About the Company

Pilots don’t train with real passengers. Surgeons don’t practice on real people. Yet, the most consequential decisions in society are often pushed straight to production.

Simile is changing that. We have built the first AI simulation of society, populated by generative agents based on real humans. Our research pioneered the field of AI-based simulation, proving it is possible to model human behavior with high accuracy. Today, we are developing a Foundation Model to predict human behavior in any situation, at any scale.

We are backed by $100M in funding led by Index Ventures, with participation from Hanabi, A*, Bain Capital Ventures, and AI visionaries including Andrej Karpathy, Fei-Fei Li, Adam D’Angelo, and Guillermo Rauch.

About the Team

The Forward Deployed Engineering team at Simile acts as our primary bridge between frontier research and real-world application. We operate in small, highly collaborative units that translate our Foundation Models into tangible outcomes for our partners. We are engineers who thrive in high-stakes environments, comfortable navigating complex, evolving requirements while maintaining the technical rigor required to simulate human society. At Simile, you aren't just shipping features; you are architecting the "flight simulators" for the world’s most important decisions.

About the Role

As a Forward Deployed Software Engineer (FDSE), you will experience the autonomy of a startup leader with the resources of a world-class AI lab. You will own the end-to-end implementation of critical simulation projects, working directly with customer stakeholders—from technical teams to C-suite executives—to understand their most complex "What If" scenarios.

Your core responsibilities will include:

Architecting Reality: Collaborating with our research engineers to adapt our generative agent models into custom, large-scale simulation environments tailored to specific business or policy goals.
Building Agentic Workflows: Designing and deploying end-to-end generative AI systems that can model human behavior at the scale of an entire organization or society.
Data Lifecycle Management: Owning the end-to-end ingestion of complex customer data, building robust pipelines to clean and process this information to power and fine-tune our behavioral foundation models.
Direct Strategic Engagement: Acting as a technical advisor to executives, helping them navigate uncertainty by translating high-level risks into actionable simulation parameters.
Product Synthesis: Driving the practical limits of our technology by identifying how simulations perform in complex real-world settings and feeding those insights back to our core R&D team to refine our foundation models.

Requirements

Must Haves

Engineering Foundation: A strong technical background in fields such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or Machine Learning.
Technical Mastery: Strong coding proficiency in Python (required), with experience in Java, C++, or TypeScript/JavaScript.
Data Pipeline Proficiency: Demonstrated experience building data ingestion and processing pipelines to prepare large-scale datasets for model training and inference.
Gen AI Experience: Past experience building production solutions with LLMs and a deep understanding of the generative agent landscape (evaluation, memory, and behavior decomposition).
Operational Adaptability: 1+ years of post-college work experience, ideally in a fast-paced environment where you’ve had to manage shifting objectives and direct iteration with users.
Analytical Mindset: An eagerness to solve technical problems involving data structures, storage systems, and cloud infrastructure at a massive scale.
Mobility: Interest in traveling up to 25% to partner sites to lead on-the-ground deployments (flexible based on personal preferences).

Nice to Haves

Entrepreneurial Experience: Experience as a founder, early-stage startup employee, or lead in an "Applied AI" capacity.
Simulation Background: Exposure to agent-based modeling, game theory, or behavioral economics.
Full-Stack Familiarity: Ability to build intuitive interfaces to visualize complex simulation outcomes for non-technical stakeholders.

Compensation & Benefits

At Simile, we provide competitive compensation packages that include base salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits.

Salary Range: $200,000 – $400,000 USD
- Note: Final offers are based on experience, specialized skills, interview performance, and relevant training.
Equity: Grants are available for eligible roles, subject to board approval.
Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
Time Off: Flexible time off policies to support work-life balance.

Our Process

We prioritize thoughtful conversations and clear examples of past work. Our hiring journey is designed to help both sides align on fit, working style, and expectations.

Reapplication Policy: To ensure a fair and thorough evaluation for all applicants, Simile observes a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

Equal Opportunity: Simile is an equal opportunity workplace. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities, valuing an environment where everyone can contribute authentically.

Accommodations: If you require support or reasonable accommodations during the application process due to a disability, please let us know. We are happy to assist.

Forward Deployed Engineer - Member of Technical Staff