Forward Deployed Engineer
Salary: $100,500 – $147,750 per year
About Lyra
Driven by purpose. Defined by people.
Lyra started with a simple act. A group of engineers helped their roommates build a product from scratch. Six weeks later that product launched. Shortly after, it raised over $2M in a pre-seed round. That company was Paraform (now raised $80m series B). And that moment was the reason Lyra exists.
Since then we have become a collective of 70+ top-tier engineers across Australia, partnering with 50+ startups across Silicon Valley to build, design, and ship products that matter. Our mission is simple: build, teach, and grow. Join Australia's top engineering talent, building software for Silicon Valley startups.
About the Role
As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you embed directly with a client startup and take end-to-end ownership of a workstream. You're trusted to make the technical calls, commit on timelines, and deliver outcomes the founder cares about - with the autonomy of a senior engineer and the backing of Australia's strongest engineering bench.
This isn't a ramp-up role. You're generating value from week one: owning technical design for projects of moderate-to-high complexity, debugging deep in the client's systems without flailing, and shipping drama-free launches.
What we're looking for
At least 2-5 years of experience in a similar role at other startups or software companies under your belt.
High proficiency in full-stack engineering with Next.js / TypeScript and/or Python.
You are curious about how things work and have innate ability to problem solve - this is crucial as you won't always have the information you need to move forward.
Strong client-facing communication.
Based in Australia.
Duties/Responsibilities
Workstream ownership: Own a workstream on a client engagement end to end, from scoping through to launch, breaking complex requirements down into sub-tasks and driving them to completion despite roadblocks.
Technical design: Own the technical design for projects of moderate complexity within the engagement, evaluating implementation tradeoffs and documenting the chosen approach for the engagement team.
Domain depth: Develop and maintain deep knowledge of the client's systems and codebase, sufficient to diagnose and resolve defects in those systems efficiently and to act as a point of reference for other engineers on the engagement.
Production engineering: Ship production-quality code with minimal supervision, following the client engagement's stated best practices and setting a high quality bar for the work without sacrificing productivity.
Estimation and delivery commitment: Estimate work credibly, run planning for the owned workstream, and commit to and meet delivery timelines agreed with the client.
Software engineering practices: Apply core engineering disciplines including but not limited to automated testing, source control, code review and sprint planning in day-to-day work.
Release quality: Ensure work is well tested and fully verified before release, carry out quality-control checks across application features, and identify and resolve defects prior to release.
Requirements clarification and risk identification: Clarify unclear requirements and vet assumptions before work starts, and identify conflicting or problematic requirements and raise them with the client lead.
Product context: Understand how the work fits into the larger picture for the client (the why of a feature, not just the what) and use that understanding to inform prioritisation within the workstream.
Code review and mentoring: Review other engineers' pull requests and provide sustained technical mentorship to junior engineers on the engagement.
Specialist contribution beyond development: Take responsibility for at least one specialist area beyond hands-on coding, such as conducting technical interviews and candidate evaluation, on-call and incident response leadership, internal engineering tooling and automation, or client-facing technical roadmap discussions.
Proactive improvement: Identify and propose future areas of work and technical improvements for the engagement, supported by evidence, rather than working only from an assigned task list.
Client engagement: Attend client stand-ups and engagement meetings, and communicate work status, risks and feedback to peers, the engagement lead and the Lyra manager.
Mentoring: May be responsible for mentoring interns and newer engineers in client engagement.
Note: Higher-tier/client engagement arrangement involving additional hours (ie 50 hours per week) may apply, depending on client engagement needs and business requirements.
Compensation & Growth
$100,500 - $147,750 ex super per year
Transparent, level-based progression, fast promotions for high performers, with the ability to skip levels on skill.
Merit-based raises tied to performance and contribution.
Benefits
Free catering daily, plus drinks and snacks provided.
Access to our Silicon Valley VC & founder network.
Receive top-of-the-line work equipment.
Hybrid work with access to our Barangaroo office.
Weekly sports and activities funded by Lyra.