Forward Deployed Engineer - Contract

Nextdata
No Location

Who this role is best for

Best suited to mid-level engineers with Python and SQL expertise working in enterprise data solutions and agentic applications.

Best fit for

  • Engineers who can translate business needs into production-ready solutions.
    — “translate a high-value business need into a production-ready solution”
  • Candidates experienced in building user-facing agentic applications.
    — “building a user-facing agentic application”
  • Professionals comfortable with evolving requirements in early-stage projects.
    — “early-stage environment where requirements may evolve”

Things to consider

  • Initial contract duration is three to four months with potential extension.
    — “THE INITIAL ENGAGEMENT IS EXPECTED TO RUN FOR THREE TO FOUR MONTHS”
  • Requires hands-on experience with LangChain or similar frameworks.
    — “Practical experience building user-facing agentic applications with LangChain, LangGraph, or similar frameworks”

How to stand out

  • Showcase projects where you owned end-to-end data solutions.
    — “own a project from use-case definition through implementation and production deployment”
  • Highlight experience with multi-step workflows and human-in-the-loop approvals.
    — “multi-step workflows, tool calling, state management, RAG, semantic search, and human-in-the-loop approvals”
  • Demonstrate understanding of data governance and access control.
    — “access control, data governance, policies, lineage, PII protection, and auditability”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · MediumAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · TeamLevel · Mid

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • lead a focused three-to-four-month project with one of Nextdata’s initial customers
  • translate a high-value business need into a production-ready solution
  • build a user-facing agentic application
  • develop workflows that allow users to ask questions, discover and combine relevant data products
  • build APIs, semantic interfaces, and MCP-compatible endpoints
Typical background
Strong experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, data platforms, or distributed systems

Skills & requirements

Required

Data EngineeringAnalytics EngineeringData PlatformsDistributed SystemsPythonSQLBuilding Data PipelinesApisBackend ServicesLangchainLanggraphMulti-step WorkflowsTool CallingState ManagementHuman-in-the-loop ApprovalsMCPSemantic InterfacesAccess ControlData GovernancePII Protection

Preferred

LangchainLanggraphMulti-step WorkflowsTool CallingState ManagementHuman-in-the-loop ApprovalsMCPSemantic InterfacesAccess ControlData GovernancePII ProtectionAuditabilityApplication CodeData SystemsCloud InfrastructureCustomer Environments

Stack & domain

Data EngineeringAnalytics EngineeringData PlatformsDistributed SystemsLangchainLanggraphMulti-step WorkflowsTool CallingState ManagementHuman-in-the-loop ApprovalsMcpAgent-facing ApisSemantic InterfacesGoverned Data-access PatternsAccess ControlData GovernancePoliciesLineagePii ProtectionAuditabilityApplication CodeData SystemsCloud InfrastructureCustomer EnvironmentsPythonSQLData PipelinesApisBackend ServicesData IntegrationData ModelingPipelinesInfrastructureApplicationsUser-facing Agentic ApplicationsMulti-step Agent WorkflowsHuman Approval StepsReliable Failure HandlingMcp-compatible EndpointsEnterprise DataDefined AccessPolicy ControlsBusiness RequirementsApplication DevelopmentAgentic WorkflowsRagSemantic SearchProject OwnershipCommunicationProblem-solvingTime ManagementJudgmentScopeTrade-offsPocReliable Product CapabilityEarly-stage EnvironmentRequirements EvolutionCollaborationMentoringProject ExecutionTeamworkAttention To DetailQuality AssuranceSafety AwarenessTechnical WritingTrainingEngineeringDesignProject ManagementSafetyEnvironmentalHealthTechnology

About the role

Original posting from Nextdata via Ashby

ABOUT THE ROLE

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will lead a focused three-to-four-month project (which is likely to turn into a longer-term engagement) with one of Nextdata’s initial customers. You will work closely with the customer to translate a high-value business need into a production-ready solution built on the Nextdata OS.

You will own the project from use-case definition through implementation and deployment. This includes data integration, data modeling, pipelines, infrastructure, and the applications through which users and AI agents consume governed data products.

A core part of the project is building a user-facing agentic application, not only the underlying data platform. You will develop workflows that allow users to ask questions, discover and combine relevant data products, invoke tools, and take governed actions. This requires practical experience with LangChain, LangGraph, or similar frameworks for implementing multi-step agent workflows, tool calling, state management, human approval steps, and reliable failure handling.

You will also build the APIs, semantic interfaces, and MCP-compatible endpoints that allow the application and its agents to understand and use enterprise data within defined access and policy controls.

You will draw on experience across the analytics and AI lifecycle, from business requirements and data pipelines to application development and agentic workflows. Lessons from the project will feed back into the Nextdata OS, its developer experience, and reusable product patterns.

THE INITIAL ENGAGEMENT IS EXPECTED TO RUN FOR THREE TO FOUR MONTHS. IF SUCCESSFUL, THE WORK MAY EXPAND INTO A BROADER PRODUCT INITIATIVE.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

  • Strong experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, data platforms, or distributed systems.
  • Experience working directly with enterprise customers and turning business needs into working technical solutions.
  • Ability to own a project from use-case definition through implementation and production deployment.
  • Strong Python and SQL skills, with experience building data pipelines, APIs, and backend services.
  • Practical experience building user-facing agentic applications with LangChain, LangGraph, or similar frameworks.
  • Experience with multi-step workflows, tool calling, state management, RAG, semantic search, and human-in-the-loop approvals.
  • Familiarity with MCP, agent-facing APIs, semantic interfaces, or governed data-access patterns.
  • Understanding of access control, data governance, policies, lineage, PII protection, and auditability.
  • Ability to work across application code, data systems, cloud infrastructure, and customer environments.
  • Strong judgment about scope, trade-offs, and turning a PoC into a reliable product capability.
  • Comfort working in an early-stage environment where requirements may evolve during the project.

Source: Nextdata careers (Ashby)

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