Forward-Deployed Engineer

Forward-Deployed Engineer

Company: Vercel

About Vercel:

Vercel gives developers the tools and cloud infrastructure to build, scale, and secure a faster, more personalized web. As the team behind v0, Next.js, and AI SDK, Vercel helps customers like Ramp, Supreme, PayPal, and Under Armour build for the AI-native web.

About the Role:

We are looking for a Forward-Deployed Engineer to join our Professional Services team. This is not a traditional consulting role — you will embed directly with our most strategic enterprise customers to drive transformational outcomes across frontend modernization, platform migrations, and AI adoption.

In this role, you will lead complex Next.js migrations, architect high-performance applications, and build production AI solutions — all within customer environments. You'll work hands-on-keyboard alongside customer teams, whether you're migrating a legacy React application to App Router, conducting a deep-dive code audit, or deploying production agents using Vercel's AI SDK.

You will report to the Director of Professional Services and will be remote-first with significant travel (25-40%) to customer sites for embedded engagements.

What you will do:

• Lead complex frontend migrations — modernizing legacy React, Vue, or other frameworks to Next.js, including Pages to App Router transitions, incremental adoption strategies, and large-scale codebase transformations.
• Conduct technical assessments and code audits, analyzing customer codebases for performance bottlenecks, architectural anti-patterns, and optimization opportunities.
• Architect and implement high-performance Next.js applications, leveraging App Router, Server Components, streaming, ISR, edge functions, and advanced rendering strategies.
• Optimize Core Web Vitals and application performance using tools like Vercel Speed Insights.
• Build production AI solutions using Vercel's AI SDK and AI Cloud — including conversational interfaces, production agents, MCP servers, and agentic workflows that transform customer operations.
• Embed with strategic customers to build production applications — working within their systems, understanding their constraints, and shipping TypeScript code that goes live.
• Drive enablement and knowledge transfer through workshops, pair programming, and documentation.
• Navigate complex enterprise environments by building relationships with stakeholders across engineering, product, and executive teams.
• Participate in pre-sales activities by providing technical expertise during discovery calls, scoping sessions, and proposal development.
• Contribute to our service evolution by identifying repeatable patterns, building reusable components, and sharing implementation insights back to Product and Engineering teams.

About you:

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering with at least 2 years in a customer-facing technical role.
• Expert-level TypeScript skills — this is your primary language.
• Deep expertise in Next.js, with a proven track record of architecting complex applications using App Router, Server Components, SSR, SSG, ISR, and edge functions.
• Demonstrated experience leading frontend migrations.
• Mastery of React and its ecosystem.
• Production experience with LLMs and AI applications, including prompt engineering, agent development, and tool use patterns. Familiarity with Vercel's AI SDK is strongly preferred.
• High agency with comfort in ambiguity.
• Exceptional communication skills.
• Business acumen.
• Willingness to travel 25-40%.

Bonus if you

• Have led large-scale migrations from legacy frameworks to Next.js in enterprise environments.
• Have expertise in performance optimization and Core Web Vitals.
• Have experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), building MCP servers, or implementing complex tool-use patterns.
• Have led enterprise AI transformation initiatives.
• Have worked with micro-frontends or module federation.
• Have contributed to Next.js, React, or AI SDK open-source projects.
• Have experience with enterprise deployment patterns including security reviews and compliance.
• Have spoken at conferences or published thought leadership.

Benefits:

• Great compensation package and stock options.
• Inclusive Healthcare Package.
• Learn and Grow - mentorship and events.
• Flexible Time Off - Flexible vacation policy with recommended 4 weeks per year.
• Remote Friendly - Work with teammates from different time zones.
• Equipment and WFH budget provided.