Forward-Deployed Engineer

The role in one line

You take Smart Operator's connection to a client's systems from the first discovery call to reliable production traffic - writing code on both sides of that line where needed, and running the client conversation yourself, start to finish.

About Smart Operator

Smart Operator builds Ops, the Operator Performance System, for the people hospitality never built for. The servers, housekeepers, chefs, guides, porters, and shift leads who carry the standard in hotels, restaurants, lodges, bars, QSR kitchens, and safari camps. 81% of the industry's workforce is frontline. Less than 1% of its technology was built for them. We didn't find that acceptable.

Our mission: to build the system the frontline operator was never given, and make them better every shift.

We took this on because it was hard, and because it needed doing. 

What you'll own

Client integrations, start to finish.

From the first discovery call with a client's IT team through data mapping, testing, deployment, and production support - you carry each integration the whole way, not just the build. That means drafting and building whatever's needed on either side of the connection including code, config, documentation on the client's systems as well as ours, independently. When something breaks in production, it's yours to fix.

Secure access and connectivity.

VPNs, firewalls, IP allowlisting, OAuth, API credentials, secrets management. You set up how Smart Operator connects into a client's infrastructure, and you do it in a way their security team signs off on without a fight.

Data mapping and integration reliability.

You map a client's data - their bookings, their stock, their shifts - into Ops, and you build it to survive contact with the real world: retries, logging, and monitoring that catch a failure before the client does.

The MCP and API surface.

You build and integrate MCP servers and REST APIs as part of how Smart Operator talks to client-hosted databases and custom internal systems, including the ones nobody has connected to before.

Client technical relationships.

You work directly with client IT teams, not through a layer of account management, and not with another engineer standing between you and the conversation. You run it yourself: understanding their infrastructure, translating what they need into what we build, and pushing back when their ask doesn't hold up. You're also the first of what may become a small team doing this work, so how you run an engagement today is the template the people who join you will follow.

What great looks like within 6 months

• At least one client integration - Mews, Oracle Hospitality, or a custom client-hosted system - has gone from your first discovery call to steady, unattended production use, with you running the client relationship solo throughout
• Where needed, you've personally drafted or built something on a client's side of an integration, not just specified it for someone else to build
• A repeatable discovery process exists: the questions you ask, the access you request, the security review you run, so the next integration doesn't start from a blank page
• Client IT teams describe getting Smart Operator connected as straightforward, not painful
• Every live integration runs with retries, logging, and monitoring in place, and failures surface before a client reports them
• Credentials and secrets across integrations follow one documented, secure pattern, not a different approach per client
• Engineering leadership can see the status of every live client integration without having to ask you directly

You'll need

• Strong hands-on experience with REST APIs, HTTP, JSON, and SQL
• Demonstrated experience integrating with third-party or client-hosted databases
• Practical knowledge of OAuth, API credentials, and secrets management
• A working understanding of VPNs, firewalls, and IP allowlisting
• Experience building or integrating MCP servers
• A track record of building integrations that hold up in production: proper retries, logging, and monitoring, not just a happy-path demo
• Strong, independent client consulting skills- you can run the technical conversation with a client's IT team solo, from first call to sign-off, and you're comfortable drafting and building whatever's needed on their side of the connection as well as ours
• The gravitas to represent Smart Operator credibly to a client's IT and security leadership on your own
• You have personally taken at least one client or third-party integration from initial discovery through to reliable production use - this is one requirement we won't move on

It helps if you have

• Experience with hospitality systems: Mews, Oracle Hospitality, or similar PMS/POS platforms
• Familiarity with our stack: Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, and Google Cloud
• Experience leading, mentoring, or setting the standard for other engineers