> 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.

# Deployment Strategist (Cleared)

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9093865765c199ab

Kaizen posts a FDE role to plan what the customer deploys first in New York, NY and 1 more, at $140,000–$180,000 base, below the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,846 postings with pay. Own end-to-end software deployments for federal customers, from discovery and configuration through launch and adoption. Read from the employer’s posting on November 10, 2026.

- [Kaizen](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/kaizen)

Posted Oct 2, 2026 by Kaizen · open on Ashby as of Nov 10, 2026

**$140,000–$180,000** + equity New York, NY +1 Hybrid, Mon–Thu in office Full-time

Own end-to-end software deployments for federal customers, from discovery and configuration through launch and adoption.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F9093865765c199ab&placement=top)
- [View posting at Kaizen](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kaizenlabs/89c9bbf8-6480-4346-bc45-d65db42348eb/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

$140K–$180K Below the median

Midpoint $160K · median $190K

This job $140K to $180K. Senior FDE postings, 1,846 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K.

### The work

Plans what the customer deploys first

Balance **Mostly building**

Project stages

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

- **Coding**: Configuration only

- **Builds for**: External customers

- **Level**: Senior

- **Role**: Technical lead

### What they ask for

Experience

- **3+ years** SaaS implementation, onboarding, solutions engineering, or product-adjacent delivery

Background

- **Solutions and customer engineering**
- **Implementation and data 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 New York, NY · Washington, DC. 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**: New York, NY · Washington, DC

- **Work arrangement**: Hybrid, Mon–Thu in office

- **Remote work restrictions**: Hybrid; must reside in New York or DC and commute to the office at least four days per week (Monday–Thursday).

- **Employment type**: Full-time

- **Pay**:

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## The job description from Kaizen

Posted by Kaizen on Oct 2, 2026

Government technology has failed citizens, veterans, public servants, and service members for decades.

Kaizen powers America’s application layer. We replace the legacy systems federal agencies run on with modern software, built with craft. The ticketing platform a resident uses to visit a presidential library. The marketplace DoW uses to procure counter-drone systems to protect lives and critical infrastructure. The system a Veteran uses to access benefits. We build systems of record, of national consequence. Our AI-native modules and harness allow us to do so in weeks, not years.

This year, our revenue has grown 35x. Next year, our software will serve over 100 million Americans across dozens of federal agencies.

Founded in 2022 and based in New York City and DC, Kaizen has raised $35 million from NEA, a16z, Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital.

### Location

This is a hybrid role based out of our New York or DC. Candidates must reside in New York or DC and be able to commute to work out of our office at least four times a week (Monday - Thursday).

### Clearance and Eligibility

This role requires an active Top Secret or TS/SCI clearance. United States citizenship is required, because it is a condition of eligibility for the clearance the role depends on.

### The Role

You'll own the full implementation journey for Kaizen's federal customers: scoping the rollout, configuring the platform, training agency staff, and staying in the room until the deployment is actually adopted, not just launched. You'll work inside classified and accredited environments where every integration decision has to account for what data can move where, and you'll partner closely with the engineering team to make sure what gets shipped actually fits how the agency operates.

### What You'll Do

- Own end-to-end federal implementations: discovery, scoping, configuration, data migration, integrations, training, go-live, and post-launch support.
- Lead onboarding for agency stakeholders and career staff, translating what they actually need into a rollout plan that survives contact with a live agency.
- Work inside classification and data-handling constraints as a design input, not an obstacle, coordinating closely with engineering on what can be built and how.
- Translate patterns from the field back to Product and Engineering: edge cases, workflow gaps, and the things agencies never put in the RFP but need on day one.
- Act as the connective tissue between customer-facing implementation and the engineers building, so what ships matches what was promised.
- Build the playbooks, templates, and internal documentation that make the next federal deployment faster than this one.
- Guide public sector partners through the actual change management of replacing a legacy system, not just the technical cutover.

### What You'll Bring

- 3+ years in SaaS implementation, onboarding, solutions engineering, or a product-adjacent delivery role (Implementation Consultant, Solutions Architect, Technical Program Manager), with a track record of owning multi-stakeholder rollouts.
- Technical fluency: comfortable working with APIs, data models, and system configurations, and able to hold your own in a conversation with engineers about integration tradeoffs.
- Experience translating customer requirements into implementation plans and technical workflows, not just a status tracker.
- Comfort operating inside classified or otherwise accredited environments, or a clear ability to pick up new compliance and data-handling constraints fast.
- A bias toward action: you'd rather build the process while running the deployment than wait for someone to hand you one.

### Strong Candidates May Also...

- Have deployed software inside a classified or accredited environment before and know where the real friction lives.
- Have touched federal, state, or local government implementation work specifically, versus enterprise SaaS generally.
- Have built implementation playbooks or internal tooling from scratch at an early-stage company.

### Don't Apply If...

- You need a mature playbook to follow. Most of what you'll use here, you'll be building.
- You want to hand off the hard technical questions to engineering and stay on the process side. This role lives at that intersection.
- You're looking for a steady-state customer success role. This is deployment under real constraints, with real agencies, and real consequences if it goes wrong.
- Government bureaucracy and slow-moving stakeholders would wear you down instead of something you know how to work with.
- The agencies you'll be deploying to serve people who don't have another option if the system doesn't work. That's the weight of this one.

### What Kaizen Offers

### Health & Insurance

- 100% coverage across the board: medical through Oxford/United (Gold and Platinum PPO plans), dental through Guardian PPO, and vision through Beam — all fully covered for employees, with 100% coverage for dependents.
- $100,000 in fully paid life insurance. FSA and Dependent Care FSA.
- One Medical membership, on us — same-day primary care, 24/7 virtual visits, and offices all over the city.
- Fertility and family-building support through Carrot.
- 401(k) through Guideline, with a 2% company match.

### Family & Time Off

- 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing parents. 10 weeks fully paid for non-birthing parents.
- Unlimited PTO, with a two-week minimum (we mean it when we say take time off!)
- Closed for all federal holidays.
- Company-wide winter break the week of Christmas.
- Company offsites throughout the year.

### Office & Remote Setup

- Up to $750 one-time home office or desk setup stipend for NYC-based employees. $500 for remote employees.
- $50/month commuter benefit (company contribution).
- Expensed lunch while in the office.
- Dinner and Uber rides home will be expensed if you choose to work in the office past 7pm.
- Company-provided laptop of your choice.

### Wellness

- NYC employees: Fully covered gym membership at Grindhouse — right across the street from our office at 47 W 17th St (and in Williamsburg). A $225/month value, on us.
- Non-NYC employees: $100 per month, dedicated to gym / physical fitness reimbursement.

### Stipends

- $100/month utility stipend.
- $250/quarter home cleaning stipend
- $500/year professional development.
- $250/year recreation.
- $300/quarter pet care stipend.

[View posting at Kaizen](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kaizenlabs/89c9bbf8-6480-4346-bc45-d65db42348eb/application)

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