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Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineer

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Date: Mar 19, 2026

Location: New York, US, 10003

Company: Optimizely

At Optimizely, we're on a mission to help people unlock their digital potential. We do that by reinventing how marketing and product teams work to create and optimize digital experiences across all channels. With Optimizely One, our industry-first operating system for marketers, we offer teams flexibility and choice to build their stack their way with our fully SaaS, fully decoupled, and highly composable solution.  

We are proud to help more than 10,000 businesses, including H&M, PayPal, Zoom, and Toyota, enrich their customer lifetime value, increase revenue and grow their brands. Our innovation and excellence have earned us numerous recognitions as a leader by industry analysts such as Gartner, Forrester, and IDC, reinforcing our role as a trailblazer in MarTech. 

At our core, we believe work is about more than just numbers -- it's about the people. Our culture is dynamic and constantly evolving, shaped by every employee, their actions and their stories. With over 1500 Optimizers spread across 12 global locations, our diverse team embodies the "One Optimizely" spirit, emphasizing collaboration and continuous improvement, while fostering a culture where every voice is heard and valued. 

Join us and become part of a company that's empowering people to unlock their digital potential! 

To get a sneak peek into our culture, find us on Instagram: @optimizely

Introduction

The Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering defines and drives the strategy for deploying Optimizely’s AI products across enterprise customers. This leader oversees multiple teams, ensuring scalable, high-quality delivery while aligning technical execution with business goals.

Operating at the intersection of technical strategy, organizational leadership and customer impact, this role focuses on scaling delivery, developing leaders and shaping how AI solutions are implemented across the customer base.

Job Responsibilities

Functional Strategy & Execution

  • Define and execute the Forward Deployed Engineering strategy across multiple teams, aligning with company objectives and customer needs
  • Drive scalable delivery of AI solutions by establishing best practices, tools and frameworks for deployment, integration and lifecycle management
  • Partner with Product, Engineering, Sales and Customer Success leadership to influence roadmap, improve product adoption and optimize customer outcomes
  • Manage complex cross-functional dependencies and proactively mitigate risks to ensure delivery against strategic goals
  • Provide architectural oversight and governance for complex AI solutions, ensuring consistency, quality and alignment with technical standards
  • Engage with key enterprise customers on high-impact initiatives as a senior technical advisor and escalation point
  • Analyze evolving business and customer needs, adjusting priorities, resources and approach to meet goals

 

Leadership, People & Operational Ownership

  • Lead, develop and scale a team of managers and senior individual contributors
  • Own hiring strategy, workforce planning and organizational design to support current and future business needs
  • Set clear expectations and hold leaders accountable to well-defined, high-quality plans and outcomes
  • Coach managers to think strategically and approach problems from multiple perspectives
  • Foster a high-performance, collaborative culture focused on innovation, continuous improvement and customer success
  • Own budget planning and resource allocation across the function, making ROI-driven investment decisions
  • Manage team capacity across programs to ensure effective utilization and delivery
  • Establish and refine methods, processes, and evaluation criteria for programs, delivery quality and team performance

Knowledge and Experience

  • 8+ years in customer-facing technical roles (e.g., Solutions Architect, FDE, Implementation Engineer), with 3–5+ years leading managers or senior teams
  • Proven experience managing managers and scaling multi-team organizations
  • Strong strategic thinking with the ability to align technical execution to business outcomes
  • Deep experience with AI systems, including RAG and prompt engineering
  • Solid programming and integration experience (JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, APIs)
  • Experience owning budgets and making data-driven investment decisions
  • Strong problem-solving skills in complex, ambiguous environments
  • Excellent communication and ability to influence executive stakeholders
  • Track record of building strong customer relationships and delivering business impact

Education

Bachelor’s degree.

Competencies

Interacting with People at Different Levels
Driving Projects to Completion
Solving Complex Problems
Driving for Results
Delegating Responsibility

Base Salary: 112,411- 191,109

Optimizely is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Optimizely is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.

 

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