Staff Forward Deployed Engineer - Applied AI (Remote)
At a glance
Senior AI Engineering role at Rula. Remote, United States · full-time · $192,000–$240,000 base.
aimlroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Spend time with business and clinical teams to map their workflows, then build AI tools that reduce manual work
- Ship tools that teams use each week, and stay involved until they can operate them independently
- Turn lessons from each team’s deployment into reusable components for later projects
- Build privacy protections into AI tools, including separation of clinical information from operational systems
What you bring
- At least eight years delivering production software, with end-to-end responsibility for outcomes
- A track record of launching tools used weekly by customers or internal teams, with usage measurement
- Deep experience understanding operational work through observation, interviews or data before designing software
- Daily use of coding agents, paired with rigorous testing and evaluation practices and privacy-conscious engineering
Who this fits
This senior individual-contributor role suits an engineer who can work directly with business and clinical teams, deliver practical tools, and help teams use them independently. It is fully remote, and you must be based in the United States; hiring excludes Hawaii.
From the employer
We believe that mental health is just as important as physical health. We recognize that mental health issues can be complex and multifaceted, and we are dedicated to treating the whole person, not just the symptoms.
We aim to create a world where mental health is no longer stigmatized or marginalized, but rather is embraced as an integral part of one's overall well-being.
We believe that by providing quality care that is both evidence-based and compassionate, we can empower individuals to take charge of their mental health and achieve their full potential. We are passionate about making a positive impact on the lives of those struggling with mental health issues and we strive to be a force for positive change in the field of mental healthcare.
Rula is a remote-first company. We currently hire in most U.S. states, with the exception of Hawaii.
About the Role
Rula's business and clinical teams lose hours every week to manual work, and we want AI to give that time back. As a Staff Forward Deployed Engineer, you will sit with a team, learn how the work actually gets done, and ship tools they use every week, often turning a six-to-eight-hour task into under thirty minutes. You stay until the team runs each tool on its own, then turn what you learned into building blocks that help the next team move faster. Because we serve patients in mental health care, privacy is part of the design from day one.
Required Qualifications
Experience & Ownership: 8+ years shipping production-quality software systems (consumer or business) with end-to-end ownership of outcomes.
Rapid Tool Delivery: Proven track record of shipping tools or products used weekly by customers or business teams, supported by usage telemetry.
Customer-Centric Discovery: Deep experience learning operational workflows through observation, interviews, or data before designing software solutions.
AI-Fluency & Engineering Workflow: Daily use of coding agents (specifying, testing, and reviewing output diffs) with rigorous evaluation practices (test sets, evals) and privacy-by-design standards (synthetic/masked data, isolating clinical content from operational tools)
Preferred Qualifications
While having the preferred qualifications enhances your candidacy, having all of them is not mandatory. We encourage all interested applicants to apply, even those who may not meet every preferred requirement.
Measurement Infrastructure: Experience building custom measurement frameworks for cost, usage, and impact tracking when standard vendor dashboards were unavailable.
Forward-Deployed Experience: Direct prior experience being forward-deployed to non-engineering business teams or external customer organizations.
Model & Cost Optimization: Practical experience migrating systems across different LLM models to optimize costs while maintaining quality guardrails.
Integration with Legacy/Messy Systems: Proven ability to integrate AI into complex business platforms with imperfect data/APIs (e.g., CRM, billing, scheduling).
Technical Enablement: Track record of coaching non-engineering team members to build or adopt software workflows independently.
We're serious about your well-being! As part of our team, full-time employees receive:
100% remote work environment: Working hours to support a healthy work-life balance, ensuring you can meet both professional and personal commitments (must be based in United States, currently not hiring in Hawaii)
Attractive pay and benefits: Full transparency of pay ranges regardless of where you live in the United States
Comprehensive health benefits: Medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and FSA/HSA
401(k) plan access: Start saving for your future
Generous time-off policies: Including 2 company-wide shutdown weeks each year for self-care (for most employees)
Paid parental leave: Available for all parents, including birthing, non-birthing, adopting, and fostering
Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Supporting your mental and physical health
Quarterly department stipend: Fun team-building activities or in-person gatherings
Community and employee resource groups: Participate in groups that celebrate employee identity and lived experiences, fostering a sense of community and belonging for all
Home office stipend: New hire home office stipend & $50 monthly stipend to help cover internet or cell phone expenses
Wellness at Rula program: Year-round wellness initiatives and a $50/month wellness stipend
Our team
We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental to our mission of making mental healthcare work for everyone. We are dedicated to having a culture of inclusion that will support our employees in feeling safe, seen, heard, and valued.