Engineering Manager – Forward Deployed Engineering, LLM

Baseten

Engineering Manager leading a team of Forward Deployed Engineers for AI inference at Baseten. Delivering high performance, low latency AI applications across customer engagements.

Posted 5/9/2026full-timeSan Francisco • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesMid-LevelSenior💰 $260,000 - $380,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

PythonRay

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead, mentor, and grow a team of Forward Deployed Engineers, providing guidance on technical direction, project execution, and professional development.
Set clear goals and ensure timely, high-quality delivery across multiple customer-facing projects involving LLM deployment and inference optimization.
Collaborate with leadership to align team priorities with company and customer goals, balancing short-term delivery, widely varying customer priorities, and long-term technical initiatives.
Player-coach – While much of this role will be leading the team, you will also be expected to be a key driver on strategic product initiatives and customer engagements. The best managers derive credibility from being able to be hands-on when needed.
Develop and maintain software systems and product features using one or more general-purpose programming languages in a production-level environment, with a preference for Python due to its relevance in ML projects.
Drive customer impact by designing, implementing, and deploying Baseten solutions end-to-end (problem framing → evaluation → production deployment → monitoring).

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
4+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 1+ year in a leadership or mentorship capacity.
Strong programming skills in Python, with production experience in building or optimizing ML inference systems.
Proven experience with LLMs, inference optimization, or serving frameworks (e.g., vLLM, TensorRT, Triton, Hugging Face, Ray Serve).
Familiarity with observability, profiling, and cost/performance tradeoffs in production ML systems.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills—able to lead cross-functional efforts and drive outcomes in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Competitive compensation, including meaningful equity.
100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employee and dependents
Flexible PTO policy including company wide Winter Break (our offices are closed from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day!)
Paid parental leave
Fertility and family-building stipend through Carrot
Company-facilitated 401(k)
Exposure to a variety of ML startups, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

PythonML inference systemsLLMsinference optimizationvLLMTensorRTTritonHugging FaceRay Servesoftware development

Soft Skills

leadershipmentorshipcommunicationcollaborationproject executiongoal settingproblem framingcross-functional leadershipadaptabilitystrategic thinking

Certifications

Bachelor’s in Computer ScienceMaster’s in Computer SciencePh.D. in Computer Science