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Transportation, Logistics, SaaS, Urban Tech, Public Transit

Forward Deployed Engineer, AI Labs

New York, NYOnsiteFull Time$160,000–$220,000 /yrPosted 2 months agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

  • AI Labs
  • incubator
  • startup
  • AI-powered products
  • agentic solutions
  • agentic workflows
  • intelligent tooling
  • data consolidation
  • predictive modelling
  • real-time decision-making

Nice to have

  • public transportation
  • transit networks
  • cutting-edge technical solutions
  • move fast
  • experiment boldly
  • blank canvas

Role summary

Via is seeking a founding Forward Deployed Engineer for its new AI Labs team. This role involves building and shipping production-grade AI products end-to-end, from problem framing to deployment and iteration. You will work directly with customers and city leaders to understand problems and develop scalable agentic solutions. Responsibilities include contributing to intelligent tooling, collaborating with product and data science teams, writing scalable backend and frontend code, and shaping the technical culture of AI Labs. The ideal candidate has 5+ years of full-stack experience and 3+ years in AI product development, with strong backend engineering skills and expertise across the AI stack (LLMs, predictive modeling, data infrastructure). This is an opportunity to work in an autonomous, early-stage environment with significant impact.

Via is on a mission to create public transportation systems that provide far greater access to jobs, healthcare, and education. Our platform serves as the technology backbone for modern transit networks, transforming antiquated and siloed public transportation systems into smart, data-driven, and efficient digital networks. With hundreds of agency partners around the world, Via is recognized as the leading transportation technology and service provider globally.

We’re now launching AI Labs - an incubator-style team operating like a startup within the company - to expand our reach and provide cutting-edge technical solutions to cities in areas beyond transit.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at Via, you'll be a founding member of Via's new AI Labs - an incubator-style team operating like a startup within the company. This is a rare opportunity to get in at the ground floor of something genuinely new: a dedicated space to move fast, experiment boldly, and build AI-powered products that could fundamentally change how Via and our partner cities operate. You'll have real autonomy, direct access to leadership, and the backing of a company that's already at scale - without the constraints that usually come with it. If you're experienced at building AI products end-to-end and you're energized by the idea of doing that with a blank canvas, this is the role for you.

About the Role:

  • Build and ship production-grade AI products end-to-end - owning everything from problem framing and data pipeline design through to deployment and iteration in live environments.
  • Work closely with our customers in a forward-deployed manner to deeply understand problems and constraints and iterate quickly on scalable agentic solutions.
  • Lead technical scoping workshops, directly interfacing with city leaders to solve challenging local problems with agentic workflows.
  • Work across a fast-moving and varied roadmap, contributing to intelligent tooling involving data consolidation, predictive modelling, real-time decision-making, and LLM-powered experiences.
  • Collaborate directly with product, data science, and operations teams to identify and prioritize the highest-impact AI opportunities across the business.
  • Write clean, scalable backend and frontend code that powers AI-driven features - designing APIs, managing data flows, and ensuring your systems perform reliably at scale.
  • Help shape the technical culture of AI Labs from the ground up - contributing to how the team builds, reviews, ships, and iterates.
  • Stay close to the frontier of AI development and bring new ideas, tools, and approaches into the team proactively.

    • About You:

  • You have 5+ years of hands-on experience building full stack applications - with a track record of owning features end-to-end rather than working in isolation on models or research.
  • You have 3+ years of working with AI tools and/or building AI powered products
  • You have deep expertise across the AI stack - including LLMs, predictive modelling, and the data infrastructure required to support them in real-world environments.
  • You're a strong backend engineer at your core - comfortable designing scalable APIs, working with distributed systems, and writing code that is clean, maintainable, and built to last.
  • You're energized by ambiguity and early-stage environments - you don't need everything to be defined to do great work, and you take ownership without being asked.
  • You bring the communication skills to work cross-functionally and the intellectual curiosity to keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI.
  • You thrive when working directly with users and customers, and are comfortable with travel to collaborate on-site.

    • Compensation and Benefits (US only)

  • Final salary will be determined by the candidate’s experience, knowledge, and skills. Salary reflected does not include equity or variable pay, where applicable.
  • Salary Range: $160,000 - $220,000
  • We are proud to offer a generous and comprehensive benefits package, including free medical plans, 401K matching, catered lunch on Wednesdays, and many other perks.

    • There has never been a more exciting time to be on the cutting edge of public mobility. Ready to join the ride?

    Via is an equal opportunity employer.

    Ready to apply?
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