Forward Deployed Engineer

Zeya Labs AI · Ho Chi Minh City

Small team. Hard problems. We’re figuring out a delivery model that doesn’t exist yet.

WHAT THIS ROLE IS

We are building AI-native products and delivery systems in a space without established playbooks. As AI-augmented engineering and autonomous workflows mature, the core challenge is shifting from building software to orchestrating, refining, and governing intelligent systems that make decisions and execute work.

As an AI Product Builder, you will report directly to the Head of AI and product. While the engineering team focuses on deep system design and architecture, you operate at the intersection of product thinking, AI capability, and execution of reality.

You are the person who translates ambiguity into structured systems—turning business problems into AI-driven workflows, coordinating across stakeholders, and ensuring what we build is both technically feasible and operationally usable.

You will work closely with internal stakeholders on rapid experimentation, prototyping, and Lab-based initiatives that demonstrate and validate new agentic capabilities.

This role requires a strong baseline of technical and systems of understanding. You will not be responsible for core architecture or writing production code, but you will actively participate in technical discussions, shape system behavior at the product layer, and help ensure AI systems are correctly aligned with real-world constraints and business outcomes.

Concretely, you are responsible for four things:

1.AI PRODUCT AND DESIGN

Product Discovery & Framing

• Break down ambiguous operational problems into structured requirements

• Identify high-impact opportunities for AI automation and augmentation

• Rapidly validate ideas through prototyping and iteration

Delivery Alignment

• Work closely with engineering to ensure requirements are executable

• Define clear acceptance criteria, edge cases, and success metrics

• Bridge operational needs with technical implementation realities

AI-Driven Optimization

• Identify manual workflows that can be automated or AI-augmented

• Continuously propose system improvements as tools and models evolve

• Own the full build lifecycle prototype in the AI Lab, productionize it through internal transformation, and maintain solutions post-deployment with support from engineering and platform teams.

• Be an active member of the AI Lab, contributing demos and reusable assets and helping build a strong builder community across the firm.

2.WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

** A minimum of 3 years of relevant professional experience in AI, software development, product development, or a related technical field is required.**

Familiarity or working knowledge in the following areas is preferred:

• AI platforms and model APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, or equivalent)

• Workflow orchestration and automation tools (e.g., n8n, Zapier, Make, or similar)

• API-based system integration and SaaS ecosystems

• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and basic infrastructure concepts

• Identity and access management (IAM) and enterprise access control principles

• Product analytics and operational tracking tools

• Documentation and collaboration tools (e.g., Notion, Confluence, Jira)

• Strong understanding of how AI systems interact with business workflows, data pipelines, and operational processes is highly valued.

3.YOU WILL WORK ACROSS

This role spans multiple domains depending on product needs:

• AI agents and multi-step autonomous workflows

• RAG systems over messy, real-world data (e.g., planning documents, regulations, reports)

• Decision intelligence systems and spatial AI applications for real estate and operational use cases

• Full-stack product development with engineering and delivery team (frontend interaction design, backend systems, and API integration)

• Rapid prototyping of new ideas, tools, and internal systems

• Any component required to move the product forward in each given cycle

• There is no existing product function to inherit and no backlog to pick up from. We are looking for someone who wants to build something from scratch—and who understands that in this team, building means actually building.