> 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.

# Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/7d45a70feeb21283

Clera posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in San Francisco, CA with no pay posted. The Founding Forward Deployed Engineer will work directly with customers at an early-stage startup. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Clera](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/clera)

Posted Jul 17, 2026 by Clera · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026

Pay not posted San Francisco, CA On-site Full-time

The Founding Forward Deployed Engineer will work directly with customers at an early-stage startup.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F7d45a70feeb21283&placement=top)
- [View posting at Clera](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Clera/622f67f7-d744-4160-a921-3a916150ca78/application)

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

Not posted

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

Project stages

1. Pre-sales (not covered)
2. Proof of concept (not covered)
3. Implementation
4. Operations (not covered)

- **Coding**: Configuration only

- **Builds for**: External customers

- **Level**: Senior

- **Role**: Individual contributor

### Do you meet what the posting states?

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

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

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

- **Employment type**: Full-time

## More like this

[Clera](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/clera)

### [Founding Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/17886955cf8079ec)

San Francisco, CA · New York, NY Hybrid New · 2d ago

$130,000–$215,000

[Sieve](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/sieve)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer, Physical AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/c01d9e4502e1f4bf)

San Francisco, CA On-site 5mo ago

$150,000–$350,000

[Bain](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/bain)

### [Lead, Engineering Excellence](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/22a12cc51fef0229)

Atlanta, GA · Austin, TX · +8 more Hybrid 2mo ago

$179,875–$203,925

- [Other jobs at Clera (4)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/clera)

## What you’ll do

- Deploy solutions for customers
- Integrate solutions into customer environments
- Own customer success
- Work directly with customers

[View posting at Clera](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Clera/622f67f7-d744-4160-a921-3a916150ca78/application)

## Similar jobs

[Databricks](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/databricks)

### [Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Digital Native Business ](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/924a15a78c10c56b)

San Francisco, CA Remote 7w ago

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### [Senior Forward Deployment Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/ee18b4ffe9431fe6)

Seattle, WA · Denver, CO · +5 more Remote 2w ago

$126,000–$248,000

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### [Value Acceleration Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/d29e7c234296d940)

San Francisco, CA · Palo Alto, CA · +2 more 6w ago

$117,200–$246,000

[Squint](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/squint)

### [Deployment Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/87c003c8d36a7a5c)

San Francisco, CA On-site 3mo ago

$180,000–$220,000

- [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior)
- [Similar jobs in SF Bay Area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=sf-bay-area)
- [Similar jobs that build what the customer runs](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=builds-for-customers)

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