Forward Deployed Engineer — Associate (Contract-to-Hire)

Forward Deployed Engineer — Associate (Contract-to-Hire)

Kognitos | Mountain View, CA (On-site) | Start: ASAP

4-month contract-to-hire | $5,000–$7,000 / month | Potential to convert to full-time

About Kognitos

Kognitos is building the future of business automation. Our platform lets companies automate complex back-office processes using plain English instead of code, powered by large language models and our own neurosymbolic reasoning engine. We work directly with enterprise customers to take the busywork out of finance, operations, and supply chain — and we move fast.

About the Role

This is a Forward Deployed Engineer (Associate) role designed for recent Master's graduates who want to launch their career at a fast-moving AI company. It starts as a 4-month contract and is built to convert to a full-time Forward Deployed Engineer position for the right person — the contract period is how we both find out if it's a great long-term fit.

As an FDE, you'll sit at the intersection of our customers and our product: working alongside the FDE team to design, build, and deploy automations for real customers solving real problems. This is a customer-facing role, so we care most about maturity, judgment, and the ability to build trust with enterprise stakeholders. The technical craft — our platform, our tooling, the way we deploy — we will train you on. You'll be based on-site in our Mountain View office.

Who We're Looking For

We're hiring recent Master's graduates who are done with school and ready to commit to a full-time career — not students returning for another semester. The ideal candidate brings:

• Maturity and professionalism — you carry yourself well with customers and senior stakeholders, communicate clearly, and follow through.
• Strong customer-facing skills — you listen well, ask the right questions, and can explain technical ideas to non-technical audiences with confidence and warmth.
• Sound judgment and ownership — you can navigate ambiguity, prioritize, and take responsibility for outcomes.
• A long-term mindset — you're looking to grow with one company, not for a short-term or seasonal role.

We can teach the rest. You do not need deep prior experience with our stack — solid fundamentals and the willingness to learn quickly matter far more than a specific tech checklist.

What You'll Do

• Work directly with customers to understand their processes, gather requirements, and troubleshoot issues.
• Build and deploy automations on the Kognitos platform, translating business needs into working solutions.
• Partner with product and engineering to surface customer feedback and help improve the platform.
• Prototype quickly, test with real data, and iterate based on what customers need.

The Path to Full-Time

This isn't a dead-end contract. Over the 4 months you'll be given real ownership, real customers, and the support to ramp. Perform well and you'll convert to a full-time Forward Deployed Engineer with expanded scope and compensation. We're investing in people we can grow with for the long run.

Baseline Qualifications

• Completed (or completing) a Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Not currently enrolled in, or planning to return to, another degree program — you're ready for a full-time career.
• Solid programming fundamentals (comfortable with Python, or able to pick it up quickly).
• Excellent written and verbal communication, and eagerness to work directly with customers.
• Able to work on-site in Mountain View and authorized to work in the U.S. long-term.

Compensation & Logistics

• Structure: 4-month W-2 contract with potential to convert to a full-time Forward Deployed Engineer role.
• Rate: $5,000–$7,000 per month, depending on experience.
• Location: Mountain View, CA — on-site.
• Start date: As soon as possible.

Kognitos is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Final note

You do not need to match all of the listed expectations to apply for this position. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

Equal opportunities provider

Kognitos is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.