Forward Deployed Architect / Engineer – Agentic Commerce, Identity, Trust & AI Agents

Forward Deployed Architect / Engineer – Agentic Commerce, Identity, Trust & AI Agents
Contract Position
Remote (PST Hours Preferred) | Preferred Location: Phoenix, AZ
Role Overview
We are seeking a highly skilled Forward Deployed Architect / Engineer with deep expertise in AI Agent Systems, Anthropic Claude, MCP (Model Context Protocol), Identity & Access Management, Verifiable Credentials, Security, Payments, Agentic Commerce, and Cloud-Native Integrations.
This is a hybrid architecture and implementation role responsible for designing and delivering secure, scalable trust and identity solutions across AI-powered commerce ecosystems. The ideal candidate will combine hands-on engineering capabilities with solution architecture expertise to build and deploy production-grade agentic commerce solutions leveraging Anthropic Claude, MCP servers, UCP, Wallets, OAuth, Verifiable Credentials, Trust/Risk APIs, and Merchant Integrations.
You will collaborate with merchants, engineering teams, and ecosystem partners to enable secure agent-to-agent commerce interactions, trusted identity exchange, loyalty verification, payment orchestration, fraud prevention, and privacy-preserving commerce workflows.
Key Responsibilities
AI Agent & Commerce Platform Engineering
Design, build, and deploy trust, identity, and risk enforcement across AI-powered commerce ecosystems.
Evaluate and implement solutions using:
Anthropic Claude Messages API
Claude Agent SDK
Claude Managed Agents
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
Build and maintain integrations across commerce agent runtimes and merchant platforms.
Stand up, validate, and maintain commerce blueprint verticals and runtime implementations.
Build agent tooling, Claude skills/plugins, and companion developer experiences.
Maintain compatibility with upstream AI agent frameworks and reference implementations.
Identity, Trust & Security Engineering
Design and implement:
Session identity binding
Agent-to-merchant authentication
Trust decision frameworks
Approve / Deny / Step-Up workflows
Gateway verification models
Fail-open / fail-closed enforcement policies
Build secure authentication mechanisms utilizing:
OAuth 2.0
OIDC
JWT/JWS
JWKS
HTTP Message Signatures
Signed claims
Secrets management
Vault-based credentials
Implement decision logging, auditability, privacy controls, and secure outcome reporting without exposing PII.
MCP & Agent Infrastructure
Design and implement authenticated MCP servers.
Build and secure streamable HTTP MCP services.
Develop MCP integrations for Claude Managed Agents and external partner platforms.
Create authenticated gateway patterns for MCP access and tool execution.
Integrate external trust, fraud, identity, and risk decisioning services.
UCP, Wallets & Verifiable Credentials
Build solutions supporting:
Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)
Protocol-agnostic identity rails
Wallet-based identity systems
Loyalty identity portability
Design and implement:
W3C Verifiable Credential solutions
OID4VCI and OID4VP flows
SD-JWT credential exchange
DID-based identity architectures
Selective disclosure mechanisms
Prove identity and loyalty assertions while ensuring no PII leakage to AI agents.
Payment, Checkout & Commerce Trust
Design trust enforcement throughout:
Product browsing
Cart creation
Checkout processes
Payment authorization flows
Loyalty redemption journeys
Implement member pricing, inventory reservation, loyalty verification, and checkout identity controls.
Build secure loyalty-without-login architectures leveraging UCP and protocol-agnostic middleware approaches.
Cloud, Edge & Platform Engineering
Develop edge-based trust verification solutions using:
Cloudflare Workers
Edge security services
CDN-based trust enforcement patterns
Implement:
JWKS caching
Header verification
Rate limiting
Replay protection
Spoofed-header prevention
Build merchant middleware and reusable integration frameworks.
Architecture & Technical Leadership
Create:
Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)
Reference architectures
Sequence diagrams
Threat models
Security reviews
Technical design documents
Conduct architecture reviews and technical workshops with merchants and external partners.
Lead end-to-end solution design discussions with ecosystem participants, including AI, commerce, payment, wallet, and identity providers.
Documentation & Demonstrations
Produce:
Merchant integration guides
Implementation runbooks
API specifications
Technical playbooks
Demo environments
Reference implementations
Deliver technical demonstrations to merchants, partners, and executive stakeholders.
Measure implementation/adoption effort using engineering and business success metrics.
Required Qualifications
Experience
8+ years of experience in one or more of the following:
Solutions Architecture
Software Architecture
Platform Architecture
Forward Deployed Engineering
Backend Platform Engineering
Recent hands-on production experience with AI Agent systems and LLM integrations.
Strong customer-facing and partner-facing experience.
Programming & Engineering
Strong proficiency in:
Python (5+ years)
TypeScript / Node.js (5+ years)
Deep understanding of:
Async programming
Distributed systems
REST APIs
HTTP protocols
Event-driven architectures
Secure API design
Experience with:
pytest
typed Python
asyncio
Ruff
Next.js or similar frameworks
AI & Agent Ecosystem
Hands-on expertise with:
Anthropic Claude
Claude Messages API
Agent SDK
Managed Agents
Tool Calling
Prompt Engineering
Prompt Caching
Experience building production-grade tool-using AI agents.
Deep understanding of MCP architecture and secure agent-tool interactions.
Identity & Security
Strong experience with:
OAuth 2.0
OIDC
JWT / JWS
JWKS
HTTP Message Signatures
PKCE
Token validation
Replay prevention
Identity federation
Secrets management
Privacy-by-design principles
Verifiable Credentials & Wallets
Hands-on experience with:
W3C Verifiable Credentials 2.0
OID4VCI
OID4VP
SD-JWT VC
DID methods (did:web, did:key)
Wallet SDK integrations
Selective disclosure architectures
Commerce & Payments
Experience building systems involving:
E-commerce platforms
Shopping carts
Checkout systems
Loyalty programs
Payments and wallet ecosystems
Fraud prevention
Identity verification
Risk decisioning
Architecture & Security
Threat modeling expertise.
Secure software design practices.
Privacy-by-design implementation experience.
Ability to rapidly understand and extend unfamiliar systems and open-source frameworks.
Strong debugging, testing, and code review capabilities.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with:
Google UCP
OpenAI ACP
AP2
KYA frameworks
Experience with:
AWS Bedrock
Google Vertex AI
Azure AI Foundry
Knowledge of:
BBS+
Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Predicate-based credential systems
Experience with:
Cloudflare Workers
Edge computing platforms
CDN architectures
E-commerce fraud and bot management expertise.
Previous Forward Deployed Engineer, Architect, or Solutions Consultant experience.
Key Deliverables
The successful consultant will be responsible for delivering:
Agent Trust Commerce platform integrations
MCP Servers and secured gateways
UCP-based trust and loyalty implementations
Wallet and Verifiable Credential proof-of-concepts
Merchant middleware and reference applications
Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)
Reference architecture diagrams and sequence flows
Threat models and privacy assessments
Merchant integration guides and implementation playbooks
Claude skills/plugins and agent tooling
Technical demonstrations and retail commerce showcases
Test automation and verification suites
Adoption metrics and implementation success measurements
Ideal Candidate Profile
A rare combination of Solution Architect, AI Agent Engineer, Identity Architect, Security Engineer, and Commerce Platform Expert with hands-on experience building production-ready systems involving Anthropic Claude, MCP, UCP, OAuth, Verifiable Credentials, Wallets, Agentic Commerce, Trust & Risk APIs, and secure merchant integrations.

Work arrangement
Yes