Forward deployed engineers, vetted on shipped work.
FastFDE finds, vets and places forward deployed engineers: the people who work inside your team, on your systems and data, and stay until the system works in your environment. We also place the AI, data, cloud, software and security engineers around them.
Why FDEs are hard to hire
Every enterprise AI program now needs the same rare engineer: one who can ship production code and sit with the people who will use it.
Demand is outrunning supply
AWS, Salesforce, OpenAI and Anthropic are all building forward deployed teams. Every enterprise AI program is now competing for the same small pool of engineers.
The job is half engineering, half customer
An FDE writes production code on a customer's own infrastructure and works side by side with the people who will use it. Few engineers have done both, and job descriptions rarely say so.
General recruiters miss the signal
A strong FDE looks different on paper from a strong product engineer. Screening for the wrong things is how roles stay open for months.
Most AI projects stop at the proof of concept
IDC found most AI proofs of concept never reach wide deployment. The gap is usually integration, data access and adoption: the work forward deployed engineers exist to do.
rise in forward deployed engineer job postings in January to August 2026, against the same months of 2025.
Lightcast data, via Fortune, September 2026
median advertised salary for a forward deployed engineer.
Lightcast data, via Fortune, September 2026
committed by AWS to its own forward deployed engineering organization.
About Amazon, June 2026
of AI proofs of concept observed did not make the cut to widescale deployment.
IDC and Lenovo, via CIO.com, March 2025
Third-party figures; each is the publisher's own. Sources and context are in how to hire a forward deployed engineer, what is a forward deployed engineer and why most enterprise AI never reaches wide use.
Who hires FDEs
Three kinds of team hire FDEs
The work is the same: get AI running inside a real environment. The situation you are in changes what you need.
Software and AI vendors
Your product has to run inside each customer's environment, with their data and their security team. Add engineers who can do that work without a long hiring plan.
Enterprises deploying AI
You have the use case and the budget, but not the engineers who can get it running on your systems and data.
Consultancies and integrators
Your program needs FDE skills your bench does not have yet. Add specialists who can work under your delivery lead.
Roles we place
The forward deployed roles enterprises are hiring for
One specialist, or a small team led by a deployment strategist.
Forward Deployed Engineer
Builds and ships AI applications and agents inside your systems.
About this roleForward Deployed AI Engineer
Makes model behavior reliable in production: evaluation, retrieval, guardrails.
About this roleForward Deployed Data Engineer
Gets your data into a state AI can use: pipelines, quality, access.
About this roleForward Deployed Infrastructure Engineer
Deploys and runs AI platforms in hard environments: private, on-premises, regulated.
About this roleDeployment Strategist
Finds the problem worth solving, sets the measure, and drives adoption.
About this roleFDE Hubs
A deployment strategist with a small team of engineers, working as one unit.
About this roleTechnical staffing
And the engineers around them
AI and ML, data, cloud and DevOps, software and security engineers, placed the same way: vetted on shipped work.
AI and ML engineers
Machine learning, LLM applications and MLOps, for teams building AI into their products and operations.
Roles and skillsData engineers
Pipelines, warehouses and analytics engineering, so your data is ready for reporting and AI.
Roles and skillsCloud and DevOps engineers
Cloud platforms, infrastructure as code, CI/CD and reliability, on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
Roles and skillsSoftware engineers
Backend, full-stack and integration engineers who ship production software with your team.
Roles and skillsSecurity engineers
Cloud, application and identity security engineers who build security into delivery.
Roles and skillsHow it works
From your brief to an engineer in your team
Four steps, run by people who understand what forward deployed work involves.
- 1BriefTell us the problem
Not only the job description: the problem, where the data lives, the systems involved and what is blocking you.
- 2MatchWe match the engineers
People who understand FDE work read the brief and match engineers whose shipped work fits the problem.
- 3InterviewYou meet the shortlist
You interview the engineers on your actual problem. You decide who joins your team.
- 4StartThey start in your team
In your environment, with your tools and your data. We stay in touch through the first weeks.
Hiring options
Hire the way that fits the work
Contract
An FDE embedded in your team for the length of the work. Best when you have a defined program and need the skills now, without adding headcount.
- You direct the work day to day
- Billed for time worked
- Extend or end as the work changes
Contract to hire
Start on contract, then hire the engineer onto your team. Best when you want a permanent forward deployed capability and want to see the fit first.
- Work together before committing
- Conversion terms agreed up front
- Keeps the knowledge in house
Direct hire
We find the engineer. You employ them from day one. Best when you are building an FDE team of your own and need help finding the people.
- Your employee from the first day
- One placement fee
- We run the search and first screens
FDE hub
A deployment strategist and a small team of engineers. Best when the work needs business and engineering skills at once, with one point of accountability.
- Strategist plus two or more engineers
- Sized to the problem
- One team, one plan
How we vet
We test for the job an FDE actually does
Forward deployed work is part engineering and part customer work. Our vetting checks both.
Shipped-work review
Every engineer walks us through something they put into production for a customer or user: what was hard, what broke, and what they would change. Titles and badge counts do not substitute for this.
A realistic problem
A working session on a problem that looks like FDE work: unclear scope, imperfect data, a system to integrate with. We watch how they find the real problem, not whether they know a trick.
A customer conversation
FDEs spend half their time with people who are not engineers. Each candidate explains a technical trade-off to a non-technical stakeholder, and we judge whether that person would trust them.
References that match the claim
We check references with people the engineer actually deployed with, about the work they described.
Industries
FDEs who already speak your industry's language
Energy and utilities
FDEs who can work with operational data from control systems, historians and field assets.
ExploreManufacturing
FDEs who can work on a plant floor: production, quality, maintenance and supply.
ExploreFinancial services
FDEs for regulated work, where every decision may be examined.
ExploreHealthcare
FDEs who understand clinical, claims and operational data, and the rules around it.
ExploreWhat you can expect
Four commitments behind every placement
One specialty
We only place forward deployed roles, and our vetting is built for that work specifically.
Vetted on shipped work
What someone put into production tells you more than where they worked or what certificates they hold.
Your policies apply
Our engineers work inside your security policies and access controls, on your systems, under your NDAs.
The knowledge stays with you
Code in your repositories and documentation your team has used, so nothing leaves when an engineer does.
For engineers
Do forward deployed work? Get placed where it matters.
We place engineers and deployment strategists with enterprises putting AI into production: on contract, contract to hire, or in permanent roles.
Insights
Guides for hiring and working with FDEs
What is a forward deployed engineer?
Where the role came from, how it differs from similar roles, and when an enterprise needs one.
Read Guide · 2 min readHow to hire a forward deployed engineer
What to look for, how to interview for it, and the mistakes that leave FDE roles open for months.
Read Playbook · 2 min readOnboarding a forward deployed engineer
What to have ready before day one, so a new FDE spends the first weeks building, not waiting.
ReadHire FDEs
Tell us the problem. We will match the engineers.
Someone who understands forward deployed work reads every brief and replies with a view on the engineers you need, how many, and the hiring option that fits.