Forward Deployed Engineer

ABOUT US:

At Kovva, we're building AI Agents for Media Buying teams. Our clients are independent agencies, holding companies and brands. We integrate with all the tools media buyers use - DSPs, social platforms, search, third-party creative ad servers, measurement and ad verification partners - as well as productivity tools like Slack, OneDrive, Zoom and Email.
Our goal is to automate the mundane work that consumes the media buyers' day: cross-platform pacing checks and discrepancy monitoring, campaign QA and troubleshooting and more.
We know this world from the inside, and we're moving fast. This is the ground floor, with all the opportunity and responsibility that implies.

THE ROLE:
The person who makes Kovva real for clients.

You'll be Kovva's face during the most critical window of a customer relationship - working closely with clients from first technical conversation through onboarding, POC completion and into successful scaling across their accounts and use cases. Our POC process is a structured 90-day evaluation with defined objectives, weekly standups, and a formal readout. You own the delivery of that experience.
The core of this role is developing a deep understanding of how clients' media buying teams actually work - their workflows, their pain points, their institutional knowledge – and helping them utilize Kovva to automate the repetitive, mundane aspects of media buying management. Sometimes that means activating existing agents. Sometimes that means identifying gaps that require new integrations or product features.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:
Turn client workflows into automated reality.

Understand how clients work: Go deep on each client's media buying workflows - how they manage pacing, QA campaigns, handle discrepancies, report to stakeholders. The better you understand their world, the better you can work with them to delegate these tasks to Kovva agents.
Lead POCs end-to-end: Run structured 90-day proof-of-concepts. Own the platform connection, account linking, first automation scoping, and the final readout. You're accountable to the outcome, not just the process.
Build and problem-solve: Configure integrations, diagnose issues surfacing root cause across the API layer and Kovva’s platform. When a client workflow can't be automated with what exists today, you're the one who works with Product to ensure it is built.
Run the cadence: Facilitate biweekly practitioner standups, monthly leadership reviews, and mid-point deep dives. Keep both sides accountable to agreed objectives and surface early signals before they become blockers.
Shape the product roadmap: You'll have more insight into real client workflows than anyone else in the company. The integrations you identify and the gaps you surface will directly influence what Kovva builds next.
Build the playbook: As an early hire, you'll help define how Kovva scales client success - documenting what works, creating repeatable onboarding frameworks, and raising the ceiling on what great looks like.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR:
Technically sharp. Exceptionally human.

Essential
3-6 years in a forward deployed, solutions engineering, or highly technical client-facing role
Exceptional communicator - able to translate complex technical concepts for media buyers and C-suite stakeholders in the same breath
Buy-side experience at a DSP or media agency trading desk
Comfortable with APIs, and troubleshooting data flows - you can read an error log, form a hypothesis, and fix it
Naturally organized - you run multiple POCs in parallel without dropping threads

Preferred
CS degree or equivalent technical background
Experience working with AI or automation tools in a client-facing context
Early-stage startup experience - you know what it means to build the plane while flying it

WHO THRIVES HERE:
You're the kind of person who genuinely enjoys getting into the weeds with a client and coming out the other side with a solved problem. You feel the same pull toward a tricky API integration as you do toward a tough client conversation - and you don't need to be told to document what you learn. You've probably had a job where someone said "you're more like a partner than a vendor" and you took it as the highest compliment possible.

WHY KOVVA:
A category being built in real time.

You'll matter immediately - as an early hire, your work shapes how every future client is onboarded. This role has leverage that doesn't exist at larger companies.
The product is genuinely novel - Kovva replaces ~70% of a media buyer's manual workload. No competitor does what we do cross-platform. You'll be selling and supporting something you can actually believe in.
Founding team with deep domain credibility - our co-founders built a DSP, ran trading teams, and led engineering and data science. We have deep agency relationships and domain expertise. We’re solving a real problem we’ve experienced.
Direct line to product and engineering - your client feedback becomes product decisions. Fast loops, no bureaucracy, real impact.



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