At Palona, the Forward Deployed Engineer is a new kind of builder—born from the era of adaptive, multimodal AI systems. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, customer partnership, and real-world operations. You’ll work directly with operators in one of the most dynamic industries in the world and help guide AI agents that learn and evolve alongside them.
If you’re the type of person who loves both systems and people, who’s energized by real-world complexity, and who wants your work to have immediate impact in live environments, this is your path.
Responsibilities
As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you’ll be the connective tissue between our product, our customers, and the AI agents we deploy into the field. You will :
- Partner deeply with operators and customers to understand how the business actually runs, uncover real-world workflows, and translate them into system behavior.
- Scope, design, and deploy adaptive AI agents that evolve with the customer’s environment—not static models, but living systems that improve through interaction.
- Build and integrate production-ready applications that connect Palona’s AI platform to customer infrastructure.
- Develop demos, prototypes, and workflows that show how adaptive agents solve real operational problems.
- Debug edge cases in the wild and convert observations from real deployments into product intelligence and system improvements.
- Ensure reliability, safety, and performance of AI agents operating in fast-moving, operationally intense environments.
- Build long-term relationships where you and the agent grow alongside the customer.
This is neither a pure engineering role nor a pure consulting role—it is a hybrid built for range, curiosity, and ownership.
Requirements
Required
Strong full-stack development skills (Python, JavaScript, or similar)Experience in customer-facing or client delivery rolesAbility to thrive in fast-moving, resource-constrained, startup-style environmentsFast learner capable of adapting to new tools, domains, and requirementsHigh ownership mindset with the ability to work independently and follow problems end-to-endExcellent communication with technical and non-technical stakeholdersPreferred
Deploying LLMs, multimodal models, or generative AI systemsBackground in NLP, computer vision, or multi-agent systemsSales engineering, pre-sales, or customer success engineering in high-growth environmentsExperience working in domains with heavy operational complexity (hospitality, logistics, retail, etc.)Curiosity and empathy to explore both the technology and hospitalityTechnical fluency to diagnose, build, and refine systemsClear communication across both technical and non-technical teamsAdaptability in environments where requirements shift weeklyOwnership to take problems from discovery to deployment