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Before hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), define what you need the engineer to build and deliver. A SaaS or AI company may need a specialist to implement its product in a customer's environment. Another company may hire an FDE for its internal team to build AI solutions, integrations, or other complex systems. The title may be the same, but the experience each role requires can differ.
To assess a candidate's fit, look at what they have built, who they worked with, and their responsibility for taking a solution from initial requirements through production deployment. Customer-facing experience may be essential for one position, while another requires a deeper understanding of internal business processes.
This guide covers how to hire a forward deployed engineer, from defining the role and finding candidates to evaluating their skills and choosing a hiring model.
Hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer makes sense when the work requires both hands-on engineering and close collaboration with the people using the solution. For software and AI providers, this often means adapting and deploying products for customers. Other companies need an FDE to work with internal engineering and business teams on AI projects, integrations, or new systems.
Consider a software provider that needs to connect its platform to an enterprise customer's existing systems. Each integration may involve different APIs, data structures, and security requirements. An FDE works with the customer's technical team to address these differences and get the solution running.
At Serval, an AI platform for IT teams, FDEs have built more than 60 third-party integrations. Their work has also helped shape product features based on the needs of enterprise customers.
An FDE can also take on custom implementations that would otherwise pull core engineers away from product development. The engineer handles deployments and integration issues, while identifying components that can be reused across implementations.
The role can also suit companies implementing technology internally. A business introducing an AI assistant across departments, for instance, may need an engineer to connect internal data sources, adapt workflows, and coordinate with stakeholders. The engineer must also prepare the system for production deployment and address issues that emerge in everyday use.
If your team primarily needs to develop standard product features, a software engineer may be a better choice. If the work involves configuring an existing product or helping customers get started, an implementation specialist may be enough. For internal projects, ask whether you need an engineer to build and deploy complex solutions across teams or simply more software development capacity.
Tiffany Siu, Head of Talent at First Round, shared an example in First Round Review of a founder who initially wanted to hire an FDE. After discussing the day-to-day responsibilities, they realized the company needed an implementation lead. The work focused on repeatable deployments and collaboration with sales, rather than building or extending the product.
Before opening the position, outline the day-to-day work: how much coding it involves, whether the engineer will work with customers or internal teams, and who will maintain the solution after launch. Use these responsibilities to choose the role and write the job description.
What to look for in a Forward Deployed Engineer depends on the work you need them to do. AI deployments may require experience with LLM applications and production systems. For a role connecting internal tools and platforms, knowledge of APIs, databases, and existing infrastructure may matter more.
Alongside technical expertise, assess how candidates clarify requirements, work with different teams, and take responsibility when delivery becomes difficult.
A Forward Deployed Engineer needs practical software engineering experience and the ability to work with existing systems. Depending on the project, the work may involve backend development, API integrations, cloud infrastructure, or data engineering.
Look for candidates who have built and maintained systems similar to yours. Ask about the technical challenges they encountered, how they resolved them, and what happened after deployment.
For example, if you need an engineer to connect software to enterprise systems, experience with REST APIs alone may not be enough. The candidate should also understand authentication, data synchronization, error handling, and how to keep integrations reliable.
FDEs work directly with the people who will use the solution, whether that's an external customer or an internal business team. They need to understand the business problem behind a request and explain technical decisions in terms that stakeholders can understand.
Ramp's engineering team shared an example of a customer who requested a feature that would have taken around three days to build. After discussing the problem with the customer, the FDE team found a workaround that required no additional development.
Ask candidates about a time they proposed a different approach to the original request. Find out how they identified the business need, explained their recommendation, and decided what to build.
An FDE needs to take a solution beyond a working prototype. They should understand how to deploy it, keep it reliable, and resolve problems once people start using it.
Look at how candidates have handled testing, production deployment, monitoring, and maintenance in previous projects. Ask about production issues they have resolved and improvements they made after launch.
For AI-focused roles, ask how candidates evaluated model performance, handled unreliable outputs, and monitored AI systems in real workflows. Establish which of these tasks they owned after the initial deployment.
Finding qualified Forward Deployed Engineers often means looking beyond the job title. Engineers in software engineering, solutions engineering, or technical consulting roles may already have relevant experience.
For example, OpenAI's Healthcare FDE job description considers candidates with backgrounds in software engineering, ML/AI engineering, solutions engineering, and technical consulting. Previous experience with the FDE title is not required.
On LinkedIn, search for relevant project experience as well as the Forward Deployed Engineer title.
A software engineer who has led enterprise integrations or worked closely with internal business teams may have the experience you need. The same applies to solutions architects with hands-on coding skills and technical consultants who have built and deployed production systems.
Look for engineers who have delivered complex integrations, AI deployments, or software projects involving multiple teams. Review their contributions and delivery responsibilities, even if their previous titles did not include FDE.
Your engineering team may already know people with the skills you're looking for. Colleagues, former teammates, and technical partners can recommend engineers they've worked with on similar projects.
Technical conferences, engineering communities, and open-source projects can also introduce you to engineers who may not appear in a search for FDE titles.
Use technical articles and open-source contributions to explore a candidate's engineering knowledge, then assess their production experience separately.
A specialized hiring partner can be useful when your team has limited recruiting capacity or needs an engineer with a particular technical background.
Before choosing a partner, ask how they assess technical skills, stakeholder collaboration, engineering decisions, and production delivery.
Request examples of candidates' previous projects and individual contributions so you can assess the experience behind the skills listed on a CV.
Looking for qualified Forward Deployed Engineers?
Explore vetted FDE profiles at Olive Systems.
An FDE interview should establish how a candidate approaches engineering problems, works with customers or internal teams, and makes technical decisions. It should also show what they have personally delivered and how they handled responsibility after launch.
Combine a discussion of previous projects with a realistic problem-solving scenario and a hands-on technical assessment. Evaluate collaboration and ownership throughout the process.
Ask candidates to describe a project they personally delivered, preferably one involving complex requirements, integrations, or production deployment.
A good starting question is:
"Tell me about a project where you worked directly with a customer or business team to build or implement a technical solution. What was the problem, and what did you personally contribute?"
Follow up on the technical details. Why did they choose that architecture? What went wrong during development? How did they respond when requirements changed?
Establish which decisions and implementation tasks the candidate handled personally. If they describe only the team's achievements, ask them to walk through their own contribution.
Shilpa Balaji, former FDE recruiting lead at Palantir, explained in First Round Review how the company used open-ended business problems in FDE interviews. Candidates were expected to identify relevant data, ask questions, and develop a technical approach rather than simply solve a predefined coding problem.
Build a similar exercise around the systems your engineer will work with.
For example, imagine an AI document processing platform that needs to connect to a CRM and several internal databases. A software provider might deploy it for an enterprise customer. An internal FDE might implement it across departments with different workflows and security requirements.
Ask the candidate how they would approach the project from initial discovery through deployment.
Pay attention to the questions they ask before proposing a solution. Do they investigate existing APIs, data volumes, security restrictions, and business requirements? Can they explain how they would test the integration, handle errors, and prepare it for production?
If a candidate proposes an architecture before asking about the environment, probe their assumptions. Find out what information they would need before committing to that approach.
Include a hands-on technical assessment that reflects the engineering work the candidate would perform. A discussion alone does not establish whether they can implement their proposed solution.
For a role focused on systems integration, you might use a task involving data synchronization between two applications. The candidate should explain or demonstrate how they would handle API failures, duplicate records, and inconsistent data.
For an AI-focused position, use an exercise involving model outputs or a failing AI workflow. Ask the candidate to investigate the issue, propose a fix, and explain how they would evaluate and monitor it in production.
Assess whether the candidate can implement a workable solution, explain technical trade-offs, and adapt to the constraints of your environment.
Customer collaboration matters in external deployments, while internal FDEs need the same ability to work with business teams. In either setting, assess how candidates manage expectations, explain technical limitations, and respond to changing requirements.
One useful interview question is:
"Tell me about a time when a customer or stakeholder requested something you believed was technically unsuitable. How did you handle the situation, and what was the outcome?"
Listen for how the engineer clarified the business need, explained the limitation, and agreed on a practical next step.
Discuss what happened after the project went live. Did the candidate monitor the system, resolve production issues, or make improvements after launch?
Use the same evaluation criteria across interviews so your team can compare candidates consistently.
Assess production experience, hands-on engineering, business understanding, systems integration, customer collaboration, and end-to-end ownership.
Weight each area according to the position. An FDE working on AI implementations may need more experience with model evaluation and production reliability. Enterprise integration work may require deeper knowledge of APIs, data synchronization, and existing infrastructure.
For each area, record examples of the candidate's technical decisions, individual contributions, and delivery responsibilities. These notes give your hiring team a concrete basis for comparison.
Want to understand how these skills are assessed in practice?
See how Olive Systems vets Forward Deployed Engineers
Unclear responsibilities can make it difficult for even a technically strong FDE to succeed. Watch for these common mistakes when hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer.
Some companies expect an FDE to handle sales demonstrations, customer onboarding, technical support, and complex software development. Others want one engineer to manage an entire internal AI rollout.
These responsibilities can quickly compete for time. An FDE who spends most of the week responding to support requests has less time to build integrations or deliver new solutions.
Decide which tasks require hands-on engineering and which can be handled by your product, IT, operations, sales, or customer success teams. The job description should reflect those priorities.
Experience with your technology stack is valuable, but FDEs frequently encounter systems and tools they haven't worked with before.
An engineer who knows your preferred framework may still struggle with unfamiliar infrastructure, poorly documented APIs, or unexpected integration requirements.
Ask candidates how they approached unfamiliar technologies in previous projects: what they needed to learn, where they got stuck, and how they resolved the problem. Use those examples alongside their knowledge of your stack.
An FDE may develop an integration for one customer or internal team, only to face a similar request on another project a few months later.
Building a separate solution each time can create unnecessary maintenance work and leave your company supporting several versions of similar code.
Ask candidates how they decide what needs custom development and what can use existing components. Discuss how they would fit new integrations into your architecture and identify opportunities for reuse.
Once a solution goes live, someone needs to monitor it, resolve production issues, and maintain the code.
Problems arise when an FDE moves to the next project without a clear handover to the engineer or team responsible for ongoing support.
Before development begins, establish who will support the solution after deployment. Depending on the project, the FDE may remain responsible for maintenance or hand over the system to your internal engineering team.
Some FDE positions require regular visits to customer locations. Others involve remote collaboration with internal teams across several time zones.
Security restrictions and access to sensitive systems may also influence the working arrangement.
Discuss these expectations early in the hiring process. Candidates should understand any travel requirements, expected availability, and restrictions that could affect their ability to work on the project.
Choose an FDE hiring model based on how long you need the engineer, who will manage the work, and whether you plan to build a permanent team.
Direct hire suits an ongoing role within your team. It makes sense when you expect a steady need for FDE work and want to retain that experience in the business.
Contract-to-hire lets you work with an FDE before deciding on permanent employment. Agree on the initial scope, evaluation period, and conversion terms before the engagement begins.
A managed FDE model adds engineering capacity through an external partner. Clarify how the partner will support the engagement and which delivery and management responsibilities remain with your team.
For a permanent FDE function, consider direct hire. If you want to evaluate the working relationship before making a permanent offer, consider contract-to-hire. A managed FDE arrangement may suit work you plan to resource through an external partner.
Compare the full cost of each option, including recruitment, onboarding, compensation or contract fees, and your team's management time.
Before making a decision, clarify who will set priorities, maintain the code, and take responsibility for the solution after the engineer's involvement ends.
At Olive Systems, we help companies hire vetted Forward Deployed Engineers for AI deployments, complex integrations, and custom software implementations. We work with companies deploying products for customers and those building solutions for their internal teams.
Our vetting process covers production experience, hands-on engineering, business understanding, systems integration, collaboration skills, and end-to-end ownership. We assess candidates against the skills and experience your role requires.
