Forward deployed engineering roles tripled their share in the last 6 months on Contrario

Contrario launches after crossing $6M annualized revenue

Companies

Recruiters

Customers

Domains

Resources

Get a demo

Back to blogs

Forward deployed engineering roles tripled their share in the last 6 months on Contrario

Full-stack is still number one

Full-stack accounts for 183 roles across 120 companies, or 47.5% of all engineering roles on Contrario. A small team gets a lot from one engineer who can take a feature from the database to the screen. Contrario placed Liquid's first in-person engineer while the company was still its founder and a few contractors, then placed two more full-stack engineers after him.

AI and ML fills fastest

At a 37-day median, AI and ML fills fastest, compared with 59 days for full-stack and 92 days for FDE. Recruiters submit about 202 candidates for every AI or ML hire, more than any other large category. Specific Labs needed an RL engineer who had already built coding RL environments. Contrario had him in front of the team nine days after the role went live, and he was hired in under a month.

The mix is shifting

Role

Share before

Share in the last 6 months

Full-stack

55%

36.5%

DevOps / Infra

6.1%

12.8%

Forward Deployed / Solutions

3.5%

11.5%

Full-stack's share has dropped by about a third. DevOps and infrastructure roles have roughly doubled. Forward deployed and solutions engineers, who work with customers to get the product running, have roughly tripled. Early Q4 data points the same way: from October 1 to 21, forward deployed was already the second most requested engineering role, with 7 roles to full-stack's 9.

One likely reason: as startups sell to bigger customers, they need engineers who can deploy inside those customers and keep the infrastructure behind it running.

What these roles look like

Role

Median posted base

In person

Remote

Offers equity

Full-stack

$150K–$227.5K

64%

27%

43%

AI / ML

$150K–$230K

70%

21%

48%

Backend

$150K–$235K

60%

35%

44%

DevOps / Infra

$150K–$230K

56%

32%

21%

Forward Deployed / Solutions

$150K–$200K

73%

15%

19%

Frontend

$150K–$227.5K

32%

58%

11%

Mobile

$165K–$200K

40%

50%

10%

Non-engineering

$130K–$180K

71%

17%

21%

Role

Median posted base

In person

Remote

Offers equity

Full-stack

$150K–$227.5K

64%

27%

43%

AI / ML

$150K–$230K

70%

21%

48%

Backend

$150K–$235K

60%

35%

44%

DevOps / Infra

$150K–$230K

56%

32%

21%

Forward Deployed / Solutions

$150K–$200K

73%

15%

19%

Frontend

$150K–$227.5K

32%

58%

11%

Mobile

$165K–$200K

40%

50%

10%

Non-engineering

$130K–$180K

71%

17%

21%

Most roles are in the office. Frontend and mobile are the exceptions: 58% of frontend roles are remote, while mobile roles are 50% remote and 40% in person.
Pay starts at the same place. The median posted base starts at $150K for every category except mobile. Backend has the highest ceiling, at $235K.
AI and ML roles ask for a median of 2 years’ experience. 48% offer equity, the most of any category.
Many will sponsor a visa. At least 28% of roles in every engineering category offer H-1B sponsorship, rising to 47% for frontend and 46% for forward deployed. For non-engineering roles it’s 18%.

What it means if you're hiring

Full-stack: you’re competing with nearly half the engineering demand on Contrario. Be specific about which part of the stack matters most and what the person will own in their first three months.

AI or ML: nearly half of these roles include equity, and most don’t ask for five years of experience. Holding out for a senior profile can rule out the people other startups are already hiring.

Forward deployed or solutions: start early. The median takes about 3 months to fill, and their share of requests has roughly tripled in six months.

Contrario matches each role with recruiters who know that kind of search, and ReAgent checks every new role against the candidates already on the platform. That’s how a strong engineer who came in for one job can surface for the next.

Hiring engineers?

Talk to us