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Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

Rippling· Forward Deployed Engineering
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San Francisco, CA$138k - $230kfull-timePosted 5mo ago

About the role

Manager of Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) at Rippling leading a team delivering high-impact, customized solutions for customers, operating at the intersection of engineering, customer success, and product to ensure complex implementations are executed with high quality and efficiency.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and develop a high-performing team of FDEs
  • Provide day-to-day guidance, mentorship, and coaching
  • Drive performance management, feedback, and career development
  • Build a strong team culture focused on ownership and customer impact
  • Own execution across customer engagements
  • Ensure successful delivery of complex implementations across multiple projects
  • Oversee development of custom integrations, workflows, applications, and analytics using Rippling products and languages like Python, Javascript, Ruby, Java, Go, C or C++
  • Maintain high standards for quality, reliability, and scalability
  • Drive operational excellence
  • Improve team-level processes, delivery consistency, and execution rigor
  • Manage resourcing, prioritization, and execution across concurrent engagements
  • Identify and resolve delivery bottlenecks and cross-team dependencies
  • Partner cross-functionally to unblock execution
  • Collaborate with Account Management, Product, Engineering, and CX teams
  • Escalate and resolve issues impacting customer delivery
  • Ensure alignment between customer needs and product capabilities
  • Engage directly with customers when needed
  • Support critical engagements and high-priority accounts
  • Help scope solutions and guide technical decision-making
  • Ensure strong customer outcomes and satisfaction
  • Contribute to team hiring and growth
  • Participate in recruiting and onboarding new FDEs
  • Maintain a high bar for technical and customer-facing talent

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
  • 5+ years of software development experience with proficiency in Python, Javascript, Ruby, Java, Go, C or C++, plus SQL and data modeling
  • 1–3+ years of experience leading or mentoring engineers (formal or informal)
  • Proven ability to deliver complex technical projects in fast-paced environments
  • Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to navigate ambiguity and prioritize effectively
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, especially in customer-facing contexts
  • Customer-centric mindset with experience working directly with external stakeholders
  • Willingness to travel to client sites as needed (up to ~25%)

Skills

Required:Software developmentleadership / people management

Benefits

  • Equal opportunity employer
  • Reasonable accommodations available upon request
  • Office-based collaboration emphasis (in-office at least three days/week for eligible roles)
Last updated Sep 2, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Rippling

#1 Workforce Management System | HR, IT, Finance

Rippling eliminates the friction from running a business, combining HR, IT, and Finance apps on a unified data platform.

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