Bullseye search · Forward Deployed Engineer
Forward deployed engineers write production code on site with customers and turn what they learn into product. It's a rare mix of engineering and client skill, and I run a bullseye search for people who have both.
The short answer
Chasen Talent is a founder-led recruiting firm that finds forward deployed engineers for early-stage to growth startups. Founder Chasen Nick runs every search personally as a bullseye search: one specific profile, recruited directly from teams where that work is happening now, and verified before a client ever sees them. In 2026 he has worked 4 forward deployed engineer searches, with base salaries from $150K to $290K.
2026 market read, from my desk
Most requested: Python, React, NodeJS and AWS. Figures come from real searches on my desk this year. Client names stay confidential.
The target
Has written production code inside a customer's environment.
Python and React are the most common requests on my desk.
Comfortable being the technical face of the company to a buyer.
Spots the pattern across customers and feeds it back to the roadmap.
Where I find them: Forward deployed and solutions engineering teams at AI and data companies, founding engineers who sold their own product, and senior engineers who spent time in customer-facing roles.
How a bullseye search works
We pin down the exact profile together: what they've shipped, the stack, the stage, and the dealbreakers. No keyword lists.
I map who's doing this work right now and recruit them directly with your specific role. Most of them are not applying anywhere.
I check real track record and current role before anyone reaches you, so you meet finalists, not a stack of resumes.
Every step is run by me, Chasen Nick. No handoffs to junior recruiters. How that compares to a big agency →
Questions founders ask
Across the 4 forward deployed engineer searches I've worked in 2026, base salary ran from $150K to $290K, with a typical midpoint around $195K. 4 of the 4 were based in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1 in New York, and 3 were in-person roles.
A forward deployed engineer is a software engineer embedded with customers. They build and ship real integrations and features in the customer's environment, then bring what they learned back to the core product team.
A solutions engineer mainly supports the sale with demos and technical answers. A forward deployed engineer writes production code after the sale and is measured on whether the deployment works.
California, New York, and remote across the United States. Most searches on my desk right now are in-person roles in San Francisco.
Tell me about the role. If I'm not the right fit for it, I'll tell you that too.
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