Forward Deployment Engineer

McFall Recruitment Limited; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

McFall Recruitment Limited is seeking an experienced Forward Deployed Engineer to bridge technology, data, AI and business needs. You’ll work directly with investment, operations and distribution teams to understand workflows and build measurable solutions.

You’ll move from problem definition to production quickly, often turning prototypes into working systems in days or weeks. You will prototype, test with users, and iterate based on real-world feedback, delivering secure, maintainable services

Qualifications

• Experience delivering production systems from problem definition through deployment.
• Experience working directly with users, clients or business stakeholders is highly desirable.
• Strong experience integrating APIs, databases, files and messaging systems with real-world data.

Responsibilities

• Understand workflows and opportunities by partnering with business teams.
• Prototype rapid solutions and test with users, iterate based on feedback.
• Take prototypes into production with secure, reliable services.
• Work across backend, APIs, data pipelines and user-facing apps.
• Apply AI/LLM capabilities to accelerate delivery.

Skills

End-to-end delivery

User/stakeholder collaboration

APIs integration

Databases & data pipelines

AI/LLM adoption

Security & compliance awareness

Tools

Azure

CI/CD

GraphRAG

Containers

Job description

Build technology that solves real business problems

We are looking for an experienced Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to work at the intersection of technology, data, AI and the business.

This is not a traditional software engineering role. You will work directly with our investment, operations and distribution teams, spending time with the people who use our technology to understand their workflows, identify meaningful problems and build solutions that make a measurable difference.

You will have the autonomy to take ideas from problem definition through to production, often moving from prototype to a working solution in days or weeks rather than months.

The role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will:

• Work directly with business teams to understand their workflows, challenges and opportunities.
• Identify high-impact problems where software, automation, data or AI can improve how we operate.
• Rapidly prototype solutions, test them with users and iterate based on real-world feedback.
• Take successful prototypes through to production, building secure, reliable and maintainable services.
• Work across the full technology stack, including backend services, APIs, data pipelines and user-facing applications.
• Integrate data and systems across APIs, databases, files and message queues, turning complex and fragmented data into useful products and services.
• Apply modern AI and LLM capabilities to accelerate delivery and create new ways of working.
• Partner closely with engineering, data and platform teams to align with architecture, security and technology standards.
• Maintain a strong focus on security, governance, data protection and operational resilience, particularly where solutions interact with client assets and regulated activity.

About you

You are a hands-on engineer and pragmatic problem solver who enjoys being close to the people you build for.

You are comfortable operating in environments where the problem is not always clearly defined. You can ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, make sensible trade-offs and move quickly from an idea to something users can actually work with.

You are equally comfortable discussing architecture with engineers, mapping a business process with a subject matter expert, or explaining a technical trade-off to a senior stakeholder.

Most importantly, you care about building the right thing, not simply building things right.

Experience needed for the role:

• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a track record of delivering and supporting production systems.
• Experience taking projects end to end, from problem definition and design through development, deployment and ongoing improvement.
• Experience working directly with users, clients or business stakeholders is highly desirable.
• Strong experience integrating APIs, databases, files and messaging systems, and working with complex or imperfect real-world data.
• Experience in financial services, investment management, asset management or another regulated, data-intensive environment is highly desirable.
• Experience using modern AI/LLM technologies, or a demonstrated ability and enthusiasm to adopt them quickly.

Technical skills

We are looking for strong engineering fundamentals rather than a specific technology background. Experience with one or more of the following is valuable:

• Full stack development: backend services, APIs and modern web applications.
• Data: SQL, PostgreSQL, Azure SQL, data modelling, cloud storage and graph technologies, including GraphRAG.
• Cloud and infrastructure: Azure, containers, CI/CD and infrastructure as code.
• Security: authentication, authorisation, data isolation, input validation and secure handling of sensitive information.
• AI: LLMs, AI-assisted development, intelligent automation and emerging AI application patterns.

If you are an engineer who enjoys solving ambiguous problems, working directly with users and turning ideas into production technology, we would like to hear from you.