Principal)

Salesforce•Seattle, MD

About The Position

The Product Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team is Salesforce's zero-to-one engine for new agentic product innovation. We embed directly with our most strategic customers to validate emerging AI capabilities, harden the platform under real-world conditions, and transform every field insight into repeatable patterns that shape the product roadmap. Most technical roles ask you to implement what already exists. This role asks you to define what comes next. You'll work with AI features before they're named, solve problems before there are playbooks, and build the artifacts that the rest of the field will use for years. Your work doesn't just help one customer — it hardens the agentic platform for every customer that comes after. The ideal candidate brings high agency and self-motivation to ambiguous, high-stakes environments. You thrive when there's no established answer, move fast without losing rigor, and treat every customer engagement as a learning opportunity that makes the platform better for everyone. You're endlessly curious, quick to adapt, and energized by problems that haven't been solved yet.

Requirements

7+ years of hands-on engagement in enterprise software or SaaS environments, with a strong foundation in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline
Demonstrated experience deploying AI/LLM-based solutions — including agentic frameworks, prompt engineering, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
Deep expertise in enterprise data architecture, security, and integrations, including REST/GraphQL APIs, SaaS platform architecture, and common data integration patterns
Proficiency in one or more programming languages (Python, JavaScript, Apex, or Java)
Strong diagnostic and problem decomposition instincts — able to pinpoint whether a failure is a product bug, a configuration error, or a data issue, even in low-documentation environments
Exceptional written communication skills: able to document builds, failures, and field observations in structured form that Product & Engineering can act on without a follow-up call
Experience with product telemetry and observability analysis to identify platform patterns and surface actionable insights
High agency, self-motivation, and agility quotient — you thrive in ambiguous, high-stakes environments, operate without a playbook, and default to experimentation and fast iteration over certainty, treating every challenge as an opportunity to learn and evolve
Ability to travel 20–30% to customer sites and company engagements

Nice To Haves

Prior experience in an forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, or embedded technical advisory role
Expertise in enterprise ITSM concepts: Service Request & Incident Management, Change Management, Knowledge Management, and Omnichannel Routing
Expertise in enterprise CCaaS concepts: Voice & Digital Channel Management, IVR/IVA Design, Intelligent Routing, Workforce Management, and Omnichannel Orchestration
Hands-on experience with SIP/VoIP protocols, telephony infrastructure, and CTI integrations
Hands-on experience with Salesforce CRM, Supply Chain Management, ERP platforms, or comparable enterprise systems
Experience with Salesforce Data 360, Agentforce platform, and/or MuleSoft
Experience with Salesforce Flows and Lightning Web Components (LWC)
Salesforce platform certifications (e.g., Service Cloud Consultant, Administrator, Platform Developer I, Architect)
Experience with ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, or BMC Helix ITSM
Experience with CCaaS platforms such as Genesys, NICE CXone, Amazon Connect, or Cisco Webex Contact Center
ITIL 4 Foundation Certification

Responsibilities

Research & Field Validation
Validate and stress-test pilot features with customers, identifying platform gaps and feeding structured findings back to Technology & Product
Conduct feasibility research on novel use cases — determining what's possible, what's not, and what needs to change in the product to get there
Co-develop hypotheses with Technology & Product and design experiments to validate them in the field
Document and escalate critical engineering issues with detailed evidence packages to accelerate resolution for global product
Customer Engagement
Lead technical engagement of new, emerging products and features
Embed directly with customer teams to deeply understand product-market fit to inform solutions that solve real problems at scale for the global platform
Run rapid prototyping and POC cycles to validate technical feasibility
Serve as the primary technical advisor and escalation point for customers during field validation
Product Acceleration & Feedback
Build reusable accelerators, playbooks, and reference architectures that address critical product gaps and directly shape the agentic platform roadmap
Partner directly with Product Managers and Engineers to influence roadmap priorities based on evidence captured directly from customers
Represent the voice of the customer in internal product discussions and planning cycles
Analyze competitive landscape to identify and validate Salesforce's key differentiators — informing both field engagements and product feedback loops
Produce thought leadership, best practices, and enablement content that raises the bar for new product releases across the Salesforce community