Lyra Tech Group is looking for a Forward Deployed AI Engineer for one of our operating companies. As an FDE, you will work directly inside our clients' businesses — rolling up your sleeves to design, build, and deploy AI-powered solutions that create real operational impact. You won't be sitting behind a desk writing specs; you'll be on-site at small and mid-size businesses diagnosing inefficiencies, earning stakeholder trust, and shipping production-grade AI agents, automated workflows, and engineering solutions that change how these organizations run. This is a hands-on, client-facing engineering role built for someone who is as comfortable presenting to a business owner as they are writing Python.

Your work as a Forward Deployment AI Engineer will include several components:  

•    Embed directly with clients to discover operational pain points, map workflows, and identify high-ROI opportunities for AI and automation
•    Design and build AI agents using frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, or similar — including tool-use, memory, and multi-agent orchestration patterns
•    Develop AI-powered workflows that integrate with clients' existing systems (CRMs, ERPs, cloud platforms, communication tools, etc.)
•    Engineer automation solutions across areas such as document processing, data extraction, reporting, customer communication, and internal operations
•    Own the full delivery lifecycle — from scoping and architecture to build, testing, handoff, and lightweight documentation
•    Train and enable client teams to maintain and iterate on solutions post-deployment
•    Serve as a trusted technical advisor, translating complex AI capabilities into clear business value for non-technical stakeholders
•    Contribute internally by codifying reusable components, playbooks, and delivery templates that scale across the practice

Our ideal Forward Deployment AI Engineer has the following qualifications:

•    Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field
•    Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without employer sponsorship now or in the future
•    2+ years of professional experience in software engineering, AI/ML engineering, or a technical consulting role
•    Working proficiency in Python and familiarity with REST APIs and cloud services
•    Hands-on experience building with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or similar)
•    Understanding of prompt engineering, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), and agentic workflow patterns
•    Ability to work independently in ambiguous, fast-moving client environments
•    Strong communication skills — you can explain a vector database to a CFO without losing them

Preferred
•    Experience with workflow automation platforms (Zapier, Make, n8n, or similar)
•    Familiarity with vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma) and embedding pipelines
•    Exposure to low-code/no-code tools alongside custom-code solutions
•    Prior client-facing, consulting, or forward-deployed engineering experience
•    Experience working with SMB clients across industries such as professional services, healthcare, logistics, or retail

Who Thrives in This Role
You're a builder who gets energy from solving real problems for real people. You're not waiting for perfect requirements — you ask good questions, form a hypothesis, and get something in front of stakeholders fast. You're comfortable being the most technical person in the room for one hour and a junior learner the next. You care about the outcome, not just the code.

The targeted base salary range for this role is $120,000-$150,000 per year, depending on experience. You must live within a reasonable commuting distance of the operating company and be willing to travel to client sites as needed.

Lyra Tech Group is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diverse perspectives and are committed to building an inclusive team.