Forward Deployed Engineer

<div class="content-intro"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>What We Do</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Insurance is a $10T industry still running on PDFs, email threads, and manual reconciliation. Ascend is changing that. We built the first and only complete financial operations platform purpose-built for insurance — combining accounting automation, payments, and premium financing in a single vertically integrated solution. In five years, we've become the market leader: over 4,000 businesses, including more than half of the 50 largest brokers in the country, trust Ascend to bring clarity to complex accounting operations from collection to close.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>How We Do It</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Ascend automates the financial operations that insurers, MGAs, and agencies run every day and embeds directly into the transactions where money actually moves. Point solutions are easy to build and even easier to copy. The companies that win won't just sell tools — they'll capture value where the money actually moves. Ascend is built for exactly that moment. Our customers don't just adopt software, they unlock measurable efficiency with a proven 5-7x return on investment.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Our team is onsite in San Francisco. We bring deep expertise in insurance, fintech, and financial infrastructure to build what the industry has never had.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Why We Do It</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The insurance industry intermediates trillions of dollars — and almost none of that infrastructure was built for the modern era. Legacy systems aren't just inefficient; they're a ceiling on what the industry can become.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Ascend's mission is to become the leading financial automation platform for insurance by 2030 — powering the financial operations of the entire industry and transforming the way trillions of dollars move. We're not building another point solution, we're building the financial backbone of insurance.</span></p></div><h3><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Your Role</strong></span></h3>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Ascend is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to join our team on-site in San Francisco to build custom integrations and own the technical delivery of customer implementations.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">You will work directly with customers, Sales, Customer Success, and Engineering to understand customer workflows and turn ambiguous, high-stakes problems into practical solutions. You will write production code, build API integrations and custom features, and resolve technical blockers to launch and adoption. Your work will help unblock deals, reduce time to go-live, and embed Ascend in customers’ day-to-day operations.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Responsibilities Will Include</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Objective #1: In your first 30 days:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Understand Ascend's platform, product, and customer workflows by collaborating with team members and engaging with customers</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Learn Ascend’s platform, APIs, account configurations, and connected third-party systems</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Deliver a technical plan for an active integration, including requirements, data flows, dependencies, and success criteria</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Objective #2: In your first 60 days:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Own the technical workstream for a customer implementation, partnering with Customer Success on launch timelines and adoption</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Build and deploy custom API integrations, webhooks, and data workflows that connect Ascend to customer systems</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Configure accounts, validate data flows, and lead technical testing with customers</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Partner with Sales and Customer Success to build demos, integrations, or features that remove blockers to a deal or renewal</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Objective #3: In your first 90 days and beyond:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Independently own account setup, configuration, and complex integrations for new customers from technical scoping through go-live</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Lead technical conversations with customers and drive technical delivery in partnership with Customer Success</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Build integrations, custom features, and internal tools that embed Ascend in enterprise customer workflows</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Help drive adoption by working with customers to put solutions into daily use and remove barriers to sustained usage</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Resolve most technical issues independently, bringing in Engineering when a broader product fix is needed</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Turn recurring customer needs and one-off builds into product features, reusable integrations, and implementation playbooks</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Must Have</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">3+ years of experience in implementation, solutions, technical support, or forward deployed engineering</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Experience working at a growth-stage startup</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Experience with relational databases and strong SQL</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Hands-on experience with APIs, webhooks, and data integrations</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Strong debugging skills and clear communication with customers</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">A strong desire to learn new skills and solve business problems</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Nice to Have</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Familiarity or interest in learning Ruby on Rails</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Familiarity with building external APIs and integrations with platforms such as Salesforce</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Experience with payments, fintech, or insurance products</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Tech Stack & Processes</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Ruby on Rails API hosted on Heroku</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Next.js with TypeScript hosted on Vercel</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Postgres and Redis for storage</span></li>
<li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Continuous integration and delivery</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><strong>Base Salary Range:</strong> $170,000–$210,000</span></p>
<div class="content-conclusion"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Benefits </strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Unlimited PTO 🌴</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Meaningful equity 🤑</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Dog friendly office 🐕</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Commuter benefits 🚌</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Free lunch in office everyday 🥡</span></li>
<li style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Health care for you and your dependents 🍎</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong>Equal Opportunity</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We are committed to equal opportunity employment and embrace diversity within our organization. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">We encourage candidates to apply even if their experience doesn't precisely match this opportunity. We value diversity and are dedicated to equal opportunity employment.</span></p>
<p> </p></div>