Forward was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D.s, building the industry's first network digital twin: a mathematically accurate model of the production network. It's the foundation for autonomous networking, giving engineers and AI agents the ability to know the impact of every change before it touches production. That founding instinct still defines how we work. We're accurate and evidence-driven, relentless about clarity, and we'd rather be certain than comfortable, building a groundbreaking platform that transforms how teams run and secure networks across every major cloud and vendor environment.
Global leaders like Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell trust Forward, alongside fast-growing enterprises and government agencies, realizing an average of $14.2 million in annual benefits, according to IDC. Backed by top-tier investors, including A. Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Omega Venture Partners, Section 32, and Threshold Ventures, and headquartered in Santa Clara, we're most proud of our team: curious people who'd rather build what doesn't exist than accept how things have always been done.
Forward is looking for a Customer Success Engineer
- Do want to create a category and help build a special company?
- Join a company that has been in market 5+ years and has some of the top Federal agencies and F500/Global 2000 already buying and referenceable.
- We are building a special team and hope you consider us if you want to have the experience of changing the networking world as we know it.
What you’ll do:
As a Customer Success Engineer for our Enterprise team, you will be responsible for providing world class post-sales technical leadership to our client base and will be onsite at our customer in NY.
Responsibilities:
- Providing advice and guidance as the Forwards subject matter expert to ensure successful ongoing usage and adoption of our technologies
- Taking ownership of post-sales technical issues, working with cross-functional teams to document problem resolution steps and troubleshooting procedures
- Walking customers through the various stages of adoption with Forwards Platform
- Working directly with our internal Product Management, Engineering, Sales and Marketing teams.
- Some travel (10%)
Requirements:
- B.S. Computer Science or equivalent educational experience
- 5+ years of customer facing experience in a post-sales engineer role for a networking company, relevant software vendor, or as a network engineer for a large enterprise, service provider or Governmental agencies
- Must be willing to be onsite at customer location in either Charlotte, NC (hybrid)/ Jersey City, NJ/ NYC.
Experience:
- Strong understanding of Networking and Security fundamentals
- Experience in working with multiple Network vendors (e.g. A10, Arista, Cisco, F5, Fortinet, Juniper, Palo Alto Networks etc.)
- Strong verbal and written communications skills with a focus on needs analysis, positioning, business justification, and closing techniques; Superior presentation skills
- Excellent analytical & problem-solving skills, combined with the ability to provide quick resolution to problems
- Demonstrable success in thinking strategically, executing tactically while providing consistent and high levels of customer satisfaction and retention in a fast-paced environment
Highly Desired:
- One or more of the following certificates: CCIE, JNCIE or VCDX
- Experience in working for a startup company
- Working knowledge of API driven workflows and scripting languages (Python, bash, jq, graphql, etc)
- Ideal candidate will be onsite at customer location in NY
The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary +bonus is expected to be between $165,000/yr to $190,000/yr. The offered compensation may also include stock.
Skills Required
- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science or equivalent educational experience
- 5+ years of customer-facing experience in a post-sales engineering role for a networking company, relevant software vendor, or as a network engineer for a large enterprise, service provider, or government agency
- Willingness to work onsite at a customer location in Charlotte, Jersey City, or New York City
- Strong understanding of networking and security fundamentals
- Experience working with multiple network vendors, such as A10, Arista, Cisco, F5, Fortinet, Juniper, or Palo Alto Networks
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, including needs analysis, positioning, business justification, and closing techniques
- Superior presentation skills
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
- Demonstrated ability to provide rapid technical issue resolution
- Demonstrated success executing strategically and tactically while maintaining customer satisfaction and retention
- One or more certifications such as CCIE, JNCIE, or VCDX
- Startup company experience
- Working knowledge of API-driven workflows and scripting languages such as Python, Bash, jq, or GraphQL
Forward Networks Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Forward Networks and has not been reviewed or approved by Forward Networks.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered competitive for a mid-stage infrastructure/software company across several roles and locations. Signals point to strong totals in technical and select go-to-market positions.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is broadly offered to all employees, creating ownership potential alongside salary and bonus. As a private company, perceived value can rise with company performance and future liquidity.
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Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage is described as top-grade for employees and dependents. Company materials consistently highlight strong core health benefits across hiring channels.
Forward Networks Insights
What We Do
The future of network operations is network modeling. Forward Networks' flagship platform Forward Enterprise gives users a mathematically accurate network digital twin. Forward enables perfect network visibility, full path analysis, security policy verification, and change prediction, freeing up time and saving you money.
