Forward Deployed Engineer

CogStack: Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)Role: Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)Location: London, UK (Hybrid – expected to regularly collaborate potentially on-site with NHS Trusts/SDEs/Central London Office)Commitment: Full-timeSalary: £60,000 – £80,000 base (dependent on experience) + Equity OptionsReports to: Head of Product & Programmes / CEOAbout CogStackCogStack is an advanced healthcare AI and clinical informatics company born out of world-class UK clinical research. We build and deploy advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and AI systems that unlock deep insights from massive volumes of unstructured clinical text (such as free-text hospital notes). Our platform enables NHS Trusts and healthcare providers to validate care pathways, support clinical decision-making, and fully utilize their data within highly secure, highly regulated environments.With major enterprise client projects launching, we are expanding our team to bridge the gap between our core platform engineering and live clinical deployments.The RoleAs a Forward Deployed Engineer, you are the technical face of CogStack on the front lines. This high-leverage role combines deep systems engineering with real-world use-case delivery and technical account management.With major projects kicking off simultaneously across London, you will own the technical and operational success of our live deployments. Working directly inside NHS Secure Data Environments (SDEs) and hospital infrastructure, you will configure data pipelines and ensure CogStack’s AI/NLP tools deliver real-world value to clinical teams and hospital administrators. You will act as the primary technical account manager on-site: guiding clients through onboarding, unlocking specific clinical use cases under sensitive, resource-constrained conditions, and serving as a vital conduit for translating direct client interactions and on-the-ground data insights back to the core development team to drive future product improvements.Key ResponsibilitiesUse-Case Delivery & Analytics: Work directly with raw data extracts on-site to build custom clinical and operational analytics. You will write complex SQL queries, perform data profiling using Pandas/Python, and package these insights into clear findings for clinical and executive stakeholders.Technical Account Management & Delivery: Serve as the primary, trusted technical partner for hospital IT leads, chief data officers, and clinical informatics teams. Manage deployment timelines, navigate strict information governance, and run regular technical review syncs, ensuring we deliver on specific project use cases under tight deadlines.On-Site Deployment & Integration: Own the practical installation, configuration, and troubleshooting of CogStack’s platform within often highly restricted environments. E.g. Air-gaped, bare-metal, VMs or local cloud deployment architectures.Data Integration & Customization: Write, modify, and optimize custom data onboarding scripts to ingest complex, unstructured clinical feeds and electronic health record (EHR) data into our core system.Product Feedback Loop: Use your hands-on data analysis to document environment constraints, pipeline performance bottlenecks, and user friction points to inform our core platform roadmap.About You (Requirements)The Hybrid Mindset: You are a practitioner who loves getting your hands dirty in data and infrastructure, but you also possess the communication skills and consulting mindset needed to present data insights confidently to client stakeholders.Data Wrangling Expertise: Highly proficient in Python (specifically the PyData stack: Pandas, NumPy) and SQL for extracting, cleaning, and analyzing massive, messy, real-world datasets.Infrastructure & DevOps Familiarity: Strong comfort with Linux environments, Docker, and containerized deployments. Experience with Kubernetes and cloud environments (Azure, AWS, GCP) is a major positive. Experience navigating the constraints of bare-metal setups or highly restricted network environments is highly valued.Healthcare Experience (Highly Desirable): Prior experience working with NHS data, Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems, or inside NHS Secure Data Environments (SDEs/TREs).Communication: Exceptional communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical architectures and data findings simply to non-technical clinical or management stakeholders.Why Join Us?Solve the Hardest Technical Challenges in HealthTech: You won’t be building generic dashboards or wrapping basic, surface-level APIs. You will be deploying state-of-the-art AI and NLP frameworks into the most challenging, sensitive, and resource-constrained engineering environments in existence—real-world NHS infrastructure.Direct Impact on Patient Care Pathways: Your work sits at the absolute intersection of code and clinical reality. Every automated data pipeline you build and every SQL insight you extract directly empowers NHS Trusts to optimize care and unblock healthcare delivery across London.High Autonomy & Pure Ownership: We are a lean and fast-moving team. There is zero corporate red tape here. You will have a massive say in how we scale our deployment engine, direct access to the founding team, and true ownership over your work.Academic & Commercial Pedigree: Work alongside researchers and senior healthcare professionals, including AI researchers from KCL and UCL. This environment offers an unparalleled masterclass in turning cutting-edge clinical informatics into an enterprise product.Equity: As an early full-time hire backed by immediate commercial momentum, you will receive a performance based equity stake, sharing in the value you help build.