Founding Forward Deployed Engineer, FDE for Expansion

Please only apply if you are confident your technical skills are strong enough.

Why Zenline?

At Zenline, we’re moving one of the world’s largest industries into the agent-first era. By combining AI agents, retail data, and deep category expertise, we help retailers decide what to sell, what to remove, and where to invest next so they can compete with Amazon, Temu, and the next generation of AI-native commerce.

This is a rare chance to help build a generational AI company at a true inflection point. We’re already working with Europe’s biggest retailers across categories, with strong product-market fit and a clear opportunity to define a new category: product intelligence. Our ambition is to generate real economic impact by increasing the supply of products shoppers truly want, helping retailers & brands build better assortments, and compete in an AI-first world.

If you want to do the best work of your career alongside people who share that drive, we'd love to build with you. At Zenline, the future of retail decision-making is being built today, and we’re just getting started.

The Role

As a Founding Deployment Engineer , you will own the success of Zenline’s AI deployments with the world’s leading retailers. You’ll work directly with senior commercial and category leaders, translate their biggest business challenges into AI-powered workflows, and turn each deployment into scalable product capabilities.

For this, you will:

• Bridge retail and AI: Translate commercial priorities into AI deployments that create measurable margin and assortment impact.
• Lead customer deployments: Work directly with executive stakeholders and category teams to make leading retailers truly AI-first.
• Shape the product: Turn deployment learnings into reusable product modules, agent capabilities, and integration patterns.

This is a founding path with significant room to grow. As Zenline scales, you’ll have the opportunity to become an Industry Lead within your first year, owning a retail vertical such as electronics, fashion, or FMCG and scaling AI agents across it.

We reward impact quickly. Your growth, scope, and bonus will be tied directly to the value you create.

Who We’re Looking For

We’re looking for an analytical mind with 2–3 years of experience who thrives in customer-facing, fast-paced & hard-working environments. You might come from BCG, McKinsey, Palantir, QuantCo, or a fast scaling start-up and you’re eager to shape, build and move fast.

You bring:

• Technical confidence: proficiency in Python, SQL, and prompt engineering & curiosity for AI
• Analytical depth: strong data intuition, structured problem solving, and ability to quantify business value
• Ownership mindset: You love autonomy & responsibility (from day 1 you will be responsible for owning multiple customer deployments)
• Willingness to “scrub the floor”: At Zenline, everyone does what needs to be done. There are no hierarchies when it comes to getting things done —> we move fast when we support each other

What You Get

• Be part of shaping Europe’s next generational AI company during its defining years
• Competitive package + stock options + bonus
• You own your deployments end-to-end — no slides, no “preliminary stickers”
• The skill of the decade: You’ll learn to deploy real AI use cases that reshape how enterprise teams work — and build the most in-demand capabilities of the coming decade.
• Zurich-based: Join us in one of Europe’s most vibrant startup ecosystems

To apply, send three bullet points to [email protected] explaining what drives you and your biggest strength.