---
title: 'Forward Deployed Engineer at Robots and Pencils'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-robots-and-pencils-united-states-m2r5cw38w5ve'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-10'
---

# Forward Deployed Engineer at Robots and Pencils

- **Company:** Robots and Pencils
- **Location:** United States
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-07-29
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/robotsandpencils/jobs/5373859008

## Job description

Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer

We're looking for a Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer to lead the design, delivery, and adoption of AI/ML systems directly within client environments. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives on architectural decisions, can own systems end-to-end, and drives real outcomes at the intersection of technical depth and client partnership.

In this role, you will embed with clients as a key technical leader, defining AI architecture, leading model development and optimization, and solving challenging integration problems in live enterprise environments. You'll parachute into in-flight work where reliability, security, and scalability are critical — and you'll be the person who makes it land. You'll raise the bar on how we build and deploy AI systems and help clients actually adopt and scale what we ship.

#

## Why This Role Matters

At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems for a human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencils means engineering paired with creativity, because every agent we ship has to work for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate.

Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to 45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on.

## What You'll Do

Craft & Delivery

- Lead the design and implementation of complex ML/AI systems end-to-end within client environments, owning architecture decisions and driving solutions from research through production at scale
- Build, deploy, and evolve scalable ML platforms, pipelines, and infrastructure that support reliable, repeatable model development and deployment — often within existing client constraints
- Diagnose and unblock integration challenges in live systems, adapting quickly to unfamiliar codebases, cloud environments, and organizational contexts
- Set the standard for AI-forward engineering, using tools like Claude and Cursor with sophistication and helping both our team and client teams adopt them effectively

Collaboration & Client Partnership

- Embed directly with client teams, earning trust quickly and translating their business problems into AI system designs that actually work in their environment
- Partner with product, engineering, and leadership — ours and the client's — to align technical direction with business outcomes
- Translate complex AI tradeoffs, risks, and opportunities into clear narratives for technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Lead design reviews and technical discussions, raising the bar for engineering rigor across both R&P and client teams

Leadership & Influence

- Define AI architecture and engineering standards for each engagement, bringing depth on tradeoffs, long-term implications, and responsible AI practices
- Drive client adoption of AI systems post-delivery — identifying gaps in understanding, building enablement materials, and upskilling client engineers where needed
- Mentor and grow junior and mid-level engineers, multiplying impact through coaching, code reviews, and pairing on hard problems
- Take ownership of the most ambiguous and highest-stakes pieces of work, driving them through to production with care for reliability, cost, and safety

## What You'll Bring

- 7+ years professional software engineering experience, with 4+ years focused on AI/ML systems in production and deep hands-on experience with generative AI development
- Expert software engineering background (Python or similar) with strong design sensibilities for scalable, maintainable systems
- Deep expertise with cloud platforms, including in-depth understanding of AWS services and AWS GenAI offerings
- Proven track record designing and shipping complex agentic systems in production environments, including within client or enterprise constraints
- Mastery of AI frameworks and orchestration tools
- Strong experience with evaluation frameworks and observability tools for LLM apps, including building these capabilities where they don't yet exist
- Deep understanding of AI safety, responsible AI principles, prompt injection defenses, and PII handling
- Extensive experience building RAG pipelines: chunking strategies, embedding models, vector databases, and advanced retrieval techniques
- API design experience, including architecting and integrating with internal and third-party services at scale
- Advanced cost optimization expertise: token economics, caching strategies, model routing, quantization
- Strong working knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes for containerized deployments
- Demonstrable, day-to-day usage and expert knowledge of AI-forward coding tools such as Claude Code and Cursor
- Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving client environments — adapting quickly, communicating clearly, and earning trust at the engineering level

Our salary range is $177,375 – $209,625 USD

## About Robots and Pencils

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Robots & Pencils is an Applied AI Engineering Partner that builds generative and agentic AI systems for enterprise clients, taking AI from pilot to production quickly.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Bootstrapped/Organic Growth)
- **Headquarters**: Chagrin Falls, Ohio, United States
- **Founded**: 2009
- **Founders**: Len Pagon (CEO), Nathan Carmon

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: IT Services and IT Consulting, Applied AI Engineering, Cloud-Native Development
- **Target customers**: Enterprise clients in Financial Services, Healthcare, Education, Energy, Retail & Consumer Goods, High Tech, and Transportation
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "We build smart systems for a human world" — blending the logic of machines with the creativity of humans to help organizations modernize platforms, design cloud-native applications, and unlock the real-world value of AI.

## Products & Services
- **Applied AI Engineering**: Building generative and agentic AI systems on Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, with memory, observability, and security built in from the start. Focused on taking AI from pilot to production quickly.
- **Cloud-Native AWS Modernization**: Re-architecting AWS environments from EC2/ECS to serverless-native infrastructure. Migrating legacy systems to cloud-native AWS, beyond lift-and-shift.
- **The Sharpening Sprint™**: A structured engagement to surface the strongest AI use cases for a client and deliver a sequenced build plan.
- **UX/UI Design & Product Strategy**: A creative team of product owners, researchers, UX designers, and visual designers who craft seamless experiences.
- **Legacy Platform Modernization**: Refactoring aging platforms and designing cloud-native applications across industries.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (privately held)
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of **$21.5M** (estimated) [ca.linkedin.com](https://ca.linkedin.com/company/robots-and-pencils)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: AWS (Advanced Tier Services Partner and Inaugural AWS Pattern Partner)
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount of ~115 employees (+35.1% YoY, +39 people) [ca.linkedin.com](https://ca.linkedin.com/company/robots-and-pencils); 23,753 LinkedIn followers (+55.2% yearly growth); 77M+ users reached worldwide across launched apps; 25 patents & published works; 5 apps hit #1 in the App Store

## Competitive Advantages
- **Applied AI Engineering Focus**: Specializes exclusively in taking generative and agentic AI from pilot to live, fast — a nimble, high-velocity alternative to traditional global systems integrators.
- **AWS Pattern Partner**: One of only 11 inaugural AWS Pattern Partners selected from the AWS Partner Network, signaling deep technical partnership and trust.
- **Senior-Led Teams**: Operates through small, senior teams (15+ years average experience per team member) rather than massive consulting organizations, ensuring high-quality delivery.
- **Human-Centered Design**: Blends elite engineering talent with world-class UX design, differentiating from pure technical consultancies.
- **Proven Track Record**: 77M+ users reached worldwide, 25 patents & published works, and multiple #1 App Store launches.

## Strategic Focus
- **Agentic AI on AWS**: Building agentic systems on Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore with memory, observability, and security built in from the start.
- **Production-Ready AI**: Focused on taking AI from pilot to production in weeks, not months, with a strong emphasis on compliance and regulatory environments (Financial Services, Healthcare).
- **Industry Expansion**: Serving Financial Services, Health Tech, Education, Energy, Retail & Consumer Goods, and High Tech — industries where AI agents create exponential value.
- **Global Delivery Network**: Operating delivery centers across the U.S., Canada, Eastern Europe, and Latin America to serve enterprise clients worldwide.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as "wicked smart, wildly curious, ready to build" — a culture that values curiosity, collaboration, and impact. The company emphasizes "always learning" and invests in personal and professional growth.
- **Work Model**: Hybrid and remote-friendly. "Whether you are co-located in one of our offices or remote first, we prioritize how teams are set up to focus in on collaboration for successful delivery." [robotsandpencils.com](https://robotsandpencils.com/careers/)
- **Benefits**: Salary continuation and protected leave for parents (birth, spouse, and adoptive); health & wellness benefits; flexible hours; paid time off (vacation, sick, personal leave, flexible holidays).
- **Engineering Culture**: Described as a team of "tech wizards creating digital magic" — frontend, backend, mobile, and full-stack developers working on cutting-edge AI and cloud-native projects. The hiring process includes a pre-screen assessment, skills assessment, and deep dive interview to evaluate culture addition, communication, and technical fit.
- **Global Team**: Delivery centers in the U.S., Canada, Ukraine, Colombia, and the Philippines, offering a diverse, international work environment.

## Sources
1. [robotsandpencils.com](https://robotsandpencils.com/)
2. [robotsandpencils.com/about](https://robotsandpencils.com/about/)
3. [robotsandpencils.com/careers](https://robotsandpencils.com/careers/)
4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/robotsandpencils](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/robotsandpencils)
5. [ca.linkedin.com/company/robots-and-pencils](https://ca.linkedin.com/company/robots-and-pencils)

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