Head of Forward Deployed Engineering

Postman Postman · Enterprise · San Francisco, CA · Leadership

Postman is seeking a Head of Forward Deployed Engineering to build and lead a team that embeds with strategic customers, driving business and product transformation through API solutions. This role involves delivering tangible outcomes, developing bespoke solutions, creating reusable assets, and bridging customer needs with product development. The role will also involve driving industry-specific partnerships, including in AI, to deliver innovative API-centric solutions.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead a Forward Deployed Engineering Team: Establish and scale a team of engineers who work closely with customers to deploy Postman’s solutions in high-impact, real-world environments. Focus on solving complex, mission-critical challenges that go beyond traditional implementation.
  2. Deliver Tangible Business Outcomes for Customers: Collaborate with customers to deliver measurable results, solving challenges that require creativity, adaptability, and a deep understanding of their technical ecosystems.
  3. Develop Bespoke Solutions for Unique Problems: Partner with customers to deeply understand their technical and business requirements, designing and implementing tailored API workflows, system integrations, and custom tools that align with their strategic goals.
  4. Create Reusable Assets and Frameworks: Identify patterns across deployments to develop tools, templates, and methodologies that accelerate future engagements, enabling the team to deliver both bespoke and scalable solutions.
  5. Bridge Product and Customers: Serve as the link between customer needs and Postman’s product development. Translate real-world challenges into actionable feedback for the Product and Engineering teams, driving innovation and ensuring Postman’s offerings meet diverse customer demands.

Skills

Required

  • Engineering leadership and management (Sr. Engineering Manager or Director level)
  • Building and scaling technical teams
  • Customer engagement and problem-solving
  • API development and design
  • Distributed systems debugging
  • Strategic thinking and platform evolution

Nice to have

  • Experience in emerging fields like AI
  • Partnership development

What the JD emphasized

  • 10+ years of professional experience
  • building zero-to-one technical teams
  • production code
  • building APIs
  • debugging distributed systems
  • customer-obsessed
  • solving real problems with high business impact
  • Builder’s mindset
  • Deep customer empathy
  • balance short-term needs with long-term platform evolution