Lead Forward Deployed Engineer

Jobtailor; Sydney; On-site; AUD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Avanade is seeking a senior Forward Deployed Engineer to partner with clients and Avanade Next architects to translate priorities into AI-enabled solutions.

You will define reference architectures, set engineering standards, and lead capability development while delivering production-ready architectures and delivery plans. This role requires hands-on engineering, leadership, and the ability to work across platform, IP, products, delivery, quality, value and trust leaders.

Qualifications

• Deep hands-on agentic engineering with production systems.
• Experience setting and enforcing engineering standards for teams.
• Client-facing credibility and willingness to deploy with clients.

Responsibilities

• Partner with clients and Avanade Next architects to understand priorities and translate them into AI-enabled solutions.
• Identify meaningful AI value, challenge assumptions, and shape enterprise-scale solutions.
• Convert business cases and transformation roadmaps into production-ready architectures.
• Own engineering standards for the Forward Deployed Engineer track, including architecture and delivery plans.
• Evolve AI-native engineering practices including agent-assisted development and observability.
• Define reference architectures and decision frameworks across Microsoft AI capabilities.
• Set hiring and capability-development standards for the FDE track.
• Lead the FDE career pathway and re-skilling model.
• Deploy personally on complex mandates and collaborate with platform, IP, products, delivery, and quality leaders.
• Contribute reusable patterns and delivery lessons to Avanade Next platform.

Skills

AI Engineering

Microsoft AI Stack

Engineering Standards

Client-Facing Experience

Talent Assessment and Hiring

Tools

Microsoft AI Stack

Job description

• Partner with clients and Avanade Next architects and leads to understand priorities and translate them into AI-enabled solutions
• Identify meaningful AI value, challenge assumptions, and shape commercially viable, technically feasible, enterprise-scale solutions
• Convert business cases and transformation roadmaps into production-ready architectures and delivery plans
• Own engineering standards for the Forward Deployed Engineer track, including architecture, engineering practices, testing, evaluation, production readiness and operational support
• Evolve AI-native engineering practices including agent-assisted development, automated evaluation, reusable components, observability and production operations
• Define reference architectures, solution patterns and decision frameworks across Microsoft AI capabilities
• Set hiring, assessment and capability-development standards for the FDE track
• Lead the FDE career pathway and re-skilling model
• Deploy personally on complex, strategic, at-risk or reference-critical mandates
• Collaborate with platform, IP, products, delivery, quality, value and trust leaders
• Contribute reusable patterns, architectures, engineering assets and delivery lessons to the Avanade Next platform and delivery model

Requirements

• 8+ years in software or AI engineering, with senior or lead accountability for systems that ran in production and were maintained afterwards
• Deep, current, hands-on agentic engineering: orchestration, retrieval, tool use, evaluation, observability and failure handling
• Strong command of the Microsoft AI stack; equivalent depth on another stack considered where the transfer is credible
• Experience setting and enforcing an engineering standard for a team
• Experience assessing and hiring engineers at volume and at pace, with a defensible bar
• Client-facing credibility and willingness to deploy directly with clients
• Comfortable building a capability where many practitioners arrive through internal transfer and require re-skilling
• Australian Citizens are preferred; Permanent Residents will also be considered

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in AI Engineering and architecture, with a strong command of the Microsoft AI stack and experience in developing production-ready solutions. Proven ability to lead engineering standards, assess and hire talent, and collaborate effectively with clients and cross-functional teams.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• AI Engineering
• Microsoft AI Stack
• Engineering Standards
• Client-Facing Experience
• Talent Assessment and Hiring

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Software Engineering
• Agentic Engineering
• Orchestration
• Tool Use
• Evaluation
• Observability
• Failure Handling
• Production Readiness
• Architecture Design
• Delivery Planning

Soft Skills

• Client Collaboration
• Leadership
• Capability Development
• Communication

Industry Keywords

• Enterprise-Scale Solutions
• Transformation Roadmaps
• Engineering Practices
• Reusable Components
• Operational Support
• Hiring Standards
• Re-Skilling Model