> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Senior Machine Learning Engineer–Field Engagement Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/01bd9fbbdf18cce5 Striveworks posts a senior FDE role to build what the customer runs in Washington, DC and 1 more, at $160,000–$200,000 base, below the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Own technical customer engagements from trials through early deployments of Chariot, building integrations, pipelines, and production AI systems alongside customer teams. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Striveworks](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/striveworks) Posted Oct 26, 2026 by Striveworks · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026 **$160,000–$200,000** + equity Washington, DC +2 Hybrid Own technical customer engagements from trials through early deployments of Chariot, building integrations, pipelines, and production AI systems alongside customer teams. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F01bd9fbbdf18cce5&placement=top) - [View posting at Striveworks](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/striveworks/jobs/8045071003) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $160K–$200K Below the median Midpoint $180K · median $190K This job $160K to $200K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales 2. Proof of concept 3. Implementation 4. Operations Travel **Up to 25%** - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Individual contributor ### What they ask for Experience - **6+ years** ML engineering, data science, forward-deployed engineering, or similar hands-on technical role Background - **Software engineering** - **Implementation and data engineering** - **Forward deployed engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 6+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The job is in Washington, DC · Seattle, WA. Could you work in one of these? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: Washington, DC · Seattle, WA · Raleigh-Durham, NC - **Work arrangement**: Hybrid - **Remote work restrictions**: Hybrid/on-site near customer sites in Washington, DC; Seattle, WA; or Raleigh-Durham, NC. - **Travel**: Up to 25% - **Pay**: ## More like this [Sitreps](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/sitreps) ### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Public Sector](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/6c5d5100c300639f) Washington, DC · San Francisco, CA On-site 2mo ago $167,000–$203,000 [BRG](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/brg) ### [Sr. Managing Consultant/Managing Consultant AI Architect - Financial Services Operations & Technology](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/bfa5488d7c799fe0) New York, NY · Chicago, IL · +3 more 2w ago $158,000–$210,000 [LMI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/lmi) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer - Clearance Required](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/fb2abc8cb6bb62e4) Washington, DC Hybrid 2w ago $145,000–$210,000 - [Other jobs at Striveworks (11)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/striveworks) ## The job description from Striveworks Posted by Striveworks on Oct 26, 2026 ** *“In 36 months, agentic AI systems will be an operating reality across major institutions. We intend to be central to it.” — Dr. Jim Rebesco, Cofounder and CEO, Striveworks*** The government’s demand for AI is growing far faster than the systems required to support it. Fewer than 15% of federal AI programs have reached sustained production, despite billions of dollars invested. The models perform in testing, but they degrade in the real world. And when performance drops, trust goes with it. Striveworks was built to solve that problem. ### What you’ll build Since 2018, we have delivered the most trusted AI systems operating in real-world use cases—providing a layer of assurance underneath hundreds of deployed models that monitors performance, manages drift, and sustains systems long after they leave the lab. As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer–Field Engagement at Striveworks, you’ll work directly with our customers during trials and early deployments of Chariot, our AI product suite spanning Chariot Core (our AIOps platform), Forge (our agentic harness), and vertical solutions. You’ll own the technical journey from first log in to real value—building the integrations, pipelines, and configurations that help customers solve meaningful problems with Chariot. You’ll carry that technical context from pilot through post-sale, helping ensure that successful evaluations turn into lasting adoption. Between customer engagements, you’ll have the freedom to invest in high-value work shaped by what you’ve learned in the field: polishing rough edges in the product, contributing to platform improvements, building better onboarding and technical resources, and writing technical blogs and papers about new and exciting applications of our products or research with them. Your day-to-day will include: - **Becoming an expert in the Chariot product suite: **Develop deep, hands-on fluency across Chariot Core, Forge, and our vertical solutions so that you can speak credibly to any part of the product and run a trial end to end. - **Getting customers to value quickly: **Run hands-on onboarding, demos, and workshops in the context of each customer’s actual use case. Identify the highest-value problem to solve and then proactively drive it to working status, configuring the relevant models, datasets, agents, and workflows so customers start with a working environment rather than an empty platform. - **Co-building with customer engineering teams:** Work alongside customer engineers and machine learning (ML) teams to design and build production AI systems and agents on Chariot, from initial prototype through rollout. - **Building data pipelines and integrations: **Develop ETL pipelines, scripts, and custom integrations to ingest customer data and connect their existing processes to our inference endpoints. - **Owning the technical relationship:** Serve as the customer’s primary technical point of contact throughout the evaluation and early deployment. Troubleshoot issues directly, remove technical blockers, and own problems through resolution. - **Advising customers beyond the initial deployment: **Help customers make sound architecture and implementation decisions, establish best practices, and understand relevant product capabilities and roadmap directions. Surface opportunities for deeper adoption and expansion for the Sales and BD teams to pursue. - **Partnering with Product and Engineering: **Build fast-turnaround, high-value platform improvements alongside engineering when a trial needs something the product doesn’t yet do, and support the launch of new features with the field perspective. - **Scaling what you learn: **Surface field feedback to the Product team, and build reusable assets such as example code, guides, documentation, and proof-of-concept templates. ### What it’s like here We lead with trust, treat each other with respect, and use candor consistently, kindly, and constructively. We care deeply about our work, and we find genuine satisfaction in doing it well. Above all, we take ownership—because we feel the weight of collective results personally. We are looking for people who share these values and are eager to put them into practice. ### What we’re looking for - A degree in a technical field (computer science, engineering, or similar) - 6+ years of experience as an ML engineer, data scientist, forward-deployed engineer, or in a similar hands-on technical role, ideally with direct customer exposure - Strong technical fluency in AI and ML systems, with the ability to work effectively across software engineering, data science, ML engineering, and infrastructure teams - Strong software engineering skills, including the ability to write, read, and debug production-quality Python and build pragmatic integrations, prototypes, and tooling - Comfort with ambiguity: the ability to independently understand a problem, develop a plan, and execute without detailed step-by-step direction - Experience deploying AI models and agents at scale - Experience with AI model and agent evaluation, observability, or guardrails - Strong customer communication skills and the ability to build trust with technical stakeholders - US citizenship and eligibility and willingness to obtain and maintain a Secret (or above) US security clearance The following isn’t required, but we’d love to see it: - Experience with deploying large language models using vLLM - Familiarity with cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, APIs, distributed systems, or modern data and ML platforms - Experience leading, managing, or mentoring small, cross-functional engineering teams - Active Secret (or above) US security clearance This position offers a hybrid/on-site work environment near one of our customer sites in the Washington, DC, Seattle, WA, or Raleigh-Durham, NC, area. You will be expected to travel up to 25% of the time. ### Compensation The anticipated base pay range for this position is $160,000–$200,000/year. Striveworks’ total compensation package includes a competitive base salary, equity grants, and cash bonuses. ### Benefits include: - Medical/dental/vision insurance - Voluntary life, long-term disability, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance - HSA and FSA (including dependent care FSA) plans - 401(k) plan - Unlimited PTO - Paid parental leave ### Ready to build systems that work for a mission that matters? Let’s talk. Striveworks is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, belief, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity or expression), national origin, social or ethnic origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors. Striveworks will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind. If you require assistance or a reasonable accommodation in the application process, please contact People Operations at hr@striveworks.us. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify their identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete an employment eligibility verification form upon hire. Striveworks is a participating employer in the E-Verify program. [View posting at Striveworks](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/striveworks/jobs/8045071003) ## About Striveworks Cloud-to-edge AIOps platform that helps defense and other high-stakes teams build, deploy, evaluate, and maintain AI models in contested, fast-changing environments. Series B · 50–100 people ## Similar jobs [SpaceX](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/spacex) ### [AI Engineer, Special Programs - Top Secret Clearance](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/dcc647133c0d24b0) Washington, DC 5mo ago $125,000–$220,000 [Thomson Reuters](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/thomson-reuters) ### [Senior Software Engineer - AI, CoCounsel FDE](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/4062210d6364bfec) Frisco, TX · New York, NY · +7 more Hybrid New · 2d ago $118,400–$253,000 [Two Six Technologies](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/two-six-technologies) ### [Senior Data Scientist (Onsite)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/326561de34f2aa71) Arlington, VA · Laurel, MD On-site 4w ago $150,000–$200,000 [Defense Unicorns](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/defense-unicorns) ### [Senior Platform Engineer (FedD239)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/2d80b4f518bdc61d) Springfield, VA Remote 5w ago $148,750–$201,250 [Neuroscale AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/neuroscale-ai) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/96062865293dcd19) Reston, VA On-site 5mo ago $125,000–$180,000 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in Seattle area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=puget-sound) - [Similar jobs that build what the customer runs](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=builds-for-customers) Hiring at Striveworks and want this page changed or removed? 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