Level

Cohere

Forward Deployed Engineer, Sovereign AI

Cohere is hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer, Sovereign AI for a remote role open to applicants in Canada. It pays CAD 175k-CAD 385k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Cohere.

Level's read on this job

  • On Level's scale, this forward deployed engineer role is Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
  • The posting lists this role as remote.
  • Tools and skills the posting cites include Cohere North, RAG and AI agents.
  • Level classifies it as a senior role.
  • Level lists 115 other open roles at Cohere.

AI in this role

Design and implement secure Generative AI and agent solutions for Canadian public sector organizations using Cohere's stack.

cohere-north
ragai-agentsbackend-developmentinfrastructureagentic-aigenerative-aiclient-facing

Who are we?

Cohere is the leading security-first enterprise AI company. We build cutting-edge foundation AI models and end-to-end products that are designed to solve real-world business problems.

We’re training and deploying frontier models for enterprises who are building AI systems. We believe that our work is instrumental to the widespread adoption of AI and we are looking for folks that want to be part of that.

We obsess over what we build. Each one of us is responsible for contributing to increasing the capabilities of our models and the value they drive for our customers. Cohere is a team of researchers, engineers, designers, and more, who are all passionate about their craft.

We are a global technology company headquartered in Toronto with key offices in London, New York City, San Francisco, Montreal, Paris, Berlin and Seoul. Join us!

About North:

North is Cohere's cutting-edge AI workspace platform, designed to revolutionize the way enterprises utilize AI. It offers a secure and customizable environment, allowing companies to deploy AI while maintaining control over sensitive data. North integrates seamlessly with existing workflows, providing a trusted platform that connects AI agents with workplace tools and applications.

Why This Role?

Cohere’s team partners with Canadian public sector organisations to unlock transformative value through secure, ethical deployment of Generative AI (GenAI) solutions. We work collaboratively to address complex societal challenges while maintaining the highest standards of data security and compliance. You will work directly with public sector customers to quickly understand their greatest problems and design and implement solutions using Cohere's stack.

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape how enterprises harness the power of AI in real-world applications. As a bridge between our core North product and our clients’ engineering teams, you’ll be at the forefront of solving complex problems and securely integrating AI into critical sectors.

We are seeking engineers with diverse skill sets, including backend, infrastructure, agent development, and deployments, who deeply care about customers and want to work at the cutting edge of Agentic AI.

Location: Ottawa (proximity to government customers), 20-40% travel anticipated.


Security Clearance: Eligibility for Active Top Secret clearance is needed for this position, candidates eligible and willing to obtain clearance will also be considered.

More information about Canadian Security Clearance can be found here.

In this role, you will:

  • Build and ship features for North, our AI workspace platform

  • Develop autonomous agents that talk to sensitive enterprise data

  • Experiment at a high velocity and with a high level of quality to engage our customers and ultimately deliver solutions that exceed their expectations

  • Work across the entire product lifecycle from conceptualization through production

  • Lead end-to-end deployment of North in private cloud and on-premises environments, including planning, configuration, testing, and rollout

You may be a good fit if:

  • You have experience with and enjoy working directly with customers

  • You have shipped (lots of) Python in production

  • You have built and deployed highly performant client-side or server-side RAG/agentic applications

  • You have strong coding abilities and are comfortable working across the stack. You’re able to read and understand, and even fix issues outside of the main code base

  • You excel in fast-paced environments and can execute while priorities and objectives are a moving target

Full-Time Employees at Cohere enjoy these Perks:

  • A weekly lunch stipend of $75/£75 or equivalent in your local currency for lunch.

  • Full health and dental benefits, including a separate budget for mental health.

  • RRSP matching, 401K, Pension Scheme.

  • 100% Parental Leave top-up for up to 6 months, for either parent.

  • Annual enrichment benefits:

    Arts & culture, fitness/wellness, quality time, and a workspace improvement credit.

    Education & learning stipend for conferences, courses, and coaching.

  • 6 weeks of paid vacation (30 working days!)

  • Budget for traveling to other offices if you are remote, plus an annual company offsite.

How and Where We Work:

  • Cohere is remote-friendly, but we also have offices in Toronto, London, New York City, San Francisco, Montreal, Paris, Berlin and Seoul with more opening soon.

  • For those in the office: a daily lunch program, plenty of snacks, and regular community and social events.

  • For those not near an office: a co-working benefit so you can work alongside others in your city.

  • Everyone receives a $500 home office stipend to set up your workspace properly.

If any of the above doesn’t line up exactly with your experience, we still encourage you to apply.


We strive to create an inclusive work environment for all; we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to providing equal opportunities. Should you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please submit an Accommodations Request Form, and we will work together to meet your needs.

We may use AI-enabled tools to screen and assess applicants against the criteria for this position. This helps our recruiters identify potentially qualified candidates, but it doesn't limit the applications our recruiters may review or consider.

Beware of Scams: Cohere will never ask for payment or third-party services (e.g., CV writing) as part of our hiring process. All legitimate roles are listed on the Cohere careers page and LinkedIn only, with all communications from Cohere employees coming from an @cohere.com or @cw.cohere email alias. If jobs are viewed on other sites then please verify these through our official careers page.

How we rate this

Forward Deployed Engineer, Sovereign AI at Cohere rates 75 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

RAGAI agentsBackend DevelopmentInfrastructureAgentic AIGenerative AIClient FacingCohere North

Also common in forward deployed engineer jobs at this level

Pay

Typical forward deployed engineer job
$182k

Use the typical forward deployed engineer figure as a reference when pay comes up. See forward deployed engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. How would you design a retrieval step so the model answers from real data instead of guessing?
  2. How do you decide when an AI agent can act on its own versus asking for approval first?
  3. Tell me about a project where backend development was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where infrastructure was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Tell me about a project where agentic ai was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: RAG, AI agents, Backend Development, Infrastructure, and Agentic AI. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
  • Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
  • Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.

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