Posted 2 months ago
Forward Deployed Engineer, Sovereign AI
@ Cohere
Ottawa, ON · Vancouver, BC · Toronto, ON
Overview
Cohere is hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer in Ottawa to work directly with Canadian public sector customers on secure Generative AI deployments. The role builds features for North, Cohere's AI workspace platform, and leads end-to-end private cloud and on-premises rollouts. It requires 20-40% travel and eligibility for an Active Top Secret clearance, with full-time benefits and 6 weeks of paid vacation.
Pay:
$175,000–$385,000 a year
Responsibilities:
- Build and ship features for North AI workspace platform
- Develop autonomous agents working with sensitive enterprise data
- Work directly with Canadian public sector customers on solutions
- Lead end-to-end deployment of North in private cloud and on-premises environments
- Work across the full product lifecycle from concept to production
Requirements summary:
- Experience shipping Python in production
- Experience building RAG or agentic AI applications
- Comfort working directly with customers
- Strong coding skills across the full stack
- Ability to thrive in fast-paced, shifting priorities
- Eligibility for Active Top Secret clearance (or willingness to obtain it)
Tools & skills
Benefits mentioned
Source and dates
Employer career site / ATS feed · ashby
- Employer posting date
- 2026-09-01
- First seen by our source
- 2026-10-08
- Source record updated
- 2026-11-05
These dates describe the source record, not a live verification that the employer is still hiring. Check the original posting.
Job details
| Seniority | Mid level |
| Department | Software development |
| Hours per week | 40 (estimated) |
| Travel | air: moderate · ground: minimal |
| Work setting | Office, Client sites |
| Position | Mostly sitting |
| Physical demands | physical low · computer high |
| Languages | English |
| Security clearance | Top secret |
| Perks mentioned | Generous paid time off, Generous parental leave, Retirement plan, Wellness, Free or discounted meals, Home office allowance |
Summary and details written by AI from the posting; the employer’s posting is the authority.
Cohere
Funding & investors
Reported funding round: Series E
Investor named in the round: Schwarz Group, Bell Ventures, Bullhound Capital, Government of Canada, Inovia Capital, NVIDIA, Prosperity7 Ventures
Announcement date: · Source checked: 2026-11-02
Company announcementSaved company profile
Historical company information from a saved The Jobs API profile (LinkedIn/Crunchbase fields). It is not live-verified; figures may have changed. Missing values remain unknown.
Empowering enterprises with private, powerful AI.
Full company description
Cohere is the leading security-first enterprise AI company. We build cutting-edge foundation models and end-to-end AI products designed to solve real-world business problems. We partner closely with companies to deliver seamless integration, full customization, and easy-to-use solutions for their workforce and customers. Our all-in-one platform offers enterprises the highest levels of data security, privacy and optionality to deploy across all major cloud providers, private cloud environments, or on-premises. HQ: 171 John Street, 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON M5T 1X3
- LinkedIn followers
- 236,684
- People associated on LinkedIn
- 907
- Reported office locations
- 171 John St, 2nd Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1X3, CA
- San Francisco, California, US
- London, GB
- New York, NY, US
- Paris, FR
- Montreal, CA
- Seoul , KR
- Business categories
- Foundational AI
- Artificial Intelligence
- Software
- Generative AI
- Natural Language Processing
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Machine Learning
- Other recorded names
- Cohere
- Specialties
- Natural Language Processing
- Machine Learning
- and Artificial Intelligence
- Profile identifies a recruitment agency
- No
- Reported total investment
- 1,713,655,555
Currency and observation date were not supplied; this is not a current valuation or a funding round.
Cohere is the leading security-first enterprise AI company. We build cutting-edge foundation models and end-to-end AI products designed to solve real-world business problems. We partner closely with companies to deliver seamless integration, full customization, and easy-to-use solutions for their workforce and customers. Our all-in-one platform offers enterprises the highest levels of data security, privacy and…
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software Development |
| Company size | 201-500 employees |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Organization type | Privately Held |
| Year founded | 2019 |
| Specialties | Natural Language ProcessingMachine Learningand Artificial Intelligence |
| Open jobs on Jobsy | 79 |
| View page |
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.
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