Luminai
1 open Forward Deployed Engineer role at Luminai. Curated with comp bands.
Comp on the board: $190K–$270K.
On the board since Aug 2026 · still hiring
Our take
Why Luminai
A rare management-track FDE seat at a freshly funded ($38M Series B, April 2026) healthcare-ops automation startup — you lead a delivery pod embedding in health systems, not just ship solo.
- FDE type
- True forward-deployed
- Travel
- Medium
- Comp
- Competitive
- Stage
- Growth-stage
A good fit if you're…
- Senior FDEs ready to lead a delivery pod, not just ship solo
- Engineers drawn to healthcare operations — revenue cycle, prior auth, compliance — as the problem space
- People who want field-driven influence over product direction at a Series-B startup
- Python / backend-systems engineers comfortable owning production deployments end-to-end
The healthcare-ops automation bet
Luminai (YC S20) builds an AI-native automation platform for health-system back offices — the manual coordination layer behind patient access, revenue cycle, prior authorization and compliance. CEO Kesava Kirupa Dinakaran frames administrative work as up to 25% of US healthcare spending. The FDE's job is to turn that thesis into live automations inside a hospital or payer's own systems of record.
What the FDE Team Lead actually owns
This is genuine embed-and-automate work with a management wrapper: you lead a pod of forward-deployed engineers who sit with customers, map messy multi-step workflows, and ship AI solutions to production. Management-track FDE seats are still rare on the board, so the role is as much about delivery leadership and customer relationships as it is about hands-on code.
Comp & leveling
The board lists $190K–$270K for the Team Lead seat; the standard IC FDE role posts $150K–$220K. Both are competitive for a growth-stage startup, with the Team Lead premium reflecting leadership scope over pure IC output. Equity is pre-IPO and not published on the listing — ask for the band and strike price early in the process.
The $38M Series B and who's behind it
In April 2026 Luminai raised a $38M Series B led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India/SEA), bringing total funding to roughly $60M, with Define Ventures, General Catalyst and Y Combinator participating. The team pulls from Palantir, Cruise, Google, Coinbase, Brex, Epic and Banner Health — a mix of deployment-heavy tech and healthcare-native operators.
Where you'll sit
Roles are in-office four days a week in San Francisco or New York (Wednesday optional WFH), with the team split across NYC and the SF Bay / San Mateo area. Travel is medium — you embed with health-system customers, so expect on-site time, but this isn't a road-warrior seat. US work authorization is required.
Who thrives, and who bounces
Thrives: senior engineers who want to lead delivery, like regulated healthcare problem spaces, and want their field learnings to steer the roadmap. Bounces: engineers chasing pure research or frontier-model work, or anyone wanting fully remote — this role lives close to the customer's operations and in one of two offices.
Questions candidates ask
Is the Luminai FDE a management role?
The Team Lead seat is — you lead a pod of forward-deployed engineers embedding with customers. Luminai also posts a standard IC FDE role (3–10+ years) for engineers who want the embed work without the leadership scope.
What does Luminai actually automate?
Long-form, org-wide workflows in health-system operations — patient access, revenue cycle, prior authorization and compliance — the manual coordination that sits between systems of record.
Is it remote?
No. FDE roles are in-office four days a week in San Francisco or New York, with a medium level of travel to embed with customers.
How well-funded is it?
As of April 2026, roughly $60M total, including a $38M Series B led by Peak XV Partners — growth-stage rather than seed-scrappy, with equity still pre-IPO.
Analysis updated 2026-09-22
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