> 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 Software Engineer Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/e36a18dd53eb7c46 Tractorbeam AI, Inc. posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in Chicago, IL with no pay posted. A forward-deployed engineer owns both client strategy and implementation, taking ambiguous business problems from discovery through shipped systems. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Tractorbeam AI, Inc.](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/tractorbeam-ai-inc) Posted Mar 4, 2026 by Tractorbeam AI, Inc. · open on Gem as of Nov 8, 2026 Pay not posted Chicago, IL Hybrid A forward-deployed engineer owns both client strategy and implementation, taking ambiguous business problems from discovery through shipped systems. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fe36a18dd53eb7c46&placement=top) - [View posting at Tractorbeam AI, Inc.](https://jobs.gem.com/tractorbeam/am9icG9zdDobbuoooecGHERIEe1PDjRu) 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 **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations (not covered) Travel **Required, amount not stated** - **Coding**: Writes production code - **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 Chicago, IL. 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**: Chicago, IL - **Work arrangement**: Hybrid - **Remote work restrictions**: Based in Fulton Market, Chicago; in-person four days per week. - **Travel**: Travel required, amount not stated ## More like this [Accenture](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/accenture) ### [Enterprise AI Transformation Manager](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/2d3876bc2df23d99) Chicago, IL · Milwaukee, WI · +40 more 12d ago $80,400–$266,300 [Palantir](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/palantir) ### [Forward Deployed Software Engineer, New Grad - Commercial](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/40f1d6c401570c19) Chicago, IL Hybrid 4mo ago $135,000–$145,000 [West Monroe](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/west-monroe) ### [Senior Applied AI Engineer/Architect](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8a4b60dcc900fac7) Boston, MA · Chicago, IL · +7 more 4mo ago $225,000–$304,200 ## The job description from Tractorbeam AI, Inc. Posted by Tractorbeam AI, Inc. on Mar 4, 2026 ### What We Do Companies know AI is reshaping their industries but don't know what to do about it. We help them figure it out. Our work spans strategy and implementation: sometimes we're building decks that explain what's possible, sometimes we're deploying the systems we proposed. Often both in the same engagement. ### Recent Work - **Financial Statement Review.** $XXXB AUM PE firm. Before sending investor statements out the door, someone has to check them. We built a vision model pipeline that reads the PDFs, cross-references every figure against source data, validates internal consistency, and flags anomalies. Replaced side-by-side document review with structured static analysis. - **LPA Document Extraction.** At the same firm, limited partner agreements are dense legal docs with investor-specific terms buried throughout. We built a document processing system that extracts those terms into structured data their CRM can use. Work that used to require a human reading hundreds of pages now runs automatically. - **Portfolio AI Assessment.** $XB AUM PE firm with a dozen portfolio companies. They wanted to understand where each company stands on AI and share what's working across the portfolio. We built the survey tool, scoring system, and recommendation engine to make that happen. ### The Role You'll operate like a founder on each project, owning strategy and execution, business context and technical implementation. One week you're presenting an AI roadmap to a leadership team. The next you're shipping the system you proposed. You need to do both well. Our project-based structure means the stack changes frequently. You'll use whatever fits the problem, which often includes newer tools (Rust, Effect-TS, etc.) that rarely make it into enterprise environments. This is a strong fit if you want to start a company someday. You'll build the muscles (scoping problems, selling solutions, shipping under constraints) without the capital risk. ### What We're Looking For Strong CS fundamentals and evidence of a high ceiling. We care less about what you already know and more about how fast you can learn when dropped into unfamiliar territory. The AI landscape moves too quickly for static knowledge to matter much. We're looking for generalists: people energized by variety who enjoy learning new domains and switching contexts. Requirements: - CS degree or equivalent experience - Solid fundamentals in data structures, systems design, and debugging - Clear communication: you'll present to clients, write proposals, and translate technical tradeoffs for non-technical audiences - Curiosity, flexibility, low ego If you have experience in financial services, banking, or consulting, you'll ramp faster. But we'd rather have a great engineer learning a new domain than the reverse. ### The Hard Parts You'll work across multiple clients, industries, and tech stacks simultaneously. There's no product team handing you specs. Clients often don't know what they need, and part of your job is helping them discover it. You'll thrive here if you're comfortable with ambiguity and enjoy shaping undefined problems into concrete solutions. ### Details - We're based in Fulton Market, Chicago. We work in-person four days per week because the work moves faster when we're together. - Client travel is limited, typically just a few days per quarter at most. Many of our clients are within a short walk of our office. - We're open to new graduates and experienced engineers. What matters is your ability to learn and ship, not your years in industry. - We offer both contract and full-time arrangements depending on what fits best for you and the role. [View posting at Tractorbeam AI, Inc.](https://jobs.gem.com/tractorbeam/am9icG9zdDobbuoooecGHERIEe1PDjRu) ## About Tractorbeam AI, Inc. Chicago applied AI company that implements AI in large-company workflows and is building a platform to make deployments repeatable. 10–50 people ## Similar jobs [CADDi](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/caddi) ### [Senior Solutions Architect Expert](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9b33b67a7df5b6dd) Chicago, IL 2w ago $150,000–$225,000 [Sia](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/sia) ### [Manager, Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/447ae8b697e6250a) Charlotte, NC · New York, NY · +5 more Hybrid 2w ago $150,000–$180,000 [ZoomLogi](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/zoomlogi) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/7df80409b98e8caa) San Francisco, CA · Chicago, IL Hybrid 5mo ago $150,000–$200,000 [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 [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 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in Chicago](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=chicagoland) - [Similar jobs that build what the customer runs](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=builds-for-customers) Hiring at Tractorbeam AI, Inc. and want this page changed or removed? 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