern agent stack: Python, LLMs, RAG, agent frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex), vector DBs, and evals.
• Deep understanding of agent architectures and context engineering, with the judgment to push back on a customer's design when needed.
• Experience owning enterprise deals end-to-end, from first technical call through expansion, including comfort in executive rooms.
• Experience driving ecosystem or partner-led motions: joint integrations, reference architectures, and technical evangelism in developer communities.
• Exceptional communication skills. Credible in front of CTOs and engineering leaders, and able to coach others to be the same.
• Builder's mindset. Comfortable defining process from scratch, highly autonomous, excited to work in a fast-paced startup environment.
• Ideally, Based in New York City, or willing to relocate.

Key employee benefits:

• Health insurance: 100% company-paid medical, dental and vision coverage for employees and families
• 401(k) plan: Up to 4% company match with immediate vesting
• Parental leave: 20 weeks paid for primary caregivers, 12 weeks for secondary caregivers
• Remote work reimbursement: Up to $85/month for mobile and internet
• Disability & life insurance: Company-paid short-term, long-term and life insurance coverage

Compensation

• We offer competitive salaries, base pay ranging from 200K - 290K based on your experience.