Director, Forward Deployed Engineer

A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) is a hands‑on technical professional who sits close to clients and close to product/engineering teams and within the business. The role bridges solution architecture, engineering, and client delivery—deploying, adapting, and operationalizing complex technical solutions (often AI, data or platform‑driven) in real client environments. 

In AI‑enabled managed services, FDEs are positioned to: 

• Embed AI capabilities into client operations 

• Stand up point‑in‑time or always‑on AI services 

• Customize “platform + services” offerings at scale for the services being engaged 

• Accelerate value realization post‑sale 
   

The individual gets deployed primarily during the onboarding process and thereafter stays engaged through the client lifecycle as needed to optimize the managed services engagement model. This sustained involvement helps accelerate time-to-value, improve adoption and operational outcomes, and ultimately increases client lifetime value. 

The individuals need to be able to talk to CTOs, CFOs, CIOs or their representatives. Strong business acumen, business process understanding, and critical thinking skills are essential to connect technical decisions to measurable outcomes and value creation. 

Responsibilities: 

Client‑Facing Solution Deployment 

• Work directly with client stakeholders (technical and business) to optimize current client environments and/or implement solutions in live environments. 

• Translate ambiguous business problems into deployable technical architectures and solutions. 

• Customize, configure, and extend platforms to meet client‑specific requirements. 

• Troubleshoot production issues and optimize performance post‑deployment. 

Engineering & Technical Execution 

• Write production‑quality code, scripts, and integrations (Python, SQL, APIs, cloud services). 

• Build proofs‑of‑concept and evolve them into scalable implementations. 

• Integrate client systems (ERP, finance, data platforms, cloud infrastructure). 

• Work with clients to ensure solutions meet security, compliance and reliability requirements. 

Product & Platform Feedback Loop 

• Act as a conduit between clients and internal product/engineering teams. 

• Provide structured feedback on feature gaps, usability issues, and scalability constraints. 

• Influence product roadmap based on real‑world deployment learnings. 

Managed Services Lifecycle (Outsourced & Co‑Sourced) 

Embed throughout transition-to-run and steady-state operations to optimize delivery, accelerate time-to-value, and drive measurable outcomes (adoption, reliability, cost-to-serve)—ultimately increasing client lifetime value. 

• Own transition-to-run (handoff + stabilization) with defined hypercare window and exit criteria (SLO attainment, runbooks complete, monitoring/alerting live, knowledge transfer signed off). 

• Operate an ongoing change/enhancement intake: shape requests into deployable backlog items (sizing, dependencies, risk/impact) and coordinate release readiness with delivery teams. 

• Work with Service Integration to identify Continuous Service Improvement (CSI) items to maintain a recurring optimization plan tied to outcomes (automation opportunities, defect reduction, performance improvements, cost-to-serve reduction). 

• Support renewal and expansion motions with an executive-ready technical narrative backed by evidence (adoption, reliability, automation ROI, realized business value). 

Outsourced solutions (RSM runs operations) 

• Partner with service delivery leadership to manage service performance (SLA/OLA attainment plans, incident trends, problem management/root-cause analysis, prevention engineering). 

• Build and maintain runbooks, automations, and guardrails that standardize delivery and improve scalability (reduce hero-dependency). 

• Continuously improve observability (dashboards, alert thresholds, key health metrics) to detect issues early and shorten mean time to restore. 

Co‑sourced solutions (shared operations with client) 

• Define and maintain the joint operating model (RACI, integration points, escalation paths, change/release responsibilities) so shared delivery is predictable. 

• Run enablement and knowledge transfer as an ongoing motion (playbooks, office hours, paired troubleshooting) to upskill client teams and sustain outcomes. 

• Establish shared telemetry (dashboards and outcome metrics) so both sides manage performance, adoption, and continuous improvement with the same facts. 

Governance & client lifecycle engagement 

• Participate in onboarding checkpoints, monthly service reviews, and QBRs to align technical roadmap and operational performance to business outcomes. 

• Own or maintain key technical artifacts as a single source of truth (architecture decisions, integration maps, dependency register, operational risk log entries). 

• Provide early risk/health signals and mitigation plans ahead of renewals to protect and grow client lifetime value. 

Cross‑Functional Collaboration 

• Partner with solution architects, data scientists, service owners and delivery leads. 

• Support pre‑sales, pilot phases and client transition, where deep technical credibility is required. 

• Document deployment patterns, best practices, and reusable assets. 

Required Skills & Experience:

Technical 

• Strong software engineering fundamentals. 

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP). 

• Data engineering, analytics, or AI/ML deployment experience (common but not universal). 

• APIs, system integrations, and automation. 

• Ability to operate in partially defined, fast‑changing environments. 

• Work with Information Security team to ensure security is not compromised and pen testing is applied as needed. 

Client & Consulting 

• Ability to explain complex technical concepts to non‑technical stakeholders. 

• Strong problem‑solving in ambiguous, real‑world client scenarios. 

• Executive‑ready communication when needed; hands‑on execution always. 

• Business acumen and business process understanding to translate client objectives into workable operating models and solution requirements. 

• Strong critical thinking skills to diagnose root causes, evaluate tradeoffs, and make sound decisions in ambiguous environments. 

• Comfort traveling or embedding with client teams.