Forward Deployed Engineer

Canaan Partners; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

SailPoint is hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer to bridge Solution Engineering, Professional Services, and Product teams. You will leverage AI tooling and deep implementation expertise to craft foundational solutions, drive value, and reduce services costs for large enterprise customers.

You will engage in technical discovery, lead architecture walkthroughs, and deliver AI-augmented demonstrations, collaborating across Solution Engineering, Sales, and Customer Success.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 5-7+ years in enterprise software, systems integrator, or tech consulting.
• 3+ years in hands-on software implementation, technical advisory, or pre-sales engineering.
• Proven software development, system configuration, and SaaS architecture experience.
• Knowledge of web services, app servers, relational/NoSQL databases, virtualization, LDAP/AD.
• Programming/scripting in Java, Python, SQL, PowerShell, JavaScript, TypeScript, or NodeJS.
• Strong written and verbal communication with enterprise clients.
• Ability to travel up to 15%.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery sessions and architecture walk-throughs for prospective clients.
• Deliver proof-of-value implementations and AI-enabled demonstrations.
• Collaborate with Solution Engineering and Professional Services to align customer requirements with SailPoint capabilities.
• Participate in sales opportunities and customer engagements.
• Mentor teammates and contribute reusable artifact frameworks.

Skills

Java

Python

SQL

PowerShell

JavaScript

TypeScript

NodeJS

Clear communication

Travel up to 15%

Education

Bachelor's degree in related field

Tools

Cursor

Claude Code

PyTorch

Job description

Forward Deployed Engineer

About SailPoint

SailPoint is defining the next era of identity security. Our unified, AI-powered platform seamlessly secures both the Human Fabric of your workforce and the Agentic Fabric of AI and non-human identities, completely eliminating organizational blind spots.

Built on core principles like zero-standing privilege and contextualized risk, our platform transforms identity from a vulnerability into a strategic business advantage. Today, we are trusted by some of the largest, most complex organizations in the world to deliver intelligent, autonomous identity security at scale.

About the Role

Operating at the intersection of Solution Engineering, Professional Services, and Product Management, the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) leverages state-of-the-art AI tooling alongside deep implementation expertise and industry knowledge to build foundational solutions, solve complex problems, accelerate time-to-value, and decrease the cost of traditional services. You will partner with the sales organization to apply your technical capabilities, problem-solving skills, and business acumen in support of SailPoint’s growth objectives.

About the Team

The Forward Deployed Engineering team is a high-impact, cross-functional technical group dedicated to bridging customer requirements and technical execution. Working closely with Solution Engineering, Sales, Product, Professional Services, and Customer Success, the team designs creative solutions to complex identity challenges and masters artificial intelligence and agentic workflows to drive customer success.

Roadmap for Success

30 days

• Complete comprehensive SailPoint product, architecture, and sales enablement onboarding.
• Build a foundational understanding of SailPoint SaaS solutions, core use cases, and common customer identity governance challenges.
• Set up and become proficient with internal engineering workflows, agentic coding tools, and technical demonstration environments.

60 days

• Begin actively participating in sales opportunities and customer engagements.
• Assist with foundational solution designs and proof-of-value implementations to drive rapid time-to-value.
• Partner with experienced team members to map customer technical requirements to SailPoint platform capabilities.

90 days

• Lead technical discovery sessions and product architecture walk-throughs for prospective clients.
• Independently deliver proof-of-value implementations and technical demonstrations augmented by AI tooling.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Solution Engineering and Professional Services to ensure seamless customer alignment.

6 months

• Serve as the primary technical lead on complex enterprise customer engagements.
• Establish yourself as both a consultative and technical subject matter expert within the sales organization.
• Contribute reusable agentic technology solutions and implementation artifacts to standard team demonstration frameworks.

1 year

• Act as a trusted technical advisor to enterprise customers, strategic partners, and internal team members.
• Mentor and onboard newer Forward Deployed Engineers across the team.
• Attain SailPoint Certified Engineer or Solution Architect certification.
• Represent SailPoint as a technical expert at regional user groups, webinars, or industry conferences.

Requirements

• Bachelors degree in related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 5-7+ years of professional work experience within an enterprise software company, systems integrator, or technology consulting firm.
• 3+ years of hands‑on software implementation, technical advisory, or pre‑sales engineering experience.
• Proven experience in software development, system configuration, and SaaS architecture.
• Working knowledge of core technical infrastructure, including web services, application servers, relational/NoSQL databases, virtualization, and enterprise directory services (LDAP, AD).
• Hands‑on familiarity with programming and scripting languages such as Java, Python, SQL, PowerShell, JavaScript, TypeScript, or NodeJS.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with extensive experience presenting directly to enterprise clients and partners.
• Ability to travel up to 15% as needed.

AI-assisted engineering

Our engineers are expected to use AI development tools as a core part of their daily workflow, not as a novelty. We expect you to use these tools to accelerate delivery, expand your scope, and raise the quality bar, while applying strong engineering judgment to review, validate, and own everything that ships under your name. Comfort with prompting, agentic workflows, and human‑in‑the‑loop review of AI-generated code is a baseline expectation for this role.

AI related Technology

• Cursor, Claude Code
• Python‑based AI/ML frameworks and libraries such as scikit‑learn, pandas, and numpy
• Deep Learning Frameworks such as PyTorch
• LLMs and Foundation Models in Bedrock, VertexAI, or similar

Preferred Skills

• 3+ years of experience working with Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) or Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions.
• Prior experience with SailPoint solutions or related identity platforms (e.g., Saviynt, One Identity, Oracle Identity Manager).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and enterprise applications (ServiceNow, SAP, Salesforce).
• Relevant industry certifications (such as CISSP, AWS/Azure certifications, or SailPoint certifications).

SailPoint is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome all qualified candidates to apply to join our team. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other category protected by applicable law.