Forward Deployed Engineering Manager

About the role:

At Cresta, shipping AI is only half the story. Deploying it successfully is where the real impact happens.

As Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, you'll lead the team that turns cutting-edge AI into real-world customer success. You'll build, mentor, and scale a world-class team of Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) who work directly with customers to deliver AI agents that solve practical business problems and drive measurable outcomes.

This is a high-impact leadership role for someone who loves building teams, refining processes, and driving product excellence through deep customer engagement. You'll be at the intersection of engineering, product, and go-to-market — ensuring that Cresta delivers exceptional value at scale.

Travel Expectations: 10-25% travel for customer visits, team offsites, and company events

This role is perfect for someone who:

• Has been in the trenches as an FDE or similar customer-facing engineering role and wants to scale that impact through leadership
• Thrives on building high-performing teams and developing talent
• Loves turning customer insights into product improvements
• Gets energized by complex deployments, ambiguous problems, and fast-paced environments
• Believes that engineering excellence and customer obsession go hand-in-hand

Why You'll Love This Role: 

• High impact, high visibility: You'll own one of the most strategic functions at Cresta — the team that turns AI into customer success
• Build something new: FDE at Cresta is still being defined. You'll shape the function, the culture, and the playbook
• Work with cutting-edge AI: You'll be hands-on with state-of-the-art AI agents, LLMs, and enterprise deployments at scale
• Develop world-class talent: You'll recruit and mentor some of the best engineers in the industry
• Influence product strategy: Your insights will directly shape what Cresta builds and how we win in enterprise
• Collaborate with the best: You'll work alongside world-class teams across product, engineering, and go-to-market
• Move fast, see impact: This isn't a slow-moving enterprise role. You'll ship fast, iterate, and see your work drive measurable customer outcomes

What You'll Do :

Build and Scale the FDE Team

• Recruit top talent: Own hiring strategy and execution for FDEs, building a diverse team of engineers who blend technical excellence with customer empathy
• Develop your team: Mentor FDEs through hands-on coaching, career development