--- title: 'Forward Deployed Engineer at BackOps-AI' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-backops-ai-san-francisco-xn0m2m1t86wc' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-05' --- # Forward Deployed Engineer at BackOps-AI - **Company:** BackOps-AI - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-07-20 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-05 - **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/backops-ai/am9icG9zdDouLvl6bagjrB0APDgg_sbF ## Job description ## ABOUT BACKOPS AI BackOps AI transforms supply-chain operations with agentic AI that automates complex workflows, freeing teams to focus on what matters most. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, we foster a culture of innovation, ownership, and measurable impact. ## ROLE OVERVIEW We’re hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer to sit at the intersection of engineering, customer partnership, and real-world operations at BackOps. This role works directly with customers and operators to deploy adaptive, AI-driven systems into live environments—and evolve them alongside the business. This is a hybrid role for builders who love both systems and people. You’ll operate close to the customer, tackle real-world complexity, and see the immediate impact of your work in production. ## What You’ll Do - Partner deeply with customers and operators to understand real-world workflows and operational complexity. - Translate on-the-ground insights into system behavior and product improvements. - Scope, design, and deploy adaptive AI agents that evolve with customer environments. - Build and integrate production-ready applications that connect our AI platform to customer infrastructure. - Develop demos, prototypes, and workflows that showcase how adaptive agents solve real operational problems. - Debug edge cases in live deployments and turn learnings into actionable product intelligence. - Ensure reliability, safety, and performance of AI agents operating in fast-moving, high-stakes environments. - Build trusted, long-term customer relationships where both you and the deployed systems grow alongside the customer. - This is neither a pure engineering role nor a pure consulting role—it’s a high-ownership, end-to-end role built for curiosity, adaptability, and impact. ## What We’re Looking For - Strong full-stack development skills (Python, JavaScript, or similar). - Experience in customer-facing, client delivery, or partner-facing roles. - Ability to thrive in fast-moving, resource-constrained, startup environments. - Fast learner who can adapt quickly to new tools, domains, and requirements. - High ownership mindset with the ability to take problems from discovery through deployment. - Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. ## Nice to Have - Experience deploying LLMs, multimodal models, or generative AI systems. - Background in NLP, agentic systems, or multi-agent architectures. - Experience in sales engineering, pre-sales, or customer success engineering. - Exposure to operationally complex industries (logistics, hospitality, retail, supply chain, etc.). - Strong empathy and curiosity for understanding how real businesses operate. - Comfort working in environments where requirements evolve week to week. ## Why BackOps - Deploy AI systems into real-world operations with immediate, visible impact. - Work at the frontier of adaptive, agent-based AI in production environments. - Partner directly with customers and founders on meaningful problems. - Join a small, high-performing team with significant ownership and autonomy. - Backed by exceptional investors and advisors. Ready to build interfaces that redefine supply-chain operations? Apply today and help shape the future of Supply Chain AI at BackOps AI. ## About BackOps-AI ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: BackOps builds an AI-native operating system for supply chain and logistics operations, turning complex manual workflows into structured, always-on execution across systems and teams. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series A) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: Sean McCarthy (CEO) and Henry Ou (CTO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Supply Chain & Logistics Technology / AI Operations - **Target customers**: B2B, Enterprise (automotive manufacturers, global retailers, grocery chains, machinery suppliers, and other logistics-heavy industries) - **Mission statement**: To build the AI-native operating layer for modern operations, turning complex, manual workflows into structured, always-on execution across systems and teams. ## Products & Services - **AI Process Center**: Captures institutional knowledge by recording how employees complete logistics workflows, identifies inefficiencies, and converts those processes into automated actions. Includes a Workflow Recorder and historical ticket mining. - **Relay**: An agentic automation engine that runs continuously across communication channels (email, Slack, portals, etc.) to detect issues and resolve them automatically. Capabilities include order management, claims & disputes, shipping & logistics tracking, accounts payable, data & document processing, and customer support triage. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Total Funding**: $34M raised - **Last Round**: $26M Series A (led by Theory Ventures, with participation from Gradient, Construct Capital, and 10VC) — raised in April 2026 - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Theory Ventures, Gradient Ventures (Google's AI fund), Construct Capital, 10VC - **Growth Signals**: - Raised $26M Series A just 6 months ago (as of Sept 2026) - Customers report 93% faster response times and 100% automatic filing of eligible carrier claims - Clients include one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers, a major global retailer, leading grocery chains, and major U.S. machinery suppliers - Headcount of 25 employees, actively scaling team ## Competitive Advantages - **AI-native architecture**: Not a chatbot bolted onto existing workflows, but a purpose-built "operations OS" that learns processes from SOPs and executes across fragmented systems (web portals, carrier APIs, ERPs, email, Slack) - **Forward-deployed team model**: Works alongside customer operations from day one, mapping processes and tuning decision logic — a hands-on approach that reduces implementation friction - **Founding team depth**: CEO Sean McCarthy was an early hire at Amazon Shipping (global sales); CTO Henry Ou led applied ML teams at Apple and ByteDance and ran an ERP integration business — a rare blend of operational and technical expertise - **Full lineage capture**: All decisions and exceptions are logged with complete context, creating a living system of record for how teams actually work ## Strategic Focus - Scaling the team and accelerating product roadmap to meet growing demand for AI-driven logistics automation - Expanding the platform's ability to handle more complex, multi-departmental workflows (CS, Ops, Finance, Sales) - Deepening integrations with legacy systems, carrier portals, and enterprise tools ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Emphasizes a "human + machine" philosophy — building tools that augment operators, not replace them. Described as a place for "operators, engineers, or builders who believe that the future of work is human + machine and not human versus machine." - **Remote/Hybrid**: Based in San Francisco with two offices; specific remote policy not detailed publicly, but likely hybrid given the forward-deployed team model. - **Notable perks**: Opportunity to work on a category-defining product in a space ripe for transformation. Small, nimble team (~25 employees) means high impact and ownership. Backed by top-tier investors with deep AI and logistics expertise. - **Engineering culture**: CTO with strong ML background from Apple and ByteDance suggests a high bar for technical excellence. Work involves cutting-edge AI applied to real-world operational problems. ## Sources 1. [backops.ai](https://www.backops.ai/) — Official product and company description 2. [backops.ai/careers](https://www.backops.ai/careers) — Careers page and mission 3. [backops.ai/about-us](https://www.backops.ai/about-us) — Founding story and team 4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/backops-ai) — Company profile with headcount and founding year 5. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/backops-ai) — Funding data, news, and Expert Collections ## Other roles at BackOps-AI - [Product Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-backops-ai-san-francisco-1m1bz26j9x55) — San Francisco, CA - [Engineering Manager, Infrastructure and Security](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-infrastructure-and-security-backops-ai-san-francisco-e4cky54xn1np) — San Francisco, CA - [Engineering Manager, Core Product Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-core-product-engineering-backops-ai-san-francisco-h95knyk3tvwm) — San Francisco, CA - [Technical Program Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-program-manager-backops-ai-san-francisco-5t082nnrpj11) — San Francisco, CA - [Product Security Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-security-engineer-backops-ai-san-francisco-5f1syczeyyn6) — San Francisco, CA - [Founding GTM Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-gtm-recruiter-backops-ai-san-francisco-trwn25fwpbnn) — San Francisco, CA - [Enterprise Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/enterprise-account-executive-backops-ai-los-angeles-6x74mdhyy05s) — Los Angeles, CA - [Enterprise Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/enterprise-account-executive-backops-ai-chicago-vkd5te1sf1mq) — Chicago, IL - [Enterprise Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/enterprise-account-executive-backops-ai-new-york-4z4fkmv7pbqj) — New York, NY - [Founding Finance & Accounting Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-finance-accounting-lead-backops-ai-san-francisco-byv3mcb1cq7t) — San Francisco, CA