--- title: 'Engineering Manager at Forward' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-forward-santa-clara-b8zfwd8e6hkh' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-15' --- # Engineering Manager at Forward - **Company:** Forward - **Location:** Santa Clara, CA - **Posted:** 2026-09-09 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-15 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/forwardnetworks/jobs/7990664003 ## Job description Forward was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D.s, building the industry's first network digital twin: a mathematically accurate model of the production network. It's the foundation for autonomous networking, giving engineers and AI agents the ability to know the impact of every change before it touches production. That founding instinct still defines how we work. We're accurate and evidence-driven, relentless about clarity, and we'd rather be certain than comfortable, building a groundbreaking platform that transforms how teams run and secure networks across every major cloud and vendor environment. Global leaders like Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell trust Forward, alongside fast-growing enterprises and government agencies, realizing an average of $14.2 million in annual benefits, according to IDC. Backed by top-tier investors, including A. Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Omega Venture Partners, Section 32, and Threshold Ventures, and headquartered in Santa Clara, we're most proud of our team: curious people who'd rather build what doesn't exist than accept how things have always been done. Forward Networks is currently seeking a Engineering Manager: Lead architecture, research and development of machine learning systems powering AI features within the Forward platform. Responsibilities : - Oversee design and implementation of large language model–based systems enabling natural-language interaction with the platform’s network digital twin, including query generation, query summarization, and conversational AI capabilities. - Lead development of an agentic AI system that enables users to interact with the Forward platform using natural language and automate complex network analysis workflows. - Guide the design for system components enabling large language models to interpret user intent, plan multi-step workflows, invoke platform APIs and query engines, and synthesize results using trusted network digital-twin data. - Plan and manage long-term AI initiatives including quarterly and annual roadmap planning, effort estimation, and prioritization of engineering work. Track development progress using project management tools such as JIRA and coordinate execution of large-scale machine learning and platform engineering projects. - Coordinate development work across machine learning, backend, and frontend engineering teams to deliver AI-driven capabilities within the Forward Enterprise platform. - Collaborate with product management and user-experience teams to define feature requirements, incorporate user feedback, and guide technical implementation of AI features. Manage and mentor machine learning engineers responsible for AI system development. Conduct hiring interviews, make hiring recommendations, perform performance reviews, onboard new employees, and guide team members in technical development and project execution. - Serve as the primary point of contact for production issues involving AI features within the platform. - Monitor system performance, triage incidents, coordinate debugging and resolution across engineering teams, and oversee continuous improvement of deployed AI systems. Education and Experience Required: Master's degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field and 24 months of experience. Salary: $239,200/yr. - $249,200/yr. Job code #43942 must be referenced when applying to this position. ## #LI-DNI ## About Forward ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Forward Networks provides a vendor-agnostic "digital twin" software platform that creates a mathematically accurate model of an enterprise's entire hybrid network, enabling teams to verify changes, improve security, and accelerate troubleshooting. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series D) - **Headquarters**: Santa Clara, California, United States - **Founded**: 2013 - **Founders**: David Erickson, Nikhil Handigol, Brandon Heller, Peyman Kazemian ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Computer Networking Products, Network Management Software, Network Security - **Target customers**: B2B, primarily large enterprises (including Fortune 50 institutions), financial services, global entertainment companies, and top-level US federal government agencies. - **Mission or purpose statement**: To transform networks to be more reliable, agile, and secure by providing a single source of verified truth for how a network actually behaves. ## Products & Services - **Forward Enterprise**: The core platform, a network digital twin. It builds a mathematically accurate model of every device, path, and policy across a hybrid network (on-premises and cloud). Used by networking, security, cloud, and compliance teams for change management, compliance audits, and troubleshooting. - **Forward AI**: Built on the Forward Enterprise digital twin, this feature allows users to ask the twin questions in natural language to validate changes, understand network behavior, and act with confidence. - **Forward Predict**: A newer offering built on the digital twin that allows users to predict the outcome of changes before they are implemented, answering "what if" scenarios. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: **Total Funding**: $112.1 million across four rounds. **Annual Revenue**: Approximately $15.0 million (estimated). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Threshold Ventures. Customers include Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell. - **Growth Signals**: The company has been in the market for over 10 years, has won 25+ industry awards, and supports 30+ vendors. It has a presence in 6 countries (including India, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and France). Employee headcount is around 199 with monthly growth of +0.4%. ## Competitive Advantages - **Mathematically Accurate Digital Twin**: The core technology is a mathematically precise model of the network, which is a significant differentiator from competitors that use simpler or less accurate modeling methods. - **Vendor-Agnostic**: The platform works across all major cloud and vendor environments (e.g., A10, Arista, Cisco, F5, Fortinet, Juniper, Palo Alto Networks, AWS, GCP), providing a single source of truth for multi-vendor networks. - **Strong Investor & Customer Base**: Backed by top-tier venture capital firms and trusted by some of the world's most demanding and complex networks, including major financial institutions and government agencies. ## Strategic Focus - **AI and Predictive Analysis**: The company is heavily investing in AI capabilities (Forward AI) and predictive modeling (Forward Predict) to move from reactive troubleshooting to proactive network management. - **Expanding Platform Capabilities**: Continuing to build out the digital twin platform to serve more use cases for different teams (networking, security, cloud, compliance) and to handle increasingly complex hybrid environments. - **Market Penetration**: Leveraging a strong base of referenceable Fortune 500 and government clients to expand its footprint and grow its customer base. ## Why Work Here - **Culture & Mission**: Described as a "people-centric, innovative culture" where "brilliant minds are shaping the future of network reliability, security, and AI-ready operations." The company emphasizes that it is an "agile team and early-stage company with plenty of opportunities to grow." - **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: The company offers remote positions (e.g., a Customer Care Engineer role listed for Australia). The specific policy for all roles is likely flexible and depends on the team and location. - **Notable Perks & Benefits**: - **Compensation**: Competitive pay and equity packages. - **Health & Wellness**: Top-grade medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families. - **Time Off**: No tracked time off for vacations, holidays, and family days (with manager approval). - **Growth**: Opportunities for professional growth within an agile, early-stage company environment. - **Engineering Culture**: Founded by four Stanford Ph.D.s, the company has a strong technical foundation. The work involves solving complex problems at scale for the world's most demanding networks, which would appeal to engineers who enjoy deep technical challenges. ## Sources 1. [forwardnetworks.com - Careers](https://www.forwardnetworks.com/careers/) 2. [forwardnetworks.com - About](https://www.forwardnetworks.com/about/) 3. [forwardnetworks.com - Homepage](https://www.forwardnetworks.com/) 4. [linkedin.com - Forward Networks](https://www.linkedin.com/company/forward-networks) 5. 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