> 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. # Director, Forward Deployed Engineering Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/fab92f133fbaeb2a Viam posts a director FDE role to lead deployment teams in New York, NY, at $225,000–$300,000 base, above the staff+ FDE median of $225,000 across 388 postings with pay. Leads a five-person forward deployed engineering team responsible for taking Viam customer deployments from kickoff into production across strategic accounts. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Viam](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/viam) Posted Aug 20, 2026 by Viam · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026 **$225,000–$300,000** New York, NY Hybrid, 3 days a week in office Full-time Leads a five-person forward deployed engineering team responsible for taking Viam customer deployments from kickoff into production across strategic accounts. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Ffab92f133fbaeb2a&placement=top) - [View posting at Viam](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/viamrobotics/jobs/6146938004) 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 $225K–$300K Above the median Midpoint $263K · median $225K This job $225K to $300K. Staff+ FDE postings, 388 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $197K to $262K, median $225K. ### The work Leads the deployment team Balance **Mostly pre-sales or support** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations Travel **Required, amount not stated** - **Coding**: No coding - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Staff+ - **Role**: People manager ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting reads as a staff-level role. What level are you at now? The job is in New York, NY. 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**: New York, NY - **Work arrangement**: Hybrid, 3 days a week in office - **Remote work restrictions**: Hybrid: 3 days per week in the NYC office. - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Travel**: Travel required, amount not stated - **Pay**: ## More like this [Aircall](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/aircall) ### [Director, Forward Deployed Engineering & AI GTM](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/fc7f1d0479aa37c4) New York, NY · San Francisco, CA 3mo ago $200,000–$299,000 [Headstart AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/headstart-ai) ### [Engineering Manager, Applied AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/7fcca81372b018ea) New York, NY Hybrid 5w ago $285,000–$285,000 [Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws) ### [Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/54139ba3c218c1dc) East Palo Alto, CA · Irvine, CA · +4 more 10d ago $184,900–$287,700 ## The job description from Viam Posted by Viam on Aug 20, 2026 ### About Viam Founded by Eliot Horowitz, co-founder and former CTO of MongoDB, Viam is a novel robotics engineering platform that lets you configure, control, and manage robots intuitively and quickly. We’re inspiring a generation of engineers to solve complicated automation problems with our uniquely powerful suite of software tools. We’re a ~100-person company headquartered in New York City. ### About the Role We're looking for a Director of Forward Deployed Engineering to lead the team responsible for getting Viam's customers into production. You'll manage a team of five engineers working across our most strategic accounts, own the technical approach to each deployment, and serve as the senior technical partner to our customers' engineering and operations leaders. This is a leadership role for someone who is still technical. You'll spend your time on architecture decisions, design reviews, coaching, and customer conversations. Prior professional robotics experience isn't required, but you should be comfortable around hardware and physical systems, and able to get fluent in a new platform quickly. ### What you’ll own: - Manage a team of five forward deployed engineers: coaching, performance, hiring, and how they are resourced across accounts. - Own the technical approach across deployments and make the architecture and prioritization calls. - Be the senior technical voice with customer leadership, from kickoff through escalation. - Work with Viam leadership on account direction, and keep them current on progress, risks, and blockers. - Drive deployments to production: hold the schedule, unblock what's stuck, and change approach when a site demands it. - Turn field learnings into platform priorities with Product and Engineering. ### What you bring: - Experience managing engineers who deploy software in customer environments. - Deep systems experience and the ability to get fluent in an unfamiliar platform quickly. You can review a design and read code, though you won't be coding day to day. - Judgment across systems integration, SDKs, and edge/cloud architectures, including what breaks when networks and hardware are unreliable. - A track record with enterprise customers, including the credibility to hold a hard conversation with their leadership. - Comfort deciding with incomplete information and owning the outcome. - Experience building structure where none existed, in an environment where most of the work is still bespoke. - Willingness to balance one customer's urgency against what scales across the portfolio. Experience with robotics or IoT is not required. The salary for this role is between $225,000 - $300,000 /year. ### Full-time Benefits Viam’s base salary range for this role is posted above. In addition to cash compensation, Viam offers a comprehensive Total Rewards package that includes equity grants, health benefits, and more. - 100% covered medical/dental/vision insurance plans, commuter benefits - 25 days paid vacation and generous holiday observances - Free lunch every day that you’re in the office - One Medical Membership - Citi Bike memberships - Monthly wellness stipend to be used for a variety of fitness-related items like gym memberships, fitness classes, fitness equipment, and more - Paid parental leave - Reproductive Health Benefits, including Fertility Benefits and Abortion Access Travel Benefits - Yearly Learning and Development Budget for your own personal learning goals ### Values: - Vision Driven - Collaborate Openly - Act Decisively - Succeed Through Diversity - Hold Ourselves Accountable - Lead with Curiosity ### To all recruitment agencies: Viam does not accept unsolicited agency resumes or calls from recruitment agencies or search firms. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias or Viam employees. Viam is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes. [View posting at Viam](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/viamrobotics/jobs/6146938004) ## About Viam Software platform to configure, control, and manage physical devices and fleets of machines, built so developers can program hardware like software. Series C · 50–100 people ## Similar jobs [Citigroup](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/citigroup) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer - Director](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f68e58efe7bf09e0) Jersey City, NJ 3w ago $170,000–$300,000 [Citi (Citigroup Inc.)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/citi-citigroup-inc) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer - Director](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/43b889b6e711d24a) Jersey City, NJ 2w ago $170,000–$300,000 [Gyde](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/gyde) ### [Head of AI Deployment](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/ba7b23671ec1f28a) Austin, TX · New York, NY New · 6d ago $215,000–$245,000 [Datadog](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/datadog) ### [Forward Deployed Engineering Manager - Datadog for Startups](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f370cd488dde1342) New York, NY · San Francisco, CA Hybrid 4mo ago $200,000–$250,000 [Distyl AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/distyl-ai) ### [AI Engineer, Enterprise Lead](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/a777a2e143cc194d) San Francisco, CA · New York, NY Hybrid 4mo ago $200,000–$250,000 - [Compare staff+ FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/staff) - [Similar jobs in New York metro](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=nyc-metro) - [Similar jobs that lead deployment teams](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=leadership) Hiring at Viam and want this page changed or removed? Email info@nextmove.md and we take it down. Employer postings · [How we read postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/method)