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What a Modal forward deployed engineer does

Company profile

A Modal forward deployed engineer (FDE) works with AI companies and model labs on the hardest part of their stack: serving, training and GPU performance. It is an FDE job for people who know ML infrastructure.

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  • No deposit to get started
  • Every requirement read by us
  • A best-fit shortlist, not a pile of CVs
  • One agreement, one invoice

Customers are AI companies

Modal's ML FDE posting says its FDEs work with AI companies and foundation model labs. The work covers LLM serving, model training (SFT and RLHF), audio pipelines and scientific computing. The posting names Suno, Lovable, Cognition and Meta as companies the team works with.

The team includes software engineers, computational scientists, ML engineers and former founders. Team members contribute to the open-source SGLang project.

Tell us the role and the hours. We send you a shortlist of people who fit.

  • No deposit to get started
  • Every requirement read by us
  • A best-fit shortlist, not a pile of CVs
  • One agreement, one invoice
Send your requirement

Modal forward deployed engineer roles

RoleLocation
Forward Deployed Engineer, MLNew York
Forward Deployed Engineer, SystemsNew York

What Modal asks for in an FDE

The ML posting asks for professional ML engineering experience. The best fit has worked on inference optimisation, training, GPU programming or ML infrastructure. It also asks for depth in a serving or training toolchain such as vLLM, SGLang or TRL.

That is a lower experience bar than most FDE roles on our list, but a narrower skill set. Baseten hires for similar work.

For engineers and leaders

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Apply once with your CV. We look at every application ourselves. Talent never pays.

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Tell us what you need.

Send your requirement. We send you a shortlist of senior leaders who fit. One agreement and one invoice, with the terms agreed in writing before anything starts.

  • No deposit to get started
  • Every requirement read by us
  • A best-fit shortlist, not a pile of CVs
  • One agreement, one invoice
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  • No deposit to get started
  • Every requirement read by us
  • A best-fit shortlist, not a pile of CVs
  • One agreement, one invoice

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Talent never pays to apply, be shortlisted or be placed.

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Does Fractionals work with Modal?

No. Modal is not a client of ours. We describe its public job postings. To apply for a role there, go to Modal directly.

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