Forward Deployed Engineer (AI)
About RO Writer
For 50 years, RO Writer has helped independent auto repair shops across North America run smarter, faster, and more profitably. Our all-in-one, now cloud-based shop management platform covers service writing, parts catalogs, digital vehicle inspections, inventory, accounting, and customer communication, and thousands of shops depend on it every day.
We're now bringing AI into the bays and the front counter, starting with RO Writer Connect, our AI-powered marketing automation. The next step is putting AI to work on the daily workflows that eat up a shop's time.
About the Role
We're hiring our first Forward Deployed Engineer. You'll work side by side with shop owners, service advisors, and technicians to find the problems slowing them down, then build AI solutions that fix them. You'll spend your time in the shop and in the code. What works in the field becomes part of the product.
You'll report to our General Manager and help define what this function becomes at RO Writer.
Your first big win: Automating repair order creation, using AI to turn inspections, technician notes, and customer conversations into accurate, ready-to-review repair orders and estimates.
What You'll Do
Embed with customers, remotely and on-site, to understand how their shops really run and where time and revenue are lost
Identify high-impact workflow problems and turn them into scoped, shippable solutions
Design, build, and deploy AI-powered workflows and agents (LLMs, RAG, tool use) that automate shop tasks such as repair order writing, estimating, and parts sourcing
Integrate with RO Writer's platform and third-party systems (parts catalogs, accounting, payments, and more) through APIs
Build evaluation and monitoring so AI output is accurate, grounded, and trustworthy enough for a shop to rely on
Run pilots with customers, gather feedback, and iterate quickly
Partner with Product and Engineering to turn successful field solutions into scalable product features
Document what you learn and build playbooks so Support, Training, and Customer Success teams can carry it forward
Be the voice of the customer inside engineering
What You Bring
Required
Professional software engineering experience, with Python and/or TypeScript
Hands-on experience building with LLMs: prompt design, agents or tool use, RAG, and evaluating output quality
The ability to explain the AI-driven development methods that have actually worked for you over the past 18 months: how you plan, build, test, and ship software with AI, and what you'd do differently
Experience working in small teams to produce applications and modules that improved or simplified end-user workflows
A track record you can express in results: end-user benefit, financial impact, and quantitative measures (time saved, cost reduced, revenue gained, adoption)
Strong experience building and consuming APIs and integrating with third-party systems
Excellent communication skills. You can explain technical ideas to non-technical shop owners and listen well.
Comfort with ambiguity: you can take a messy real-world problem to a working solution with little hand-holding
Willingness to travel periodically to customer shops
Strongly preferred
Experience in automotive, auto repair, or small-business / vertical SaaS
Experience in a customer-facing technical role (solutions engineering, implementation, technical consulting)
Familiarity with cloud platforms and modern deployment practices
Experience using AI coding tools in your daily work
You might be a great fit if you've ever shown up at a customer's workplace, watched how they actually work, and gone home to build something better.
Why RO Writer
Be the first in a brand-new function with direct access to leadership
Work on a product with a 50-year legacy and real customers who feel your impact immediately
Build AI that solves tangible problems for small business owners, not demos
Remote-first
FLSA Designation (US Only):
Exempt
Salary…