---
title: 'Forward Deployed Engineer, New Grad at Retell AI'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-new-grad-retell-ai-san-francisco-y4awhc8578g4'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Forward Deployed Engineer, New Grad at Retell AI

- **Company:** Retell AI
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $150k–$260k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-08-27
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/retell-ai/7a23a933-cc70-43c9-a0d8-9f0c08ea4fd9

## Job description

## ABOUT RETELL AI

Retell AI is using first-principles thinking to reimagine the call center with cutting-edge voice AI. Thousands of companies now use Retell's AI voice agents to handle sales, support, and logistics calls that once required large teams of human agents. Backed by Y Combinator, Alt Capital, and other leading investors, we've scaled to $80M in ARR with a team of 50, up from $5M at the start of 2025, and are now valued at over $1.5B. Our vision for 2026 is to build a modern CX platform where entire contact centers are powered by AI. Instead of basic automation that needs constant human tuning, we're creating intelligent AI “workers” that act as frontline agents, QA analysts, and managers, continuously executing, monitoring, and improving every customer interaction. We're growing fast and looking for ambitious builders who want to tackle hard technical problems, move quickly, and have a real impact on one of the fastest-growing voice AI companies in the world. Let's build the future together. Recent recognition:

- [No. 1 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area, San Francisco Business Times 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/voice-ai-startup-retell-ai-145200025.html)
- https://a16z.com/the-ai-application-spending-report-where-startup-dollars-really-go/
- [#3 Fastest-Growing Software Company, G2 Best Software Awards 2026](https://company.g2.com/news/g2s-2026-best-software-awards)
- [Best Agentic AI Software, G2 Best Software Awards 2026](https://www.retellai.com/blog/retell-ai-recognized-as-the-best-agentic-ai-software-by-g2)
- [#4 Fastest-Growing Software Vendor, Brex Benchmark 2025](https://www.brex.com/journal/brex-benchmark-december-2025)
- [Enterprise Tech 30 Class of 2026, Nasdaq & Wing VC](https://www.nasdaq.com/videos/retell-ai)
- [Top-Ranked Startup, Lean AI Leaderboard](https://leanaileaderboard.com/)
- [Backed by Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/retell-ai)

## ABOUT THE ROLE

We're looking for new grad builders who want to get their hands dirty and work directly with customers. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll work closely with enterprise clients to build and launch voice AI solutions. You'll spend roughly 50% of your time building and 50% working directly with customers, helping understand their needs, solve problems, and get projects into production. This is a great fit for someone who has completed technical internships, has a strong interest in startups, and genuinely enjoys working with people and customers.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Build and launch voice AI solutions for enterprise customers.
- Write production code in Python, JavaScript, or similar languages.
- Build integrations with CRMs, ERPs, scheduling tools, and other systems.
- Work directly with customers to understand their needs and solve technical problems.
- Partner with sales on demos, prototypes, and technical discussions.
- Learn Retell's platform and become an expert in building voice AI agents.
- Turn customer feedback into product and engineering improvements.

## YOU MIGHT THRIVE IF

- You're a recent graduate with a strong technical background.
- You've completed one or more software engineering, technical, or similar internships.
- You like building things and figuring things out on your own.
- You have a strong interest in startups and want to work in a fast-moving environment.
- You enjoy working directly with customers and explaining technical concepts.
- You're comfortable with ambiguity and taking ownership.
- You can code in Python, JavaScript, or a similar language.
- You're excited about AI and want to learn how to build real-world AI systems.

## JOB DETAILS

- Cash: $150k - $260k
- Equity: Equity Provided
- Location: Redwood City, CA, US - relocation provided
- US Visas: Retell AI is open to sponsoring work authorization for qualified candidates, including H1B/H-1B, TN, L-1, E-3, F-1 (OPT/CPT), and O-1 visas.

## OTHER BENEFITS

- 100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision insurance
- $70/day DoorDash credit for unlimited breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
- $200/month wellness reimbursement
- $300/month commuter reimbursement
- $75/month phone bill reimbursement
- $50/month internet reimbursement

## COMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY

- Best Offer Upfront: Choose from three cash-equity balance options; no negotiation needed.
- Top 1% Talent: Above-market pay to attract exceptional builders.
- High Ownership: Small teams, significant responsibility, and meaningful equity.
- Performance-Based: Offers tied to interview performance, not experience or past salaries.

## INTERVIEW PROCESS

- Online Assessment
- Recruiter Intro Call (15 min): Learn about us and share your background.
- Technical Phone Interview (45min): Live practical coding
- Technical Phone Interview (45 min): Customer facing systems design
- Onsite/Virtual Interviews (2–3 hrs): Three rounds focused on communication, architecture, and problem-solving.

## About Retell AI

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Retell AI is a real-time conversational AI platform that builds human-like, low-latency voice agents to automate phone calls for businesses.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage, Y Combinator-backed)
- **Headquarters**: San Carlos, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Bing Wu (CEO), Todd Li (COO), Evie Wang (CTO), Weijia Yu (President), Zexia Zhang (CMO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Contact Center Automation, AI Voice Agents, Conversational AI, Enterprise Communication Software
- **Target customers**: B2B (enterprise, healthcare, insurance, automotive, SMBs)
- **Mission**: "A world where every business call is handled by AI that actually gets it right."

## Products & Services
- **AI Voice Agent Platform (SaaS)**: Drag-and-drop agentic framework to build, deploy, and manage AI voice agents for inbound (support, routing, appointment booking) and outbound (reminders, lead qualification, surveys) calls. Includes:
  - Real-time function calling (book, pay, update records, transfer)
  - Proprietary turn-taking model and ultra-realistic voices
  - Streaming RAG with auto-sync knowledge base
  - Performance analytics dashboard
  - Batch calling with conversion tracking
  - SIP trunking (connect to any telephony)
  - Enterprise on-prem deployment option
  - Compliance: HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR; SSO; PII redaction; role-based access

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly available
- **Key Metric**: $40M annualized revenue (fully profitable as of 2025)
- **Total Funding**: $9.4M (including $4.6M seed round led by Alt Capital, backed by Y Combinator and angel investors)
- **Headcount**: ~69 employees (175% YoY growth)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Alt Capital (lead seed), Y Combinator

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary Voice AI Orchestration**: Built from the ground up for sub-second latency (~600ms) and natural turn-taking, not stitched-off APIs.
- **Scalability**: Battle-tested infrastructure handling millions of calls reliably.
- **Enterprise Security**: HIPAA/SOC2/GDPR certified, on-prem deployment, SSO, redaction.
- **High Capital Efficiency**: $40M ARR with only 25 employees at time of reaching that milestone.

## Strategic Focus
- Replace traditional call centers by shifting from human-staffed support to AI-handled routine calls, with human escalation for complex cases.
- Continue improving low-latency, agentic voice models and expanding enterprise feature set (batch calling, analytics, compliance).
- Scale customer base across healthcare, insurance, and other regulated verticals.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Small, high-ownership teams; >$1M revenue per employee; "ship fast" — no committees, ship this week if you can make the case.
- **Work Environment**: In-office in San Carlos (on purpose — speed and collaboration on hard problems).
- **Benefits**: Competitive equity packages, health/dental/vision insurance, meal stipends, relocation support, visa sponsorship (H-1B and other work visas).
- **Tech Stack**: Backend in TypeScript and Python, ML in Python, Frontend in React.
- **Interview Process**: Conversations with co-founders, deep on product thinking and technical ability, transparent and fast.

## Sources
1. [retellai.com](https://www.retellai.com/)
2. [retellai.com/about-us](https://www.retellai.com/about-us)
3. [retellai.com/careers](https://www.retellai.com/careers)
4. [linkedin.com/company/retellai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/retellai)
5. [cbinsights.com/company/retell-ai](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/retell-ai)

## Other roles at Retell AI

- [Forward Deployed Engineer, Intern](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-intern-retell-ai-san-francisco-sdkx41we6vgb) — San Francisco, CA
- [Founding Strategic Partnerships, Cloud & Alliances](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-strategic-partnerships-cloud-alliances-retell-ai-san-francisco-teynheaq1qm7) — San Francisco, CA
- [Compliance Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/compliance-engineer-retell-ai-san-francisco-3mdsygdph1ys) — San Francisco, CA
- [SEO Strategist/Growth SEO Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/seo-strategist-growth-seo-lead-retell-ai-san-francisco-bm5es33g3pmt) — San Francisco, CA
- [Applied AI Engineer (Customer Facing)](https://feeny.ai/job/applied-ai-engineer-customer-facing-retell-ai-san-francisco-m97dr8dazek5) — San Francisco, CA
- [Telephony Engineer - Remote](https://feeny.ai/job/telephony-engineer-remote-retell-ai-remote-7h5qb6e177t6)
- [Deployment Consultant - Singapore](https://feeny.ai/job/deployment-consultant-singapore-retell-ai-singapore-1m6as0mb6d7d) — Singapore
- [Deployment Consultant - Hong Kong](https://feeny.ai/job/deployment-consultant-hong-kong-retell-ai-hong-kong-jqwdzaew9dbw) — Hong Kong, China
- [Senior Strategic Deployment Manager - Singapore](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-strategic-deployment-manager-singapore-retell-ai-singapore-9659k4wx70ht) — Singapore
- [Senior Strategic Deployment Manager - Hong Kong](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-strategic-deployment-manager-hong-kong-retell-ai-hong-kong-ttma82x7gvnd) — Hong Kong, China