Forward-Deployed AI Engineer: Lead Client Solutions

hedgehog lab

Manchester

Hybrid

GBP 75,000 - 105,000

Full time

39 hours ago

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Job summary

Hedgehog Lab, a UK digital product consultancy, seeks a Forward Deployed Engineer to lead early client engagements and shape architecture from day one. You’ll work directly with customer teams to define solutions, build proofs of concept, and establish pipelines that scale with delivery teams.

You’ll be in front of clients from the start, shaping ambiguous problems and delivering practical outcomes. This permanent, flexible role spans healthcare, commerce, media and education, with a strong

Qualifications

Real experience using AI agents to build production software.
Ability to break down a complicated, poorly defined problem and ship something that works.
Strong TypeScript or Python, comfortable across the full stack, with frameworks such as NestJS or FastAPI.
Experience meeting and presenting to clients directly.
Strong written communication, especially for ADRs and docs others rely on.
Experience in consulting, professional services or a forward-deployed role.
A pragmatic take on architecture, sized to POC, pilot or production.

Responsibilities

Turn customer goals into a solution architecture and technology choices.
Build proofs of concept that validate your design and hand off cleanly.
Define the agentic engineering pipeline: tooling, workflows and guardrails for AI coding agents.
Shape the quality strategy, including test approach and code review.
Make other engineers more capable, pairing on real work and leaving patterns client teams can own.
Own the architectural decision records.