Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

The Team

At Learning Commons, we operate at the intersection of technology, research, and philanthropy. We pair product development with grantmaking to scale proven teaching and learning practices for the benefit of every learner. We aim to bring learning science into the tools educators and students use every day.

Our work is grounded in a deep belief: when technology reflects the realities of classrooms and the science of how students learn, it can meaningfully strengthen teaching and unlock new possibilities for students. The rise of generative AI offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to dramatically accelerate the translation of research insights into practical, classroom-ready tools; tools that honor teachers’ expertise, adapt to students’ needs, and make effective learning practices easier to access, implement, and sustain.

In today’s fragmented edtech landscape, school districts are often left piecing together products that don’t always align with curricula or instructional needs. While AI holds enormous potential to support teachers and students, it can only deliver on that promise when grounded in research, high-quality educational data, and expert evaluation. That’s why we’re building open, public-purpose infrastructure — datasets, rubrics, and resources — that help raise the standard for educational tools and create more consistent, impactful learning experiences for all students and teachers.

Learning Commons is building shared infrastructure for education that enables organizations to better connect, understand, evaluate, and improve learning experiences. Our products—including our Knowledge Graph, Evaluators, Agent Skills, and future AI-powered offerings—help partners unlock value from educational data, content, and learning experiences at scale.

We work closely with EdTech companies and other ecosystem partners to bring these capabilities into real-world products and workflows while continuously learning from deployments to improve our platform.

The Opportunity

As a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, you will help partners build and launch new learning experiences with Learning Commons products while shaping the platform’s evolution.

You will collaborate with partner product managers, engineers, and decision makers to turn early ideas into production integrations of our Knowledge Graph, Evaluators, Agent Skills, and future products. Engagements will range from technical advising to collaborative development and embedded engineering.

This role combines hands-on engineering, product discovery, and developer education. You will navigate ambiguity, build solutions, and share what you learn through practical content and teaching—all at the intersection of AI, data, and learning science.

What You'll Do

• Work with partner teams to clarify goals, define success, and turn emerging ideas into technical plans.
• Build prototypes, proofs of concept, and production integrations using Learning Commons products, APIs, and datasets.
• Own technical delivery from architecture through testing, deployment, and handoff, adapting to each partner’s needs.
• Turn deployment learnings into reusable solutions and improvements to our products and developer experience.
• Create and maintain tutorials, API guides, code samples, and reference implementations that accelerate adoption.
• Educate developers through technical posts, architecture walkthroughs, talks, workshops, live coding, and videos.

What You'll Bring

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, including launching net-new products or integrations from concept through production.
• Strong proficiency in TypeScript and Python, experience with APIs and data integrations, and comfort contributing in other languages.
• Experience collaborating directly with customers or partners to define and deliver technical solutions.
• Clear communication and teaching skills, with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs to engineers, product managers, and decision makers.
• Ability to work independently through ambiguity and make practical tradeoffs between speed, scope, and quality.
• Proficiency with agentic software engineering tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or similar, including reviewing and testing the resulting code.

Compensation

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for a new hire in this role is $190,000-$238,000.00. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. 

This position may be eligible to participate in our discretionary annual performance bonus program. Bonus eligibility and targets are determined in accordance with our total rewards philosophy and may vary by role.

Better Together

As we grow, we’re excited to strengthen in-person connections and cultivate a collaborative, team-oriented environment. This role is a hybrid position requiring you to be onsite for at least 60% of the working month, approximately 3 days a week, with specific in-office days determined by the team’s manager. The exact schedule will be at the hiring manager's discretion and communicated during the interview process.

Benefits for the Whole You 

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible. 

• Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice. 
• Funding for select family-forming benefits. 
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

#LI-Hybrid