Forward Deployed Engineer Leuven

Futures Works; Vlaams-Brabant; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Futures Works in Belgium seeks a Forward Deployed Engineer to bridge client needs and the core platform. You will work directly with customers across industries to uncover high-impact use cases, build vertical PoCs, and guide pilots into scalable capabilities.

You own the end-to-end cycle from business case and prototype through field validation to user adoption, collaborating with product, AI, platform, and UX/UI teams to translate field solutions into robust platform features.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in a quantitative field.
• Experience in consulting, data analysis, product implementation, AI delivery or customer-facing technical product development is advantageous.
• Strong builder with focus on outcomes, speed, quality and measurable business impact.
• Familiarity with Python is beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate closely with clients to understand workflows and industry niches.
• Translate business problems into actionable AI prototypes and build vertical PoCs.
• Ship and test vertical solutions directly with end-users in real-world environments.
• Bridge the gap between customer discovery, technical implementation and product development.
• Bring field evidence back to product and engineering teams to shape the platform roadmap.

Skills

Quantitative thinking

Problem solving

Communication

Business awareness

Education

Master's degree in a quantitative field

Tools

Python

Job description

Our client builds a sovereign AI platform designed specifically for organizations that manage sensitive data and operate under strict regulatory and security requirements. They enable enterprises to adopt artificial intelligence without relying on public AI platforms, ensuring full control over data, models, workflows, and compliance.
Designed for high-trust environments where reliability, explainability, scalability, and auditability are paramount, our client combines strong product thinking with deep technical execution. They are on a mission to build AI systems that professionals can rely on daily, moving beyond powerful technology to deliver solutions that function seamlessly in real operational environments and solve concrete business problems.

About the Role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will operate at the critical intersection where customer challenges meet product development. Working directly with clients across specific industries, you will uncover how they function, identify high-impact use cases, build vertical proofs of concept (PoCs), and collaborate with the core technical team to transition successful pilots into scalable platform capabilities.
This role thrives on a tight feedback loop rather than a traditional backlog. The successful candidate will drive rapid innovation—where an idea identified on a Monday can be live with real users by Friday. You will own this iterative cycle end-to-end: analyzing the business case, building the prototype, supporting field validation, and guiding user adoption.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Collaboration & Rapid Prototyping

• Work closely with clients to understand deeply their workflows, operational processes, and industry niches.
  
• Analyze business problems and translate them into actionable, working AI prototypes.
  
• Build, ship, and test vertical solutions directly with end-users in real-world environments.
  

Product Strategy & Scaling

• Evaluate user behavior, business value, and technical feasibility to determine which bespoke, customer-specific solutions should be integrated as repeatable platform features.
  
• Bridge the gap between customer discovery, technical implementation, and product development.
  
• Bring field evidence back to the product and engineering teams to help shape the broader platform roadmap.
  

Change Management & User Adoption

• Guide users through the transition of adopting AI, helping them understand process shifts and practical platform value.
  
• Monitor how solutions are used in practice, learning from failures and iterating quickly to improve adoption and impact.
  

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work seamlessly alongside Product Managers, AI Engineers, Platform Engineers, and UX/UI designers to translate field solutions into robust product capabilities.
  

Candidate Profile

Qualifications & Experience

• A Master's degree in Engineering, Econometrics, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related quantitative field.
  
• Experience in consulting, data analysis, product implementation, AI delivery, business engineering, or customer-facing technical product development is highly advantageous.
  
• A strong builder with an obsession for outcomes, speed, quality, and measurable business impact.
  
• Familiarity with Python is beneficial, but secondary to the ability to understand business processes, communicate clearly, and collaborate with technical teams to deliver working solutions.
  

Skills & Attributes

• Highly comfortable structuring ambiguous problems, thinking quantitatively, and debugging complex challenges.
  
• A deep curiosity for exploring new domains and understanding how industries and users truly function.
  
• Exceptional ability to separate signal from noise, ask the right questions, and pinpoint where AI creates tangible value.
  
• Resilient and agile; able to stay sharp when systems fail and learn quickly from user feedback.
  

What is Offered

• A pivotal role within a highly ambitious, focused, and hands-on team where ownership, autonomy, and product quality are central.
  
• Direct influence over how real customer problems are translated into vertical use cases and scalable platform features.
  
• A competitive salary and attractive employment conditions.
  
• The unique opportunity to shape a rapidly growing company building at the intersection of AI, infrastructure, compliance, and enterprise software.
  

Application Requirement

As part of the application process for this role, candidates will be required to submit an example of a project or product they have previously shipped (including links if available), accompanied by a brief explanation of what was built, why it was built, and what they would do differently next time. Emphasis is placed on actual delivery and impact rather than polished phrasing.