> 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 – Applied AI

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/d5ad31a68bc2a4df

Wonderschool posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in Gallup, NM and 1 more with no pay posted. Forward Deployed AI Engineer leading customer-facing product development across engineering, product, operations, and business workflows. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Wonderschool](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/wonderschool)

Posted Oct 17, 2026 by Wonderschool · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026

Pay not posted Gallup, NM +1 On-site

Forward Deployed AI Engineer leading customer-facing product development across engineering, product, operations, and business workflows.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fd5ad31a68bc2a4df&placement=top)
- [View posting at Wonderschool](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/wonderschool/jobs/8036581003)

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

Balance **Mixed**

Project stages

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

Travel **Required, amount not stated**

- **Coding**: Writes production code

- **Builds for**: Both

- **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 Gallup, NM · San Francisco, CA. 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**: Gallup, NM · San Francisco, CA

- **Work arrangement**: On-site

- **Travel**: Travel required, amount not stated

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## The job description from Wonderschool

Posted by Wonderschool on Oct 17, 2026

**About Wonderschool**
Wonderschool’s mission is to ensure every child has access to early childhood education that helps them realize their full potential. We empower small business owners, childcare providers, to launch and grow in-home programs through cutting-edge software, personalized coaching, and responsive support. We also partner with governments to modernize public childcare infrastructure. Our team is small, fast-moving, and deeply motivated by the impact we create in families and communities across the country.

**About the Role**
We are looking for a Forward Deployed AI Engineer to lead product development on some of the most strategically important initiatives at Wonderschool. You’ll spend your time working directly with customers (traveling as needed), uncovering pain points, and building AI-powered solutions that drive measurable impact across revenue, operational efficiency, and user experience. You’ll act like a founder inside the company: identifying problems, shipping code, driving adoption, and iterating quickly based on what you learn. This role blends engineering, product, operations, and business leadership, and is ideal for someone who has launched products, acquired users, and driven growth independently. You will work closely with our sales, onboarding, and account management teams to automate workflows, build better customer experiences, and unlock new growth.

This role is inspired by best-in-class FDSEs at companies like Palantir and is perfect for builders who love solving real-world problems in the field, not from behind a desk.

**What You’ll Do**
Work directly with users and internal teams to identify high-leverage problems and ship product solutions. Write production code (approximately 50% of your time) and ship weekly improvements across the customer journey. Use tools like Widesurf, Cursor, and other AI accelerators to increase your velocity and quality of output. Build and deploy AI-powered tooling that eliminates manual effort and improves the experience for providers, parents, and government partners. Automate onboarding flows, proposal generation, reporting processes, and other operational workflows. Own full loops: talk to users, design solutions, write code, test, deploy, and monitor adoption. Prioritize based on business impact and collaborate across teams to drive measurable results.

**What Success Looks Like**
You uncover user pain points faster than anyone else and consistently ship solutions that address them. You deploy AI-infused internal tools or product experiences that improve core metrics (conversion, retention, revenue). You fully own feedback loops, from discovery to deployment, and iterate rapidly. Internal teams rely on your tools to operate faster and with fewer resources. You’re moving fast, staying close to the customer, and operating with very little hand-holding.

**Who You Are**
A builder and founder at heart, you’ve started a company, built products that got users, or made revenue independently. Comfortable talking to users weekly and distilling insight into product decisions. Technical enough to ship production code on your own, experience with Python, JavaScript, or similar languages. Experienced using AI/LLMs and developer tools like Windsurf and Cursor to move faster and smarter. Business-minded, you’ve worked in consulting, managed a P&L, or attended business school and know how to prioritize based on ROI. Comfortable operating in ambiguity and energized by a high-trust, high-impact, in-person environment.

**Why Join Us**
Make a direct impact on families, small business owners, and communities. Operate with founder-like ownership on the company’s most important priorities. Join a small, fast-moving team with a bias for action. Talk to users, ship weekly, and see your work go live and drive real-world outcomes. Help reimagine early education and child care for the modern era.

### Location

In-person, 5-6 days a week. This role requires regular client travel.

[View posting at Wonderschool](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/wonderschool/jobs/8036581003)

## About Wonderschool

Software and services helping in-home childcare providers launch and run businesses, plus partnering with state governments to modernize and oversee public childcare infrastructure.

Series B · 100–200 people

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