Alation is pioneering the next era of data intelligence — powered by AI agents and trusted data. Organizations around the world rely on Alation to drive self-service analytics, cloud transformation, data governance, and AI innovation. Our technology helps enterprises connect people and data to make faster, smarter, and more confident decisions. With more than $340M in funding – valued at over $1.7 billion and more than 650 customers, including 40% of the Fortune 100.
As data becomes the foundation of every business, Alation is leading the way in helping organizations unlock their full potential. By bringing intelligence, automation, and trust to every interaction, we empower customers to scale data-driven innovation with confidence and speed.
Joining Alation means being part of a winning team shaping the future of AI-powered data intelligence. We move fast, think big, and deliver results together.
Job Description:
As a Senior Staff Forward Deployed Engineer, you will be at the sharpest edge of Alation's mission. This is a get-in-the-trenches-and-build role for a seasoned technical leader who can turn ambiguous enterprise problems into production-grade, AI-driven solutions, often in days rather than quarters.
You will serve as a primary technical bridge between Alation's most strategic enterprise customers and our Product and Engineering teams. Recognized internally and externally as a subject matter expert in agentic AI, data governance, and enterprise architecture, you will shape how the world's largest organizations adopt autonomous AI, and actively influence how Alation's platform and delivery methodology evolve to support it.
This is a senior individual contributor role within the Forward Deployed Engineering organization, with visibility and influence across field leadership, Product, and GTM.
What You'll Do
Architect and rapidly prototype AI agent systems, including LLM-based, multi-agent, and agentic workflow designs, that automate complex reasoning tasks and data governance processes within Alation's platform.
Embed directly with Fortune 500 stakeholders to understand their data ecosystems, governance bottlenecks, and business objectives, then translate those into technical roadmaps grounded in Alation's Knowledge Layer capabilities.
Build and deploy BI and ML pipelines that convert cataloged data into executive-grade insights, demonstrating measurable ROI tied to Alation deployments.
Partner with Deployment Strategists to connect technical delivery to measurable business outcomes, ensuring every engagement is tied to customer value, not configuration milestones.
Define repeatable, scalable solution patterns that the broader FDE and DS teams can leverage, moving Alation from custom builds toward productized, high-margin delivery.
Act as a force multiplier for Product and Engineering by feeding real-world edge cases, customer patterns, and AI use cases back into the core platform roadmap.
Design and build internal tooling, including accelerators, automation frameworks, and reusable components, that increase the velocity and consistency of the Forward Deployed Engineering team.
Conduct competitive analysis in the field, synthesizing observations across customer environments and surfacing actionable intelligence to Product and GTM teams.
Mentor field engineers and customer-side technical teams on best practices for agentic AI, data governance, and Alation platform architecture.
What You Bring
12+ years in software engineering, with significant time in customer-facing technical leadership roles such as FDE, Solutions Architect, or CTO-office equivalents.
Deep, hands-on experience with LLM orchestration frameworks including LangChain, AutoGen, and CrewAI, as well as vector databases, RAG architectures, and fine-tuning ML models for enterprise use cases.
Proven track record delivering large-scale BI and data pipeline solutions, equally comfortable with SQL and cloud warehousing as with predictive modeling.
Architectural fluency across distributed systems, enterprise data governance, metadata management, and compliance-grade data platforms.
A prototyper's mindset: you write production-quality code at speed, ship, learn, and iterate, valuing working software over over-engineering.
A track record of shaping delivery methodology, solution patterns, or technical standards beyond your own engagements, with influence that extends across teams and customer organizations.
Executive presence and high EQ, with the ability to earn trust quickly with Fortune 500 CDOs and technical stakeholders alike.
Genuine enthusiasm for Alation's mission: you believe trusted data and intelligent governance are foundational to how enterprises win.
75/25 split. The on target earnings (OTE) range is specific to the United States and is $200,000 - $375,000
Compensation Pay Range:
$148,974.00 - $201,115.00Salary Information
The base salary range is specific to the United States. The salary of the final candidate selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to internal equity, experience, education, work location, specialty and training. If the final candidate has a different level of experience, the base salary target range may be lower or higher than what is published.
Alation, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to that individual’s race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law.
The Company will strive to provide reasonable accommodations to permit qualified applicants who have a need for an accommodation to participate in the hiring process (e.g., accommodations for a job interview) if so requested.
This company participates in E-Verify. Click on any of the links below to view or print the full poster. E-Verify and Right to Work.
Skills Required
- 12+ years of software engineering experience
- Significant experience in customer-facing technical leadership roles such as Forward Deployed Engineer, Solutions Architect, or CTO office equivalent
- Hands-on experience with LLM orchestration frameworks including LangChain, AutoGen, and CrewAI
- Experience with vector databases and retrieval-augmented generation architectures
- Experience fine-tuning machine learning models for enterprise use cases
- Track record delivering large-scale business intelligence and data pipeline solutions
- Proficiency with SQL and cloud data warehousing
- Experience with predictive modeling
- Architectural knowledge of distributed systems, enterprise data governance, metadata management, and compliance-grade data platforms
- Ability to write production-quality code rapidly and iterate on prototypes
- Track record shaping delivery methodologies, solution patterns, or technical standards across teams
- Executive presence and ability to build trust with senior business and technical stakeholders
- Enthusiasm for trusted data and intelligent governance
Alation Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Alation and has not been reviewed or approved by Alation.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as strong, with employer-listed medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and short-term disability included. Health benefits are repeatedly highlighted as a standout element of the package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off, paid holidays, sick time, and parental leave are included, with “unlimited PTO” also cited. Time-away policies are positioned as a solid component of the overall offering.
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Flexible Benefits — Flexible hours, remote options, and commuter benefits are part of the offering. Work-from-home flexibility is portrayed as a major strength.
Alation Insights
What We Do
Alation is the data intelligence company. Nearly 600 global enterprises — including 40% of the Fortune 100 — rely on Alation to realize value from their data and AI initiatives. Customers such as Cisco, DocuSign, Nasdaq, Pfizer, and Samsung trust Alation’s platform for self-service analytics, cloud transformation, data governance, and AI-ready data, fostering data-driven innovation at scale. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Alation has been recognized five times by Inc. Magazine as one of the Best Workplaces.
Why Work With Us
With $340M in funding and over $100M in annual recurring revenue, Alation is poised to capitalize on data and AI as an opportunity. When joining Alation, the team welcomes new ideas, supports your growth, and recognizes your unique value.
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