--- title: 'Senior Forward Deployed Engineer - Kubernetes at Stacklok' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-forward-deployed-engineer-kubernetes-stacklok-5a2q7ga98zep' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-04' --- # Senior Forward Deployed Engineer - Kubernetes at Stacklok - **Company:** Stacklok - **Location:** :, Singapore - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-06-22 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-04 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/stacklok/jobs/5170939007 ## Job description Stacklok is led by CEO [Craig McLuckie](https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigmcluckie/) and CTO [Joe Beda](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbeda/), two of the creators of Kubernetes. As AI reshapes how software is built and used, we're building the foundation enterprises need to adopt it with confidence. We're building the control plane for enterprise AI agents, enabling organizations to run, govern, and secure them on the infrastructure they already trust. Through Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers running across Kubernetes and private cloud environments, AI agents can securely connect to internal data and systems while meeting the security, compliance, and operational requirements of highly regulated and security-conscious organizations. We've also extended this foundation to the model layer with an enterprise AI gateway. The [Stacklok Enterprise Platform](https://stacklok.com/platform/) is built on [ToolHive](https://github.com/stacklok/toolhive), our open source MCP platform, and is already being adopted by leading technology companies and organizations in regulated industries. We also help maintain the official MCP registry and contribute openly to the community shaping the future of enterprise AI. Location This is a remote role based in Singapore. Candidates must live and work in Singapore and be legally authorized to work in Singapore. The Opportunity As a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer at Stacklok, you sit where platform engineering meets AI, bringing deep Kubernetes expertise to help enterprises adopt Stacklok Enterprise and run AI agents securely on the infrastructure they already trust. Every environment is different, so the role builds the custom operators that fit the platform to each customer's stack and reach production fast. This is hands-on, high-ownership work, and it is not only technical. Forward-deployed engagements run end to end through the role: standing up custom proof-of-concepts for Design Partners and customers, extending the platforn, coordinating the technical work, and keeping customer and team aligned as things move toward production. When unlocking value means changing how the product deploys to Kubernetes, that work comes back to the platform itself. Kubernetes expertise is what unlocks value fast, and demand for this work is outpacing our capacity. The role offers a front-row seat to how leading enterprises put AI into production, and real influence over what gets built next. For a platform engineer who wants that expertise to land directly with customers, this is the chance to do it at the frontier of enterprise AI. What Success Looks Like: First 6-12 Months - Ramped quickly on the platform and Stacklok Enterprise architecture, becoming the technical SME the AppliedAI team relies on for enterprise engagements. - Built trusted relationships across the team and with customers, and resolved a real customer blocker or shipped a first meaningful change. - Took one or more Design Partners from proof-of-concept to a working production deployment of Stacklok's Enterprise platform. - Unblocked enterprise adoption by improving how the product deploys to Kubernetes, measurably cutting time-to-value for customers. - Turned field learnings into a reusable engagement playbook and tooling, using AI-assisted workflows to make the next deployment faster for the whole team. In This Role, You Will - Drive forward-deployed engagements end to end, from scoping each customer's technical goals and designing the deployment approach to taking POCs to a working state and toward production. - Design and deliver changes to the platform and to how it deploys to Kubernetes, unblocking enterprise adoption and contributing those changes back to Stackok Enterprise. - Act as the technical SME for enterprise adoption, answering deep platform and Kubernetes questions and giving hands-on support to customers and Design Partners. - Own the technical calls within your domain, moving quickly on reversible decisions and pulling in the team anchor as scope and risk grow. - Partner with senior peers and bring field insight back through standup, planning, and design reviews to influence priorities and how engagements run. - Coach teammates in your areas of deep expertise, especially Kubernetes, and contribute to hiring when needed. - Apply AI-assisted workflows and strengthen reusable tooling and playbooks so each engagement moves faster for the team. Desired Skill & Experience We do not expect every candidate to meet every point below. If this role excites you and you bring most of it, we encourage you to apply. - Strong software engineering fundamentals: writes well-structured production code with sound design and testing judgment. | - Deep Kubernetes expertise across cluster architecture, workload types, networking, storage, RBAC, and resource management, with Helm authoring and GitOps via Flux or ArgoCD across managed Kubernetes. - Strong operator and CRD literacy: reasons about control loops, CRD versioning, status, and finalizers, and writes controllers in Go using Kubebuilder or the Operator SDK. - Solid grasp of observability across metrics, logs, and traces, and when each applies. Familiarity with Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, and platforms like Datadog or Grafana is a plus. - Comfortable working directly with customers, including over-the-shoulder debugging across varied enterprise permission models, and clearly communicating root causes and remediation steps. - A track record of delivering production-grade systems, mentoring engineers, and contributing fixes upstream to the underlying platforms and tools. Hands-on experience with MCP servers or AI agent tooling is a strong plus. - AI-first mindset: an active user of AI coding assistants who brings agentic workflows (skills, agents, rules, hooks) into daily work and experiments with AI to automate and accelerate delivery. - Communication: excellent written and verbal communication, able to explain complex technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. - Startup mentality and intrinsic motivation: self-directed and hands-on, thrives in fast-moving, ambiguous environments, and drives clarity through action. #LI-Remote Why Join Us? At Stacklok, we believe great technology is built by teams that support, challenge, and inspire one another. We are AI maximalists, confident in its potential and committed to ensuring it is used in ways that are safe and sustainable. You will join a highly motivated, collaborative team with deep experience building some of the world's most impactful technologies, with strong roots in open source, cloud-native technologies, security, and developer tools. We offer competitive compensation and equity, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, flexible PTO and paid holidays, paid parental leave, and a flexible, hybrid-or-remote work environment, plus team offsites in unique destinations to collaborate and connect in person. If you're excited about the future of AI and want to build alongside people who care deeply about their craft, their community, and each other, we would love to hear from you. Stacklok Inc, is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all people and place great value in both diversity and inclusiveness. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to their, or any other person's, perceived or actual race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or any other basis protected by law. ## About Stacklok ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Stacklok provides an enterprise‑grade Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform that enables secure, governed connections between AI agents and enterprise systems, built on Kubernetes. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series A $17.5M in 2023; Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures, amount undisclosed) - **Headquarters**: Seattle, Washington, United States - **Founded**: 2023 - **Founders**: Craig McLuckie (CEO) and Joe Beda (CTO) – co‑creators of Kubernetes ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: AI infrastructure / Cloud‑native software - **Target customers**: Platform engineering teams, AI infrastructure teams, security teams, and enterprises deploying AI agents in production (B2B, Enterprise) - **Mission**: “Pave the path to an agentic future” by grounding AI in real‑world systems, ensuring knowledge workers can safely and simply lean into AI agents. ## Products & Services - **Stacklok MCP Platform**: A self‑hosted, Kubernetes‑native platform for AI agent governance. Includes: - **Runtime** – Deploy, run, and manage MCP servers in a Kubernetes cluster with security guardrails. - **Gateway** – Single endpoint to safely and efficiently access all tools; curate a catalog of trusted MCP servers. - **Portal** – Admin controls and frictionless access for knowledge workers; enforces policy‑as‑code, IdP integration, and OTel instrumentation. - **ToolHive** (Open Source): Apache 2.0‑licensed MCP server platform, maintained by Stacklok, Red Hat, and a growing community. Used as the foundation for the enterprise platform. ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company) - **Key Metric**: Total Funding – $17.5M (Series A, 2023); Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures (amount undisclosed) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Accel, Bain Capital Ventures, Madrona - **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew +7.7% YoY to ~34 employees (LinkedIn); operates in 8 countries; gained traction as an early player in the MCP ecosystem; included maintainers of the official MCP registry. ## Competitive Advantages - **Founding pedigree**: CEO Craig McLuckie and CTO Joe Beda co‑created Kubernetes – unmatched Kubernetes and cloud‑native expertise. - **Zero lock‑in**: ToolHive is Apache 2.0 licensed and interoperable with any model provider stack. - **Kubernetes‑native**: MCP servers run as pods; existing ingress, network policies, and service mesh rules apply out of the box. - **Enterprise governance**: Policy‑as‑code, OIDC/IAM integration, and full observability into every tool call. ## Strategic Focus - **Current priorities**: Accelerate enterprise adoption of AI agents by bridging cloud‑native infrastructure (K8s) with agentic workflows, standardizing MCP governance, and expanding the ToolHive open‑source community. - **Direction**: Help organizations move from AI experimentation to production using familiar Kubernetes patterns; extend Stacklok as the runtime for “AI‑native transformation.” ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: “AI‑first company” with deep open‑source roots; collaborative team that built Kubernetes, Heptio, and CNCF; work in the open alongside the community. - **Work model**: Flexible hybrid or fully remote depending on team and location (global team across 8 countries). - **Benefits**: Competitive compensation and equity; comprehensive medical/dental/vision; flexible PTO and paid holidays; paid parental leave; team offsites in unique destinations. - **Engineering culture**: Small, high‑impact team (34 people); strong seniority (31% senior); opportunities to shape the MCP standard and enterprise AI infrastructure. - **Note**: As of the search date, no current open positions were listed on the careers page – job alerts available. ## Sources 1. [stacklok.com](https://stacklok.com/) 2. [greenhouse.io](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/stacklok) 3. [stacklok.com/company](https://stacklok.com/company/) 4. [linkedin.com/company/stacklok](https://www.linkedin.com/company/stacklok) 5. [github.com/stacklok](https://github.com/stacklok/) ## Other roles at Stacklok - [Sr. Software Engineer - Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-software-engineer-platform-stacklok-north-america-east-whkpskae4rc6) — North America - East - [Software Engineer II - Platform](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-ii-platform-stacklok-north-america-east-f2srkkatych9) — North America - East - [Staff Forward Deployed Engineer - Kubernetes](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-forward-deployed-engineer-kubernetes-stacklok-nfv5w5ktt1rg) — :, Singapore