# Forward Deployed Engineer, Infrastructure Specialist (Middle East)
**Company:** [Cohere](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/cohere)
As a Forward Deployed Engineer specializing in Infrastructure at Cohere, you'll architect and lead end-to-end deployments of North, our cutting-edge AI workspace platform, in private cloud and on-premises environments for enterprise clients including RBC, Dell, and LG CNS. This role bridges Cohere's core product and customer engineering teams, requiring expertise in Kubernetes orchestration, cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP), and DevOps practices to securely integrate agentic AI into critical sectors such as finance, healthcare, and telecommunications.
**Role:** DevOps Engineer
**Seniority:** Mid
**Locations:** Middle East
**Salary:** 120000–160000 USD
[Apply](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cohere/291e5dee-dcda-49e6-a1b6-dae0d48f80af)
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/jobs/cohere/forward-deployed-engineer-infrastructure-specialist-middle-east
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## Responsibilities

- End-to-End Deployment Leadership: Lead comprehensive deployment of North platform in private cloud and on-premises environments, managing full lifecycle from planning, infrastructure assessment, and configuration through rigorous testing and production rollout with minimal downtime.
- Enterprise Infrastructure Assessment: Partner closely with enterprise IT teams to evaluate existing infrastructure, identify security requirements, assess data management practices, and design deployment strategies that align with client-specific compliance and data privacy standards including HIPAA, GDPR, and industry regulations.
- Kubernetes Cluster Administration: Design, deploy, and maintain large-scale production Kubernetes clusters with advanced configuration using Helm charts, managing node orchestration, resource allocation, and ensuring high availability and performance across hybrid cloud environments.
- DevOps and CI/CD Pipeline Development: Implement and optimize continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines using Git version control, Docker containerization, and GitOps methodologies to enable rapid, reliable, and repeatable deployments while maintaining code quality and security standards.
- Rapid Experimentation and Problem Resolution: Execute with high velocity and exceptional quality in fast-paced environments, troubleshooting complex deployment-related technical issues, providing timely solutions to resolve infrastructure problems, and minimizing customer downtime through proactive monitoring and incident response.
- Customer-Facing Technical Partnership: Serve as primary technical liaison between Cohere and customers during deployments, engaging stakeholders across engineering, IT operations, and security teams, communicating complex infrastructure concepts clearly, and exceeding customer expectations through tailored solutions and exceptional service delivery.
- Field Deployment and Site Operations: Travel to customer premises 20-40% of the time to conduct on-site infrastructure assessments, oversee deployment implementations, provide hands-on technical support, and ensure successful integration of North platform within customer environments.

## Requirements

### education

- {"name":"Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related Field","description":"Formal education in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience demonstrating strong foundational knowledge in computer systems, networking, and software development principles."}

### technical

- {"name":"Kubernetes Administration at Scale","description":"Proven production experience administering large-scale Kubernetes clusters with deep expertise in Helm package management, cluster architecture, resource management, network policies, storage orchestration, and troubleshooting complex cluster issues in high-availability production environments."}
- {"name":"Cloud Infrastructure Platforms","description":"Strong expertise across major cloud providers including AWS (EC2, VPC, ECS, IAM), Azure (Virtual Machines, App Services, AKS), and GCP (Compute Engine, Cloud Run, GKE) with hands-on experience designing and deploying scalable, secure, and cost-optimized infrastructure solutions."}
- {"name":"DevOps and CI/CD Practices","description":"Comprehensive understanding of DevOps methodologies, experience implementing end-to-end CI/CD pipelines using tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or ArgoCD, proficiency with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, Helm), and Git-based version control workflows."}
- {"name":"Enterprise Private Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Deployments","description":"Demonstrated experience deploying and managing enterprise software in private cloud environments, hybrid architectures, on-premises data centers, and distributed multi-cloud setups with expertise in network connectivity, security, and compliance considerations."}
- {"name":"Cloud Networking and Virtualization","description":"Solid understanding of networking fundamentals including VPC configuration, load balancing, DNS, VPN, and firewall management; experience with virtualization technologies such as VMware, Hyper-V, or KVM; and ability to troubleshoot complex network connectivity issues in cloud environments."}
- {"name":"Security and Compliance Implementation","description":"Knowledge of enterprise security practices, data privacy standards (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2), network security hardening, identity and access management (IAM), encryption protocols, and ability to design deployments that maintain security posture while meeting regulatory requirements."}

### experience

- {"name":"Enterprise Software Deployment","description":"3-5+ years of experience deploying, managing, and troubleshooting enterprise-grade software platforms in production environments with direct exposure to customer-facing deployments and post-deployment support operations."}
- {"name":"Kubernetes Production Operations","description":"2-3+ years of hands-on experience managing production Kubernetes clusters at scale, including day-two operations, cluster upgrades, performance optimization, and incident response in mission-critical environments."}
- {"name":"Customer-Centric Technical Engagement","description":"Direct experience working with enterprise customers on infrastructure projects, conducting technical assessments, communicating complex technical solutions to non-technical stakeholders, and managing customer expectations through successful project delivery."}
- {"name":"DevOps and Infrastructure Automation","description":"Demonstrated expertise implementing automation frameworks, writing Infrastructure as Code, managing configuration management, and designing scalable deployment processes that reduce manual toil and improve operational reliability."}

## Skills

### required

- {"name":"Kubernetes","description":"Production-grade Kubernetes cluster administration, Helm package management, cluster networking, storage management, and troubleshooting"}
- {"name":"AWS","description":"EC2, VPC, S3, IAM, ECS, and managed services for cloud infrastructure deployment"}
- {"name":"CI/CD Pipelines","description":"Design and implementation of continuous integration and deployment workflows using modern tools and best practices"}
- {"name":"Infrastructure as Code","description":"Terraform, CloudFormation, Helm, or Ansible for declarative infrastructure provisioning and management"}
- {"name":"Git Version Control","description":"Advanced Git workflows, branching strategies, pull request management, and collaborative development practices"}
- {"name":"Linux/Unix Administration","description":"System administration, package management, shell scripting (Bash), user access control, and troubleshooting"}
- {"name":"Docker Containerization","description":"Container image creation, registry management, multi-container orchestration, and container security best practices"}
- {"name":"Enterprise Networking","description":"VPC configuration, networking fundamentals, load balancing, DNS, VPN, and firewall management"}
- {"name":"Troubleshooting and Debugging","description":"Systematic problem-solving approaches, log analysis, performance profiling, and root cause analysis in complex distributed systems"}
- {"name":"Arabic and English Fluency","description":"Fluent verbal and written communication in both Arabic and English for customer interaction and documentation"}

### preferred

- {"name":"GPU Node Orchestration","description":"Experience managing GPU-accelerated workloads, NVIDIA GPU operators, resource scheduling for compute-intensive inference workloads, and GPU memory optimization"}
- {"name":"Inference System Architecture","description":"Understanding of AI/ML inference systems, model serving platforms (Triton, KServe, vLLM), latency optimization, and batch processing considerations"}
- {"name":"Distributed Systems Design","description":"Knowledge of distributed system principles, microservices architectures, service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd), and handling eventual consistency and fault tolerance"}
- {"name":"Performance Optimization","description":"Experience optimizing system performance through profiling, monitoring, resource allocation tuning, and identifying bottlenecks in infrastructure and applications"}
- {"name":"Azure and GCP","description":"Hands-on experience with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure DevOps, GCP Cloud Run, GKE, or comparable managed services"}
- {"name":"Enterprise Security Frameworks","description":"Familiarity with SOC 2 compliance, security hardening standards, vulnerability management, and implementing security-first deployment practices"}
- {"name":"Monitoring and Observability","description":"Experience with Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack, Datadog, or similar monitoring and logging solutions for infrastructure visibility and alerting"}
- {"name":"Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)","description":"Background in SRE practices, incident management, blameless postmortems, runbook development, and operational excellence principles"}

## Tech stack

### tools

- {"name":"Terraform","description":"Infrastructure as Code tool for provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure declaratively"}
- {"name":"Git","description":"Distributed version control system for source code management and collaborative development"}
- {"name":"Jenkins","description":"Continuous integration and continuous deployment automation server"}
- {"name":"GitLab CI","description":"Built-in CI/CD platform integrated with GitLab for automated testing and deployment"}
- {"name":"GitHub Actions","description":"Workflow automation platform for CI/CD directly within GitHub repositories"}
- {"name":"Prometheus","description":"Time-series monitoring and alerting toolkit for infrastructure and application metrics"}
- {"name":"Grafana","description":"Visualization and dashboarding platform for infrastructure and application monitoring"}
- {"name":"ArgoCD","description":"GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes declarative deployment automation"}

### others

- {"name":"AWS Cloud Services","description":"Amazon Web Services including EC2, VPC, S3, RDS, ECS, and managed Kubernetes services"}
- {"name":"Azure Cloud Services","description":"Microsoft Azure including Virtual Machines, App Services, AKS, and cloud-native services"}
- {"name":"Google Cloud Platform","description":"GCP services including Compute Engine, Cloud Run, GKE, and managed data services"}
- {"name":"Private Cloud Infrastructure","description":"On-premises and private cloud deployment platforms for regulated industries and data sovereignty"}
- {"name":"Kubernetes Networking and Service Mesh","description":"Advanced networking configurations, ingress controllers, service mesh technologies for microservices communication"}

### databases

- {"name":"PostgreSQL","description":"Enterprise-grade relational database management system commonly used in enterprise deployments"}
- {"name":"Redis","description":"In-memory data store for caching and high-performance data access in distributed systems"}

### languages

- {"name":"Bash/Shell Scripting","description":"Advanced shell scripting for automation, system administration, and deployment orchestration"}
- {"name":"Python","description":"Infrastructure automation, tooling development, and scripting for deployment and operational tasks"}
- {"name":"YAML","description":"Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts, CI/CD configuration, and Infrastructure as Code file formats"}

### frameworks

- {"name":"Kubernetes","description":"Open-source container orchestration platform for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications"}
- {"name":"Helm","description":"Kubernetes package manager for templating, versioning, and managing complex multi-container applications"}
- {"name":"Docker","description":"Container runtime and containerization technology for packaging applications and dependencies"}

## Benefits

### benefits

- {"name":"Weekly Lunch Stipend","description":"USD $75 per week (or equivalent in local currency) to support meal allowances for on-site and hybrid workers"}
- {"name":"Comprehensive Health and Dental Benefits","description":"Full health insurance coverage including medical and dental plans with dedicated mental health budget for wellness support"}
- {"name":"Retirement Planning","description":"RRSP matching for Canadian employees, 401K for US employees, and pension scheme options for international locations"}
- {"name":"Industry-Leading Parental Leave","description":"100% salary top-up for parental leave up to 6 months for either parent, supporting work-life balance during critical family milestones"}
- {"name":"Annual Enrichment Benefits","description":"Comprehensive wellness programs including arts and culture stipend, fitness and wellness benefits, quality time allowances, and workspace improvement credits"}
- {"name":"Education and Learning Budget","description":"Annual stipend for professional development including technology conferences, online courses, coaching, and certification programs"}
- {"name":"Generous Paid Vacation","description":"6 weeks of paid vacation annually (30 working days) to support work-life balance and personal renewal"}
- {"name":"Global Mobility Support","description":"Travel budget for visiting other Cohere offices when working remotely, plus annual all-company offsite for team building"}
- {"name":"Home Office Setup","description":"USD $500 home office stipend to establish a proper remote work environment with quality equipment and ergonomics"}
- {"name":"Office Community Benefits","description":"Daily lunch program, premium snacks, and regular community and social events for office-based employees"}
- {"name":"Co-working Flexibility","description":"Co-working space benefits for remote employees in cities without Cohere offices to facilitate collaborative work environments"}

## Compensation

- **max:** 160000
- **min:** 120000
- **currency:** USD
- **stockOptions:** true

## Interview process

### steps

## Full description
**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](https://cohere.com/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?**

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 such as finance, healthcare, and telecommunications. Our esteemed clients include industry leaders like RBC, Dell, and LG CNS.

We are seeking engineers who deeply care about customers and want to work at the cutting edge of Agentic AI.

## **In this role, you will:**

* Lead end-to-end deployment of North in private cloud and on-premises environments, including planning, configuration, testing, and rollout.
* Partner with enterprise IT teams to assess infrastructure, security requirements, and data management practices.
* Experiment at a high velocity and with a high level of quality to engage our customers and ultimately deliver solutions that exceed their expectations
* Design and implement deployment strategies tailored to client needs, ensuring compliance with data privacy and security standards.
* Troubleshoot and resolve deployment-related technical issues, providing timely solutions to minimize downtime.
* Travel to customer premises between 20-40%

## **You may be a good fit if:**

* You have experience with and enjoy working directly with customers
* You have experience deploying enterprise software in private/hybrid cloud environments
* You have proven experience administering large-scale production Kubernetes clusters and expertise with Helm
* Familiarity with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and tools like Git for version control
* You have strong expertise in cloud infrastructure (Azure, AWS, GCP), networking, and virtualization
* You excel in fast-paced environments and can execute while priorities and objectives are a moving target
* You are fluent in Arabic and English

## 

## **It's a bonus if you have…**

* Familiarity with GPU node orchestration & scheduling
* You understand the intersection of GPU infrastructure, inference systems, Kubernetes, distributed systems, and performance optimization.

## **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](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12a6IrLdF3kI2nonKSr4tiFuz18rLQbaeYV-JM9L4o9Q/edit), 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_](https://cohere.com/careers) _page._