Home·Specialisms·Forward Deployed Engineering
06 / Discipline - Specialist Search
Engineers who sit between your product and your customers - common in AI-native and enterprise SaaS deployments.
What We Place
Where The Talent Sits
How We Run The Search
90 minute working session. Scorecard signed off before any outreach.
Direct outreach across APAC, EMEA and US. 200-400 named engineers per mandate.
3-5 calibrated candidates, each with a one-page technical memo.
Pre-closed comp, counter-offer coaching, replacement guarantee.
Recent Forward Deployed Searches
Indicative samples drawn from recent and active mandates. Specific clients available under NDA on request.
Common questions
Forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) sit between your product and your customers. They embed into customer environments, ship integrations, and often act as the technical voice in commercial conversations. Common in AI-native and enterprise SaaS deployments.
AI-native startups (think Palantir-style customer engineering), enterprise SaaS with deep technical integrations, and platform companies entering complex enterprise customers all use the FDE pattern.
Solutions and sales engineers are pre-sale; FDEs are post-sale and embedded. FDEs typically write production code, ship customer-facing features, and own technical outcomes inside customer environments. Title varies: forward-deployed engineer, customer engineer, deployment strategist.
FDEs in Sydney sit at AUD 180-240k base for 2026, base only, 25th-75th percentile of accepted offers, with principal-level FDEs at AUD 240-280k. The market is thin; deep candidate networks matter more than usual.
Yes. Heads of forward-deployed engineering, FDE leads and engineering directors with FDE backgrounds are placed regularly, often for AI-native startups scaling enterprise GTM.
Production engineering depth plus customer-facing judgement. The strongest FDEs we place are former senior software or ML engineers who have run customer-embedded projects, not solutions engineers trying to move post-sale.
Genuinely thin. The title only consolidated around 2023-24, so most qualified candidates carry other titles. Searches rely on network reach and profile translation rather than keyword sourcing - which is why generalist recruiters struggle with FDE briefs.
Yes, typically 10-20 per cent above like-for-like software bands, reflecting the dual skill set and scarcity. AI-native scale-ups also structure meaningful equity into FDE offers because the role directly drives revenue retention.
Most close inside the 21-day median, but the search shape differs: shortlists are smaller (3-4 calibrated profiles rather than 5-6) because the qualifying pool is smaller. The 72-hour shortlist commitment still holds.
Submit a brief
30 minute working session. No fee until placement. Replacement inside 90 days.