Forward Deployed Engineering Lead

n8n GmbH

Job Overview

Location

Germany

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• Lead the creation and scaling of n8n’s Forward Deployment function from zero to a structured, repeatable enterprise customer success engine.
• Serve as a hands-on player-coach during the initial phase, directly managing the first Forward Deployed Engineer hire and co-leading strategic enterprise deployments.
• Design and execute 5-day on-site boot camps with enterprise customers, including executive kickoffs, adoption narratives, and closeouts to drive measurable product adoption.
• Map enterprise customer organizations to identify champions, power users, decision-makers, and cultural dynamics influencing automation adoption.
• Build ROI stories in the customer’s business language to articulate the value of scaling n8n across teams, systems, and processes.
• Codify each enterprise deployment into reusable, standardized use-case playbooks that accelerate future deployments and reduce time-to-value.
• Partner with the Forward Deployed Engineer to prioritize customer value over technical novelty, ensuring deployments solve real business problems.
• Own the feedback loop between field insights and Product, advocating for customer needs when product gaps, technical blockers, or adoption risks emerge.
• Determine when to build internal capabilities versus leverage third-party partners, and present clear, data-informed recommendations to leadership.
• Define the operating model for a paired Deployment Strategist and Forward Deployed Engineer team structure, including roles, responsibilities, and success metrics.
• Establish clear handoff processes from Forward Deployment to Customer Success to ensure seamless customer journey continuity.
• Represent the voice of the enterprise customer internally, translating real-world deployment challenges into product roadmap priorities.
• Build a library of scalable deployment playbooks that enable replication across similar enterprise environments globally.
• Travel on-site to enterprise customer locations across Europe and the US to conduct deployments, workshops, and stakeholder alignment sessions.
• Collaborate with Sales, Product, and Customer Success teams to align deployment strategy with broader enterprise growth objectives.
• Maintain deep technical fluency to credibly demo n8n to CTOs, engineers, and technical decision-makers without writing code.
• Navigate complex organizational hierarchies to build trust across levels and influence adoption without formal authority.
• Hire, onboard, and coach the first team of Forward Deployed Engineers as the function scales beyond the initial phase.
• Continuously refine deployment methodology based on field learnings, customer feedback, and evolving enterprise automation trends.
• Promote n8n’s open-source ethos and community-driven culture during customer engagements.

🎯 Requirements

• Forward deployment or implementation leadership: You have led enterprise customer deployments in a forward deployment, implementation leadership, or technical customer success role at a high-growth B2B software company.
• Enterprise customer experience: You have been on-site with large enterprise customers and driven measurable adoption outcomes across complex organizations.
• Technical fluency: You do not need to write the code, but you understand technical architecture, can challenge decisions when needed, and can demo credibly to a CTO.
• Organizational navigation: You know how to find the real decision-maker, build trust across levels, and manage the cultural dynamics that make or break deployment success.
• Hiring and coaching: You have hired, onboarded, or developed technical customer-facing talent.
• Strategic judgment: You know when to build a function internally versus when to bring in partners, and you have the conviction to make that case to leadership.
• English fluency: You are fluent in English and can lead high-stakes customer conversations with clarity and confidence.

🏖️ Benefits

• Competitive compensation 💸 – We offer fair and attractive pay.
• Ownership 💪 – Our core value is to “empower others,” and we mean it—you’ll get a slice of n8n with equity.
• Work/life balance 🏖️ – Europe: 30 days of vacation, plus public holidays wherever you are. US: 20 vacation days, 8 sick days, plus public holidays wherever you are.
• Career growth 📈 – You’ll get €1K (or equivalent) per year to spend on courses, books, events, or coaching to level up your skills.
• Remote-first 🌏 – Our team works remotely across Europe, with regular off-sites for team bonding.
• Giving back 🤝 – You’ll get $100 per month to support open-source projects you care about.
• AI enablement 🤖 – Everyone gets an unlimited AI budget to explore and use the best tools to boost productivity and creativity.
• Transparency 🙏 – We all know what everyone’s working on, how the company is doing—the whole shebang.

Skills & Technologies

GitHub

Senior

Remote

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n8n GmbH

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About n8n GmbH

n8n GmbH provides open-source workflow automation software that enables technical teams to connect applications and APIs without writing extensive code. The Berlin-based company offers a fair-code licensed platform for building, deploying and monitoring integrations, ETL pipelines and business processes. It combines visual node-based editing with JavaScript flexibility, supports hundreds of pre-built integrations, and can be self-hosted or used via cloud. Founded in 2019, n8n serves developers, IT departments and digital agencies seeking cost-effective alternatives to proprietary automation tools.

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