Customer Architect (Forward Deployed Engineer)

Harness is the AI Software Delivery Platform company, led by technologist and entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal (founder of AppDynamics, acquired by Cisco for $3.7B). Harness has raised approximately $570M in funding and is valued at $5.5B, backed by leading investors including Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures, IVP, Unusual Ventures, Citi Ventures, and more. As AI accelerates code creation, the real bottleneck has shifted to everything after the code – testing, deployments, application security, reliability, compliance, and cost optimization. Harness brings AI and automation to this “outer loop,” helping teams ship software faster while maintaining security and governance throughout the entire software delivery lifecycle.

Powered by Harness AI and the Software Delivery Knowledge Graph, the Harness Platform applies deep context and intelligent automation across the software delivery lifecycle with governance and policy-driven controls embedded throughout the platform. 

Over the past year, Harness powered over 185M deployments, 82M builds, 18T flag evaluations, 8M security scans, 9.1B optimized tests, 3T protected API calls, and helped manage $2.8B in cloud spend — enabling customers like United Airlines, Morningstar, and Choice Hotels to accelerate releases by up to 75%, reduce cloud costs by up to 60%, and achieve 10x DevOps efficiency. 

With a global team across 26 offices and 27 countries, Harness is shaping the future of AI software delivery — and we’re looking for exceptional talent to help us move even faster.

Position Summary

We are seeking a highly technical and customer-focused Customer Architect (Forward Deployed Engineer) to join our Customer Success team in the U.S (West Coast).

In this role, you will operate in a Forward Deployed Engineer model —embedding deeply with customers to solve complex technical challenges, accelerate adoption, and deliver measurable business outcomes. You will act as both a hands-on builder and a strategic advisor, working directly within customer environments to design, implement, and optimize solutions.

Harness is a multi-module DevSecOps platform, spanning CI/CD, cloud cost management, feature flags, security, and more. As a Customer Architect, you will work across multiple modules and domains, helping customers adopt an integrated platform approach rather than point solutions.

You’ll partner with engineering, platform, and security teams to modernize software delivery, improve reliability, and embed security into the development lifecycle

About the role

Forward Deployed Customer Engagement

• Embed with customer teams as a hands-on technical partner, working directly in their environments to solve real-world challenges
• Own the technical success of customer implementations across multiple Harness modules
• Act as a bridge between customer teams and Harness Product & Engineering

Technical Delivery & Enablement

• Provide hands-on guidance to integrate Harness into existing toolchains and processes
• Design and implement CI/CD, infrastructure, and DevSecOps workflows tailored to customer architectures
• Lead onboarding, implementation, and enablement programs to accelerate time-to-value

Multi-Module Platform Adoption

• Drive adoption across the breadth of the Harness platform, helping customers expand beyond initial use cases
• Architect solutions that span multiple modules (e.g., pipelines, infrastructure, security, cost optimization)
• Guide customers toward a platform-centric approach rather than fragmented tooling

Strategic Advisory

• Serve as a trusted advisor to engineering and platform leadership
• Develop and execute success plans aligned to business and technical outcomes
• Lead technical reviews and business reviews to demonstrate value and identify growth opportunities

Optimization & Insights

• Analyze usage, pipeline performance, and adoption data to identify gaps and opportunities
• Deliver actionable recommendations across technology, processes, and team practices
• Proactively identify risks to adoption or retention and drive mitigation strategies

Cross-Functional Collaboration      

• Partner with Product and Engineering to influence roadmap based on customer feedback
• Collaborate with Sales and Customer Success on expansion and renewal strategies
• Contribute to best practices, reference architectures, and enablement conten

About you

Experience

• 7+ years in software engineering, solutions architecture, DevOps, or technical consulting
• Experience working in deeply technical, customer-facing roles, ideally in a forward deployed, consulting, or professional services capacity
• Proven ability to lead complex implementations and drive customer outcomes

 Technical Skills (Experience across multiple of the following): 

• Cloud & Infrastructure: AWS, GCP, Azure, Terraform, CloudFormation, Linux
• Containers & Orchestration: Kubernetes, Helm, Kustomize, OpenShift
• CI/CD & DevOps: Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Harness, pipeline design
• Languages & Scripting: Python, Bash, YAML (Go is a plus)

DevSecOps (preferred):

• Secure pipeline design and policy enforcement
• Familiarity with SAST, DAST, SCA, or supply chain security concepts
• Experience integrating security into CI/CD workflows

Core Competencies

• Strong problem-solving skills with a hands-on, builder mindset
• Ability to operate across multiple technical domains rather than a single specialization
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence both engineers and senior stakeholders
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and working in fast-paced environments
• Curiosity and a strong commitment to continuous learning

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in roles such as Solutions Architect, Customer Success Engineer, Professional Services, or Forward Deployed Engineer
• Experience working with platform engineering or internal developer platforms (IDPs)
• Relevant certifications (AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, etc.)
• Exposure to security engineering or application security practices

Success Metrics

• High adoption across multiple Harness modules within assigned accounts
• Strong retention and expansion (AGRR targets)
• Measurable improvements in customer delivery performance and efficiency
• Customer satisfaction and overall account healt

Work Location

• You must be located on the West Coast within the United States, 

What you will have at Harness

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive healthcare benefits
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Flexible work schedule
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Flexible Time Off and Parental Leave
• Monthly, quarterly, and annual social and team building events
• Monthly internet reimbursement

The anticipated base salary range for this position is between $160,000 and $180,000 annually. Salary is determined by a combination of factors including location, level, relevant experience, and skills. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations.  The compensation package for this position also includes a commission/variable component, which is based on performance, plus equity, and benefits. More details about our company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.harness.io/company/careers. 

Pay transparency$160,000—$180,000 USD

Harness in the news:

• Accelerating Our Mission to Bring AI to Everything After Code
• Goldman Sachs leads investment in software delivery startup Harness at $5.5 billion valuation
• How Harness runs 16 “startups within a startup” at scale | Jyoti Bansal
• Harness Research Shows AI Visibility Crisis Fueling Security Nightmare
• Harness has been named to the Inc. Power Partner list for software delivery success

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

At Harness, we care about your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. For additional information on this topic, you can visit our privacy Portal: https://harness-privacy.relyance.ai/

Note on Fraudulent Recruiting/Offers

We have become aware that there may be fraudulent recruiting attempts being made by people posing as representatives of Harness. These scams may involve fake job postings, unsolicited emails, or messages claiming to be from our recruiters or hiring managers. 

Please note, we do not ask for sensitive or financial information via chat, text, or social media, and any email communications will come from the domain @harness.io. Additionally, Harness will never ask for any payment, fee to be paid, or purchases to be made by a job applicant. All applicants are encouraged to apply directly to our open jobs via our website. Interviews are generally conducted via Zoom video conference unless the candidate requests other accommodations.

If you believe that you have been the target of an interview/offer scam by someone posing as a representative of Harness, please do not provide any personal or financial information and contact us immediately at [email protected]. You can also find additional information about this type of scam and report any fraudulent employment offers via the Federal Trade Commission’s website (https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams), or you can contact your local law enforcement agency.