> 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.

# Forward Deployed Engineer

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/31b6c47f72c5d05c

Ascend posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in San Francisco, CA, at $170,000–$210,000 base, level with the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Forward Deployed Engineer responsible for customer-facing technical delivery, from scoping through go-live, including custom integrations, account configuration, testing, and adoption. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Ascend](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/ascend)

Posted Oct 6, 2026 by Ascend · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026

**$170,000–$210,000** San Francisco, CA On-site

Forward Deployed Engineer responsible for customer-facing technical delivery, from scoping through go-live, including custom integrations, account configuration, testing, and adoption.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F31b6c47f72c5d05c&placement=top)
- [View posting at Ascend](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ascend21/jobs/5445856008)

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

$170K–$210K Level with the median

Midpoint $190K · median $190K

This job $170K to $210K. 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

- **Coding**: Writes production code

- **Builds for**: External customers

- **Level**: Senior

- **Role**: Technical lead

### What they ask for

Experience

- **3+ years** implementation, solutions, technical support, or forward deployed engineering

Background

- **Implementation and data engineering**
- **Forward deployed engineering**

### Do you meet what the posting states?

The posting asks for 3+ years. How many do you have?

The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now?

The job is in San Francisco, CA. Could you work there?

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**: San Francisco, CA

- **Work arrangement**: On-site

- **Remote work restrictions**: On-site in San Francisco

- **Pay**:

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San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +2 more On-site 4w ago

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San Francisco, CA 4w ago

$180,000–$250,000

## The job description from Ascend

Posted by Ascend on Oct 6, 2026

### What We Do

Insurance is a $10T industry still running on PDFs, email threads, and manual reconciliation. Ascend is changing that. We built the first and only complete financial operations platform purpose-built for insurance — combining accounting automation, payments, and premium financing in a single vertically integrated solution. In five years, we've become the market leader: over 4,000 businesses, including more than half of the 50 largest brokers in the country, trust Ascend to bring clarity to complex accounting operations from collection to close.

### How We Do It

Ascend automates the financial operations that insurers, MGAs, and agencies run every day and embeds directly into the transactions where money actually moves. Point solutions are easy to build and even easier to copy. The companies that win won't just sell tools — they'll capture value where the money actually moves. Ascend is built for exactly that moment. Our customers don't just adopt software, they unlock measurable efficiency with a proven 5-7x return on investment.

Our team is onsite in San Francisco. We bring deep expertise in insurance, fintech, and financial infrastructure to build what the industry has never had.

### Why We Do It

The insurance industry intermediates trillions of dollars — and almost none of that infrastructure was built for the modern era. Legacy systems aren't just inefficient; they're a ceiling on what the industry can become.

Ascend's mission is to become the leading financial automation platform for insurance by 2030 — powering the financial operations of the entire industry and transforming the way trillions of dollars move. We're not building another point solution, we're building the financial backbone of insurance.

### Your Role

Ascend is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to join our team on-site in San Francisco to build custom integrations and own the technical delivery of customer implementations.

You will work directly with customers, Sales, Customer Success, and Engineering to understand customer workflows and turn ambiguous, high-stakes problems into practical solutions. You will write production code, build API integrations and custom features, and resolve technical blockers to launch and adoption. Your work will help unblock deals, reduce time to go-live, and embed Ascend in customers’ day-to-day operations.

### Responsibilities Will Include

Objective #1: In your first 30 days:

- Understand Ascend's platform, product, and customer workflows by collaborating with team members and engaging with customers
- Learn Ascend’s platform, APIs, account configurations, and connected third-party systems
- Deliver a technical plan for an active integration, including requirements, data flows, dependencies, and success criteria

Objective #2: In your first 60 days:

- Own the technical workstream for a customer implementation, partnering with Customer Success on launch timelines and adoption
- Build and deploy custom API integrations, webhooks, and data workflows that connect Ascend to customer systems
- Configure accounts, validate data flows, and lead technical testing with customers
- Partner with Sales and Customer Success to build demos, integrations, or features that remove blockers to a deal or renewal

Objective #3: In your first 90 days and beyond:

- Independently own account setup, configuration, and complex integrations for new customers from technical scoping through go-live
- Lead technical conversations with customers and drive technical delivery in partnership with Customer Success
- Build integrations, custom features, and internal tools that embed Ascend in enterprise customer workflows
- Help drive adoption by working with customers to put solutions into daily use and remove barriers to sustained usage
- Resolve most technical issues independently, bringing in Engineering when a broader product fix is needed
- Turn recurring customer needs and one-off builds into product features, reusable integrations, and implementation playbooks

### Must Have

- 3+ years of experience in implementation, solutions, technical support, or forward deployed engineering
- Experience working at a growth-stage startup
- Experience with relational databases and strong SQL
- Hands-on experience with APIs, webhooks, and data integrations
- Strong debugging skills and clear communication with customers
- A strong desire to learn new skills and solve business problems

### Nice to Have

- Familiarity or interest in learning Ruby on Rails
- Familiarity with building external APIs and integrations with platforms such as Salesforce
- Experience with payments, fintech, or insurance products

### Tech Stack & Processes

- Ruby on Rails API hosted on Heroku
- Next.js with TypeScript hosted on Vercel
- Postgres and Redis for storage
- Continuous integration and delivery

**Base Salary Range:** $170,000–$210,000

### Benefits

- Unlimited PTO 🌴
- Meaningful equity 🤑
- Dog friendly office 🐕
- Commuter benefits 🚌
- Free lunch in office everyday 🥡
- Health care for you and your dependents 🍎

### Equal Opportunity

We are committed to equal opportunity employment and embrace diversity within our organization. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We encourage candidates to apply even if their experience doesn't precisely match this opportunity. We value diversity and are dedicated to equal opportunity employment.

[View posting at Ascend](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/ascend21/jobs/5445856008)

## About Ascend

Insurance payments and accounting automation platform for agencies, MGAs, carriers, and networks, combining premium financing, payables, reconciliation, and AI workflows in one insurance-native system.

Series A · 50–100 people

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- [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior)
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