Forward Deployed Engineer - Entry Level
Posted 3 days ago
The role in short
Build and deploy internal AI-driven applications, data products, and automation tools for SharkNinja's business teams as part of the internal transformation team.
About Us
SharkNinja is a global product design and technology company, with a diversified portfolio of 5-star rated lifestyle solutions that positively impact people’s lives in homes around the world. Powered by two trusted, global brands, Shark and Ninja, the company has a proven track record of bringing disruptive innovation to market and developing one consumer product after another has allowed SharkNinja to enter multiple product categories, driving significant growth and market share gains. Headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts with more than 4,100 associates, the company’s products are sold at key retailers, online and offline, and through distributors around the world.
AI at SharkNinja
At SharkNinja, we’re building an AI-native culture. We’re not waiting for the future; we’re creating it. Our people are expected to experiment boldly, adopt new tools, and continuously raise what’s possible to create meaningful impact for our consumers. If you believe the best way to do your job hasn’t been invented yet, you’ll fit right in.
FORWARD DEPLOYED ENGINEER — THE FIN
Job Overview
The opportunity
Help build the next generation of how SharkNinja operates.
Join THE FIN, SharkNinja's core internal transformation team, where we're building new financial and operational capabilities using data, automation, software, and AI. Our team works directly with the business to solve real problems, simplify complex processes, and create tools that make SharkNinja faster, smarter, and more effective.
We're looking for an early-career builder who is curious, technically capable, and excited to learn by doing. You'll work alongside experienced engineers and business partners to turn ideas into practical solutions, gaining hands-on experience with enterprise data, applications, automation, and emerging AI technologies.
You don't need to have built everything before. What matters is a strong technical foundation, a willingness to figure things out, and the motivation to build solutions that people actually use.
This is an opportunity to develop your engineering skills while learning how a global consumer products business operates. You'll contribute to real projects from the beginning, take ownership of defined tasks, and grow your ability to solve increasingly complex problems.
Success means producing accurate, reliable work, learning quickly, and contributing to solutions that improve how SharkNinja operates.
Responsibilities
- Learn the business. Work with team members and business partners to understand operational processes, data, and the challenges teams face in their daily work.
- Build and contribute. Develop components of applications, data products, and automation solutions under the guidance of experienced engineers.
- Work with data. Write SQL queries, analyze datasets, support data transformations, and help improve data quality and accessibility.
- Develop automation. Use Python and other tools to automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows, and support business reporting and analysis.
- Explore practical AI applications. Assist with building, testing, and validating AI-enabled tools that help business teams work more effectively, with appropriate human review.
- Test and improve solutions. Help troubleshoot issues, validate outputs, document technical work, and ensure solutions are accurate and reliable.
- Collaborate with users. Participate in discussions with business teams, gather feedback, and support improvements to tools and workflows.
- Support delivery and adoption. Assist with deployment, documentation, user testing, and ongoing support of solutions used by the business.
- Keep getting smarter. Ask questions, seek feedback, experiment with new approaches, and embrace Progress Over Perfection while building strong engineering habits.
- Contribute as a team. Work collaboratively, share ideas, and practice Communicating for Impact to help the team deliver results.
Skills Required
- Typically 0–2 years of relevant experience, including internships, co-ops, academic projects, or personal technical projects.
- Foundational programming skills in Python or a comparable language, with the ability to write, understand, and debug code.
- Working knowledge of SQL, including basic queries, joins, filtering, and data manipulation.
- Understanding of relational databases, data structures, and basic software development concepts.
- Experience using programming or data analysis tools through coursework, internships, personal projects, or professional experience.
- Ability to approach problems logically, investigate issues, and work through solutions with guidance.
- Strong attention to detail and an interest in producing accurate, reliable work.
- Curiosity about how businesses operate and how technology can improve processes and decision-making.
- Willingness to learn new technologies, ask questions, and incorporate feedback.
- Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to explain your work and engage with teammates from different backgrounds.
- An Insatiable Impatience for Action—a willingness to get started, experiment, and learn through building.
- A Rarely Satisfied mindset, with the curiosity to question existing processes and continuously improve.
Experience that would help
- Internship, co-op, academic, or personal project experience involving Python, SQL, software development, or data analysis.
- Exposure to business intelligence, data engineering, or automation tools.
- Familiarity with Git, APIs, or basic software testing practices.
- Exposure to cloud platforms, Snowflake, dbt, or enterprise data environments.
- Interest in AI, machine learning, large language models, or practical AI applications.
- Familiarity with web development technologies such as JavaScript or React.
- Exposure to Palantir Foundry, AIP, or comparable enterprise platforms.
- Interest in consumer products, retail, finance, supply chain, or business operations.
A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, or a related discipline—or equivalent practical experience—is welcome. We also encourage candidates with strong technical projects or nontraditional learning backgrounds to apply.
Salary and Other Compensation: The annual salary range for this position is displayed below. Factors which may affect starting pay within this range may include geography/market, skills, education, experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.
The Company offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements: medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts (HSA) with company contribution, 401(k) retirement plan with matching, employee stock purchase program, life insurance, AD&D, short-term disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, generous paid time off, company holidays, parental leave, identity theft protection, pet insurance, pre-paid legal insurance, back-up child and eldercare days, product discounts, referral bonus program, and more.
Pay Range
$95,000—$125,000 USD
Our Culture
At SharkNinja, we don’t just raise the bar—we push past it every single day. Our Outrageously Extraordinary mindset drives us to tackle the impossible, push boundaries, and deliver results that others only dream of. If you thrive on breaking out of your swim lane, you’ll be right at home.
What We Offer
We offer competitive health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, employee stock purchase options, wellness programs, SharkNinja product discounts, and more. We empower your personal and professional growth with high impact Learning Programs featuring bold voices redefining what’s possible. When you join, you’re not just part of a company—you’re part of an outrageously extraordinary community. Together, we won’t just launch products—we’ll disrupt entire markets.
At SharkNinja, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are vital to our global success. Valuing each unique voice and blending all of our diverse skills strengthens SharkNinja’s innovation every day. We support ALL associates in bringing their authentic selves to work, making an impact, and having the opportunity for career acceleration. With help from our leadership, associates, and our community, we aim to have equity be a key component of the SharkNinja DNA.
Learn more about us:
Life At SharkNinja
Outrageously Extraordinary
SharkNinja Candidate Privacy Notice
- For candidates based in all regions, please refer to this Candidate Privacy Notice.
- For candidates based in China, please refer to this Candidate Privacy Notice.
- For candidates based in Vietnam, please refer to this Candidate Privacy Notice.
We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other class protected by legislation, and local law. SharkNinja will consider reasonable accommodations consistent with legislation, and local law. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact SharkNinja People & Culture at accommodations@sharkninja.com
Prep for this interview
3 questions likely to come up at SharkNinja, each matched to a line in this posting.
- 1Integrations and APIs
They wrote: “Familiarity with Git, APIs, or basic software testing practices.”
How would you set up single sign-on for a large customer?
How to answer
Why they ask: SSO (SAML or OAuth/OIDC) is a common first task in enterprise deals and a common source of delays.
- Confirm their identity provider (Okta, Entra ID, Google) and protocol
- Exchange metadata and test in a staging tenant first
- Map user groups to roles in your product
- Plan for user removal: what happens when someone leaves the company
Tip: Mention the people involved, and the protocol second. The customer's identity team usually controls the timeline.
- 2Data and SQL
They wrote: “Work with data. Write SQL queries, analyze datasets, support data transformations, and help improve data quality and accessibility.”
Write a query that finds each customer's first and most recent order.
How to answer
Why they ask: A quick check that you're comfortable with grouping, joins and window functions.
- Clarify the tables and what counts as an order (cancelled ones?)
- Use MIN/MAX with GROUP BY, or ROW_NUMBER() if you need the whole row
- Handle ties on the same timestamp, and customers with no orders
- Explain how you'd test it on a few known customers
Tip: Say what you'd check in the data before writing the query: duplicates, time zones, nulls.
- 3Coding
They wrote: “Develop automation. Use Python and other tools to automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows, and support business reporting and analysis.”
Here's a CSV export from a customer. Write a script that cleans it and loads it into our API.
How to answer
Why they ask: Very close to real FDE work. They watch how you handle bad rows and failures.
- Read with a proper CSV parser; check the header first
- Validate each row and collect errors, not crash on the first one
- Send in batches with retries and a clear report at the end
- Write one or two quick tests for the parsing
Tip: Talk through edge cases out loud: encodings, missing fields, duplicates, rate limits.
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