Forward Deploy Engineer (FDE)

About Stardex

Stardex is an AI-native ATS and CRM built specifically for executive search firms. We're backed by Y Combinator and are changing how recruiting firms leverage their data and institutional knowledge. Our customers are boutique and mid-market executive search firms who are moving off legacy platforms — and they need someone to make that transition seamless.

The Role

We're looking for our first Forward Deployed Engineer. You'll be the person who makes sure every new customer has a seamless transition onto Stardex — owning data migration end-to-end, building tools to automate the process, and working directly with search firms to understand how they operate so you can help them get the most out of the platform. This isn't a pure support role. You'll be working with firms of 50+ people, helping them think through how to extend Stardex via our API to fit into their existing workflows. You'll also be shipping features and fixing bugs in the product itself. Think of it as part migration engineer, part product engineer, part technical advisor to our customers.

Who are you?

• You're comfortable writing TypeScript and SQL to transform, clean, and migrate messy data from one system to another
• You're extremely detail-oriented. Data migration has zero margin for error and you take pride in getting things right.
• You instinctively reach for AI tools (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) to automate repetitive work rather than doing it manually. You're always looking for ways to use AI to make processes faster and more efficient.
• You have some understanding of database optimization — you know why a poorly structured query or schema matters
• You can communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical people when needed
• You have a "whatever it takes" attitude. If something needs to go live by Friday, you figure it out.
• You write clean, maintainable code and document your work so processes get better over time

What You'll Actually Be Doing...

• Owning the end-to-end data migration process for new customers moving from platforms like Bullhorn, Clockwork, and others onto Stardex
• Building and improving migration scripts and tools, using AI to automate as much of the process as possible
• Working with search firms (some 50+ people) to understand their workflows and help them extend Stardex via our API to fit their specific needs
• Shipping features and fixing bugs in the core product based on what you're seeing in the field
• Making sure every migration is accurate, complete, and thoroughly QA'd before go-live
• Collaborating with our engineering team to feed customer insights back into the product roadmap
• Documenting processes so migrations get faster and smoother over time

Bonus points if you...

• Have worked with CRMs or ATS platforms before (or any system with messy, relational data)
• Have experience with APIs, data pipelines, or ETL processes
• Have hands-on experience with database performance tuning, indexing, or query optimization
• Have done any kind of customer-facing technical work — support, consulting, freelance projects, anything
• Have worked at an early-stage startup

Why work with us?

• You’ll be the first person in this role, which means you get to define how Stardex onboards customers from the ground up
• You’ll work directly with our founders (Sanket & Pranav) and have real ownership from day one
• You won’t just be migrating data — you’ll be building features, shaping the product, and working directly with customers
• You’ll learn a ton about AI, SaaS, and the recruiting industry
• Competitive compensation + benefits + whatever you need to be productive

Interested?

Apply here or email Sanket directly at sanket(at)stardex.ai with a short note on why this role excites you. We're open to recent grads as well for this role.