Forward deployed engineer - M&A group

IFS; Staines-upon-Thames; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

IFS is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer to bring AI into real business operations. The role sits between engineering, consulting and business change, delivering production AI solutions for the M&A group and integrated with existing systems.

You will prototype quickly, connect to systems, and scale implementations with governance and security in mind, collaborating with stakeholders to define value and outcomes.

Qualifications

• In-depth expertise in AI/software engineering with data, cloud and security context.
• Experience shipping at least one production system and measuring its impact.
• Experience building an LLM application used by real users.
• Experience with API integrations between AI platforms and enterprise systems.
• Python backend (FastAPI or similar), React/TypeScript, SQL, one cloud (Azure preferred), IaC and CI/CD.
• Ability to work independently on non-routine problems and communicate clearly.

Responsibilities

• Deliver AI projects from discovery through design, build, deployment, verification, training and support.
• Collaborate with business and technical stakeholders to identify AI use cases.
• Build integrations connecting AI platforms to apps, APIs and data sources.
• Ship AI features with tested outputs and documented models.
• Train users and support adoption; measure results against objectives.
• Provide guidance to junior colleagues.
• Take solutions from prototype to production and run them.
• Report progress and trade-offs to stakeholders.

Skills

AI software engineering

LLM application development

API integrations

Python backend

React/TypeScript

Cloud (Azure)

CI/CD

Data governance

Forward deployment

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

FastAPI

Databricks

Azure

React/TypeScript

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

IFS is a billion-dollar revenue company with 7000+ employees on all continents. Our leading AI technology is the backbone of our award-winning enterprise software solutions, enabling our customers to be their best when it really matters–at the Moment of Service™. Our commitment to internal AI adoption has allowed us to stay at the forefront of technological advancements, ensuring our colleagues can unlock their creativity and productivity, and our solutions are always cutting-edge.

At IFS, we’re flexible, we’re innovative, and we’re focused not only on how we can engage with our customers but on how we can make a real change and have a worldwide impact. We help solve some of society’s greatest challenges, fostering a better future through our agility, collaboration, and trust.

We celebrate diversity and understand our responsibility to reflect the diverse world we work in. We are committed to promoting an inclusive workforce that fully represents the many different cultures, backgrounds, and viewpoints of our customers, our partners, and our communities. As a truly international company serving people from around the globe, we realize that our success is tantamount to the respect we have for those different points of view.

By joining our team, you will have the opportunity to be part of a global, diverse environment; you will be joining a winning team with a commitment to sustainability; and a company where we get things done so that you can make a positive impact on the world.

We’re looking for innovative and original thinkers to work in an environment where you can #MakeYourMoment so that we can help others make theirs. With the power of our AI-driven solutions, we empower our team to change the status quo and make a real difference.

If you want to change the status quo, we’ll help you make your moment. Join Team Purple. Join IFS.

Job Description

We are hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer to help bring AI into real business operations. The role sits between engineering, consulting and business change. You will build and run applications for the IFS M&A Group and deliver production AI solutions to acquired companies. You will work with their business and technical stakeholders to understand the problem, prototype quickly, connect to existing systems, and deliver implementations that work at scale.

You work independently with limited guidance on assigned projects, within the group's approved architecture, security and data standards. You escalates decisions that fall outside those guidelines to your manager.

Key Responsibilities

Deliver assigned AI projects and workstreams, from discovery through design, build, deployment, verification, training and support. Priorities and scope are agreed with your manager.

Support discovery with business and technical stakeholders to understand workflows, systems and desired outcomes, and help identify suitable AI use cases.

Analyse non-routine requirements, recommend practical solution designs, and implement them as tested code. Prototype quickly to validate a use case.

Build integrations that connect AI platforms to existing applications, APIs and data sources, using service identities with the narrowest scopes and following approved security and data governance policies.

Ship AI features that are scoped to the user, name sources and models on every answer, and are tested before release.

Build agentic systems that automate processes and use enterprise tools within defined guardrails.

Take solutions from prototype to production and run them: jobs, backups, monitoring, access and incident write-ups.

Train users and support adoption. Measure results against the objectives agreed at the start of each project.

Recommend models and platforms within the group's approved standards. Contribute lessons learned from acquired-company projects to team best practices and process improvements.

Report progress, trade-offs and outcomes clearly to stakeholders and project leads.

Provide guidance to junior colleagues where needed.

Qualifications

Requirements

In-depth expertise in AI/software engineering, with a solid understanding of related areas (data, cloud, security) and business context.

Experience shipping at least one system to production and measuring its operational or business impact.

Experience building an LLM application used by real users, covering tool use, retrieval and prompt or context design.

Experience with API integrations between AI platforms and enterprise systems (e.g. Salesforce, HubSpot, NetSuite, Databricks) and the data governance that goes with them.

Python backend (FastAPI or similar), working React/TypeScript, SQL, one cloud (Azure preferred), infrastructure as code and CI/CD.

Ability to work independently on non-routine problems, recommend practical solutions, and elevate when a decision is outside agreed guidelines.

Clear written and spoken communication with both technical and business stakeholders.

A habit of verifying results, with numbers checked before they are reported.

Nice to Have

Experience in a forward-deployed or embedded engineering role.

Familiarity with RevOps, FP&A or sales operations.

Agent experience in production, ideally with Model Context Protocol.

Working French or Dutch.

Additional Information

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