Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

About Cakewalk

Cakewalk is the access management platform for every identity in your company, human and AI agent, governing the right access at the right time from the first login to the last tool call. Customers can self-serve and be live in minutes, starting with one team and scaling from there. We're building the access layer for the agentic era, and we're hiring our first Forward Deployed Engineer.

The role

You'll be the technical counterpart in every customer conversation — from first discovery call through to a live rollout. You'll run POCs, architect integrations against real identity and agent stacks, and turn what you learn in the field into product feedback and reusable assets. As the first FDE hire, you'll define how this function works and, over time, build the team behind it.

What you'll do

• Lead technical discovery with prospects and translate their identity, security and agent requirements into a workable solution
• Own POCs end to end: scoping, success criteria, build, and technical close
• Deliver tailored demos and build demo environments that reflect the customer's actual stack
• Architect and prototype integrations with IdPs, HRIS, SaaS apps and AI agent frameworks
• Handle security reviews, architecture deep-dives and technical objections alongside the account team
• Partner with Customer Success on complex rollouts and integrations
• Feed field insight back to product and engineering, and influence what we build next
• Write the technical collateral we're missing — integration guides, reference architectures, POC playbooks, competitive positioning
• Set the standard for how solutions engineering runs at Cakewalk

What we're looking for

• 3+ years in Forward Deployed Engineering or a similar customer-facing technical role
• Early-stage SaaS startup experience (required) — you've worked without a playbook and built one instead
• Strong hands-on development skills: APIs, scripting, automation, building integrations from scratch
• Practical understanding of identity and access management concepts — SSO, SCIM, OAuth, RBAC, provisioning, governance
• Experience integrating with identity platforms, security tooling or AI agent frameworks
• Excellent communication skills — equally credible with a platform engineer and a CISO
• Comfortable owning ambiguity and shipping fast
• Based in London and able to work from our office 3 days a week

Nice to have

• Experience with MCP, agent frameworks, or agentic infrastructure
• Background at an IGA, IAM or security vendor
• You've been a first or early SE hire before

What we offer

• Competitive base salary + bonus and meaningful equity
• Founding hire at a category-defining company
• A direct path to building and leading your own function
• 3 days/week in our London office, 2 days flexible
• High ownership, low ego