rubyrenegade
rubyrenegade on Hacker News
Ascertain | NYC (Hybrid) | Senior Product Engineer | Python, FastAPI, TypeScript
We’re building software to fix messy, real-world healthcare workflows—the kind that don’t fit neatly into SaaS.
This is a high-autonomy role for engineers who want ownership. You’ll work directly with customers, turn ambiguous problems into working systems, and ship end-to-end. We’re looking for someone who’s shipped real systems, is comfortable with ambiguity, and enjoys solving problems beyond the code.
$130K–$175K + equity + benefits
Apply: https://www.ascertain.com/careers?ashby_jid=b0c3a042-99a1-40...
Thanks for the feedback! We're refocusing our efforts to find strong engineers who have the right instincts and soft skills to deal with customers. Travel will still be a part of the role and we're happy to pay for that! I thought this was a hot role, so I'm coming grips to the reality that it is going to be very hard to fill!
Thank you! I couldn't figure out how to post there. Guess I need to figure it out! A backend engineer might be OK if they had some solid customer-facing experience as well. I hear your point on Palantir, I just used it as an example because it's so commonly known. The big challenge here is finding people who A) have both skill sets and B) want this kind of role.
Thanks for this feedback. Someone recently sent me an article that said the FDE role is going out of style because engineers are getting there and find they don't like the customer work, which is what triggered my question! I'll look into pre-sales engineer. The big challenge here is finding someone who still is an exceptional coder versus a customer-facing person who can manage the coding aspects with AI.
We actually don't want them to do exactly what the Palantir FDEs do. They will be customer-facing, but we're looking for people with a high degree of coding skill. We're getting lots of people to apply who have the customer-facing experience but barely any experience with coding.
I think so. We've done the research on it. That doesn't mean we shouldn't revisit the salary, but I think there's a fundamental mismatch between what we're asking for and who is applying.
Posted by
rubyrenegade on Friday March 27, 2026 @09:41AM
from the ask-hn dept.
We're hiring Forward Deployed Engineers at my company but can't seem to find the combo of strong coding chops + customer-facing experience we need. I know Palantir made this a coveted role not too long ago, but rumor has it the enthusiasm is running low. What are you seeing at your company? Is there an alternative role/title we should be hiring for to find the right people?
Posted by
rubyrenegade on Thursday March 26, 2026 @11:24PM
from the self-post dept.
We're hiring Forward Deployed Engineers at my company but can't seem to find the combo of strong coding chops + customer-facing experience we need. I know Palantir made this a coveted role not too long ago, but rumor has it the enthusiasm is running low. What are you seeing at your company? Is there an alternative role we should be hiring for?