Principal Engineer - Forward Deployment Engineering

Toast creates technology to help restaurants and local businesses succeed in a digital world, helping business owners operate, increase sales, engage customers, and keep employees happy. Toast is looking for a hands-on Forward Deployment Engineer to join the AI & Strategy Engineering team. In this role, you will be the primary architect of 0-to-1 solutions designed to revolutionize our GTM engine. This is not a 'maintenance' role; you will work on the front lines with our Sales, Marketing, and CS leaders to bridge the gap between frontier AI capabilities and high-impact, revenue-driving applications. You will be responsible for deconstructing complex business friction and rapidly engineering the intelligent systems that solve it. Collaborating closely with a Senior Technical Leader, you will architect and ship production-grade AI systems—including autonomous agents and intelligent workflows—that transform fragmented, manual GTM processes into scalable, high-conversion engines A day in the life (Responsibilities) Hands-on Execution: Design and Ship production grade agentic solutions tailored specifically for high-velocity GTM motions Rapid Prototyping: Transition from ambiguous business problems to functional AI Proof-of-Concepts (PoCs) within 1–2 week sprint cycles Process Discovery: Embed directly with Sales, Service, and Marketing leaders to deconstruct high-friction manual workflows ripe for AI-driven transformation Strategic Integration: Architect the flow between LLMs and the GTM stack (Salesforce, Clay, Snowflake) with a "Golden Record" mindset to ensure data integrity at scale ROI Modeling: Translate technical metrics into business outcome driven metrics Architectural Resilience: Act as the domain expert for complex synchronization challenges, ensuring GTM systems are built for concurrency, scale, and reliability Engineering Outcomes Accelerated Time to Value: Compress the window from "Contract Signed" to "Production AI" from months to weeks Technical De-Risking: Implement robust AI output guardrails using Eval Frameworks and "Human-in-the-Loop" (HITL) processes to meet company and compliance standards. Observability & Quality: Guarantee the reliability of the revenue engine by shipping every service with deep monitoring and automated alerting What you'll need to thrive (Requirements) GTM Systems Mastery: Expert in CRM APIs (Salesforce) and modern data tools (Clay, Nooks, etc.). You architect event-driven triggers, not just connect apps. Technical Complexity: Proven track record of building within complex enterprise software, such as custom quoting engines (CPQ) or deep CRM internals (Apex, LWC). Systems Architecture: Design event-driven, asynchronous architectures maintaining data integrity across fragmented systems. Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, or a related technical field. What will help you stand out (Nonessential Skills/Nice to Haves) Revenue Engineering Pedigree: Experience building SalesTech or FinTech products with measurable impact on ARR or conversion. AI Operationalization: Possessing AI knowledge, you collaborate with Data Engineering to productionize models within GTM workflows Automation First Mindset:You dislike manual data entry and are passionate about designing Agentic systems that eliminate "human-in-the-loop" friction. AI at Toast At Toast, one of our company values is that we're hungry to build and learn. We believe learning new AI tools empowers us to build for our customers faster, more independently, and with higher quality. We provide these tools across all disciplines, from Engineering and Product to Sales and Support, and are inspired by how our Toasters are already driving real value with them. The people who thrive here are those who embrace changes that let us build more for our customers; it’s a core part of our culture. Our Total Rewards Philosophy We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that help to attract, retain, and motivate the best and brightest people in our industry. Our total rewards package goes beyond great earnings potential and provides the means to a healthy lifestyle with the flexibility to meet Toasters’ changing needs. Learn more about our benefits at https://careers.toasttab.com/toast-benefits. #LI-Remote The base salary range for this role is listed below. The starting salary will be determined based on skills, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, our total rewards components include cash compensation (overtime, bonus/commissions if eligible), equity, and benefits. You can learn more about how we align pay with local labor markets in our Geographic Pay Zone Philosophy. Zone A $230,000—$368,000 USD Zone B $200,000—$320,000 USD Zone C $180,000—$288,000 USD How Toast Uses AI in its Hiring Process Throughout the hiring process, our goal is to get to know you. We use AI tools to support our recruiters and interviewers with tasks like note-taking, summarization, and documentation of interviews to ensure they can be fully focused on your conversation. All hiring decisions are made by people. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is Baked into our Recipe for Success At Toast, our employees are our secret ingredient—when they thrive, we thrive. The restaurant industry is one of the most diverse, and we embrace that diversity with authenticity, inclusivity, respect, and humility. By embedding these principles into our culture and design, we create equitable opportunities for all and raise the bar in delivering exceptional experiences. We Thrive Together We embrace a hybrid work model that fosters in-person collaboration while valuing individual needs. Our goal is to build a strong culture of connection as we work together to empower the restaurant community. To learn more about how we work globally and regionally, check out: https://careers.toasttab.com/locations-toast. Apply today! Toast is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive hiring process. As part of this commitment, we strive to provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities to enable them to access the hiring process. If you need an accommodation to access the job application or interview process, please contact candidateaccommodations@toasttab.com. ------ For roles in the United States, it is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.