Titlesby GlyphForward Deployed Engineer job title trend since Apr 2011
Engineering · Emerging · in 4.8% of HN hiring posts · 437 open roles at 95 companies · median $216k
An engineer who ships software inside a customer's environment, part builder and part consultant; Palantir coined it, AI labs made it common.
first seen Dec 2009, job boardtook off Nov 2025
Why it exists
Written from the sources below
Palantir used the title for engineers it embedded with customers by 2009. It spread when AI startups and labs needed engineers inside enterprise customers to turn general models into working deployments, trading software margins for adoption. By 2026 the big AI labs and clouds were hiring for it at scale.
- EssayTrading Margin for Moat: Why the Forward Deployed Engineer Is the Hottest Job in StartupsAndreessen Horowitz, Jun 2025 · backs: AI startups trade software margins for customer adoption with FDEs
- DefinedForward deployed engineerWikipedia, 2026 · backs: Palantir used the title by 2009; AI labs and clouds formed FDE groups in 2026
- NewsForward deployed engineer is AI's hottest job as OpenAI and Google race to hireThe New Stack, May 2026 · backs: OpenAI and Google hiring FDEs at scale
Where it is posted
Sectors
- Data platform180
- AI lab58
- AI application30
- AI infrastructure29
- AI data15
- Infrastructure9
- Developer tools7
- Software6
Cities
- New York70
- San Francisco66
- London, United Kingdom37
- Washington29
- Palo Alto13
- Chicago13
- Munich, Germany12
- Seattle10
- Singapore10
- Tokyo, Japan10
Countries and remote
- United States258
- United Kingdom42
- Germany16
- India13
- Japan11
- Singapore10
- Australia10
- South Korea10
- Canada9
- France8
Remote option31%
Posted pay
Middle half $196k to $243k, median $216k from 218 postings that state a base range (USD a year).
Pay by level and city on SalariesWho is hiring for it
Open postings on their own job boards, read 5h ago| # | Company | Open roles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 116 | ||
| 2 | 52 | ||
| 3 | 37 | ||
| 4 | 15 | ||
| 5 | 13 | ||
| 6 | 13 | ||
| 7 | 8 | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||
| 9 | 8 | ||
| 10 | 7 | ||
| 11 | Anduril IndustriesA company hiring most for Systems Engineer and Test Engineer. | 6 | |
| 12 | 5 |
Open roles
8 of 437; company pages list the restSr. Forward Deployed Engineer - Public Sector
Alabama; Berkeley, California; Connecticut; Kansas City, Missouri; Maryland; New Hampshire; New Jersey; North Carolina; Remote - California; Remote - Colorado;
| Role | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), Life Sciences - NYC | New York City | $185k to $300k | |
| Forward Deployed Software Engineer, JBLM (Active Clearance)Anduril IndustriesRemote$166k to $253k | Anduril Industries | Remote | $166k to $253k |
| Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer - Public Sector | Alabama; Berkeley, California; Connecticut; Kansas City, Missouri; Maryland; New Hampshire; New Jersey; North Carolina; Remote - California; Remote - Colorado; | $182k to $250k | |
| Forward Deployed Engineer - AI/ML Platforms | San Francisco | $250k to $275k | |
| Forward Deployed Engineer | San Francisco, California | $180k to $237k | |
| Forward Deployed Engineer, GTMKongCalifornia, United States$125k to $179k | Kong | California, United States | $125k to $179k |
| Forward Deployed Engineer, Inference | United States | $240k to $415k | |
| Forward Deployed Software Engineer - Germany Forward Deployed | Washington, D.C. | $135k to $200k |
Lineage
customer-facing like a solutions engineer, but ships code in the customer's environment · source
Share of Hacker News hiring posts
222 posts since Apr 2011 · +82% in 6 monthsNovember 2026 9 of 207 postings, 4.3%
Related titles
Solutions EngineerThe technical half of a sale: demos, proofs of concept and integration help.1.9% of HN posts, 12 mo · 918 open · $200k median · since Jul 2011AI EngineerA software engineer who builds products on top of models rather than training them.6.4% of HN posts, 12 mo · 244 open · $240k median · since Jun 2011Applied AI EngineerTurns frontier models into working products for specific customers or use cases.1.1% of HN posts, 12 mo · 78 open · $265k median · since Sep 2017Full Stack EngineerWorks across the browser, the API and the database; the default startup hire.16% of HN posts, 12 mo · 294 open · $196k median · since Apr 2011Product EngineerA full-stack engineer who owns product decisions too, not just tickets.7.8% of HN posts, 12 mo · 109 open · $220k median · since May 2011Founding EngineerOne of a startup's first engineers, usually with equity and a wide remit.5.9% of HN posts, 12 mo · 25 open · $194k median · since Jul 2011
About this title
An engineer who ships software inside a customer's environment, part builder and part consultant; Palantir coined it, AI labs made it common.
Also counted: FDE, forward deployed, deployed engineer
First sighting
...areas of the global economy. Current openings: -Engineer -Forward Deployed Engineer -Interaction Designer -Visual Designer -System Admin -PM -QA...
Median posted salary $216k from 218 postings that state a base pay range (the median of their midpoints, USD a year). Not a survey of what people earn.