realfast is India's first post-AI IT services company, built from scratch around one metric: how quickly a signed contract becomes working software a client is paying for. Founded by the team that scaled Gojek and backed by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India & SEA) and RTP Global.

Our platform, Exo, powers the entire delivery operation. It ingests client documentation, codebases, and requirements within hours, compressing weeks of traditional discovery into days, then works alongside our teams to deliver production-ready solutions. We've delivered production-ready solutions in days that traditionally take months. The methodology behind this is Real Agile, built specifically for how IT services works in the AI era.

We hire for judgment, because everything that doesn't require it is already automated. What's left is the job.

Here's what we're looking for

As a Lead - Forward Deployed Engineer at realfast.ai with 7–10 years of software engineering experience, you will lead the end-to-end lifecycle of high-complexity projects. A battle-tested engineer who can code like hell, understands what makes businesses tick, and can elevate an entire team while doing it.

You'll lead a team of Forward Deployed Engineers on client projects, working hand-in-hand with AI Transformation Leads to deliver software and products that help clients achieve their business goals. You'll own high-complexity projects end-to-end — driving product and technical design, navigating trade-offs, and ensuring timely delivery that upholds our standards of innovation and excellence.

This is a natural career progression from the FDE role. Like FDEs, you'll be deeply embedded in client work — but you'll also bring back learnings, patterns, and insights that have a significant impact on the platform we're building.

What You'll Do

• Lead client engagements, driving delivery and raising the bar on engineering excellence

• Partner with AI Transformation Leads to design and deliver solutions that achieve client business outcomes

• Work directly with customers and stakeholders — including users, data scientists, and cross-functional teams — to design and implement solutions

• Prioritise strategically, balancing quality, technical debt, and delivery timelines

• Champion delivery excellence by boosting predictability, quality, and throughput

• Deconstruct complex engineering problems and deliver robust solutions

• Improve code architecture with a focus on testability and maintainability

• Make smart trade-offs between beautiful code and shipping fast — we bias toward shipping

• Unblock and support team members to address challenges impacting delivery

• Set the standard for engineering best practices and first-principles thinking — be someone the team looks up to in terms of craft

• Build AI-powered solutions, including developing, fine-tuning, and integrating LLMs to enhance products, automate tasks, and drive innovation

• Feed learnings back to the platform — identify patterns, gaps, and opportunities from client work that shape the evolution of our platform

• Help build the team by mentoring engineers and finding other smart people

What You'll Bring

Experience

• 7–10 years of software engineering experience

• Deep expertise with a proven track record in a similar lead role

• Experience building applications from scratch using object-oriented languages (e.g., Ruby, Python)

• Experience solving 0-to-1 problems, identifying Product-Market Fit, and iterating with users to deliver solutions

• Strong proficiency across multiple programming languages and paradigms — it doesn't matter which

Technical Skills

• Exceptional grasp of software engineering principles

• Comprehensive understanding of engineering systems and architecture

• Hands-on across the full stack — front-end, back-end, data pipelines, and AI models

• Appreciation for how businesses make money using technology as a lever

Leadership & Communication

• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to lead by example in technical and operational excellence

• Experience mentoring engineers and contributing to team growth

• Excellent communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences

• Leadership qualities: integrity, compassionate collaboration, and thorough preparedness

Mindset

• Comfortable working in a dynamic environment with ambiguity

• Strong grit and drive to make an impact

• Self-starter who can operate without detailed specs or extensive guidance

This role is for you if

• You're a polyglot engineer who loves to create working solutions, not just write code

• You're excited about building systems where AI owns concrete business outcomes

• You want to take state-of-the-art research into reliable production software

• You're interested in the business side of technology, not just the technical aspects

• You want to lead, mentor, and grow a team of high-calibre engineers

• You enjoy turning client-facing experience into platform improvements that scale

This role is NOT for you if

• You want a strictly defined role with clear boundaries

• You need detailed specs before you can start building anything

• You need extensive guidance and structure to be productive

• You're looking for a purely coding-focused position

• You prefer to specialise deeply in one technical area rather than being versatile