AI AFE Cell Lead - Hands-on, Client-Facing Engineer

EY; Cincinnati (OH); Hybrid; USD 126,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Medical and dental coverage

401(k) pension plan

Paid time off

Job summary

EY is seeking a Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems within a client-engagement context. The role embeds with the client, leads a small technical cell, and drives production-grade outcomes in regulated environments.

The ideal candidate has extensive hands-on engineering depth, cloud and distributed system experience, and proven leadership in forward-deployed roles. EY offers a hybrid model and a broad Total Rewards package.

Qualifications

• 8+ years delivering complex enterprise systems.
• Hands-on engineering depth across integration-heavy architectures, cloud platforms, and distributed systems.
• Experience with modern AI-enabled application stacks (e.g., agentic systems, orchestration frameworks, LLM-backed services).
• Proven ability to operate in forward-deployed, customer-facing, or solutions-architecture roles, owning outcomes end to end.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a small technical team while remaining an individual contributor.
• Strong stakeholder-management skills, including managing client expectations under pressure.
• Solid understanding of software delivery lifecycle, quality gates, and production readiness in enterprise settings.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end outcome delivery for the cell, including scoping, tradeoffs, technical direction, and production readiness.
• Embed directly with the client to define the real problem and translate ambiguous business needs into an executable technical solution.
• Serve as the primary technical interface and trusted advisor to client stakeholders, managing expectations and tradeoffs.
• Stay hands-on, designing and building critical parts of the solution and diving deep into client systems and code when needed.
• Deploy, adapt, and stabilize solutions in the client environment with templates, ensuring release readiness and runtime accountability.
• Direct the work of the cell’s Implementation Engineer and Data Engineer, ensuring integrations and data readiness.
• Ensure every deployment meets safety, integrity, and cost constraints, partnering with control authorities.

Skills

Outcome ownership

Client presence

Hands-on coding

AI systems

System integration

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Orchestration frameworks

LLM services

Job description

EY is seeking a Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems within a client-engagement context. The role embeds with the client, leads a small technical cell, and drives production-grade outcomes in regulated environments.

The ideal candidate has extensive hands-on engineering depth, cloud and distributed system experience, and proven leadership in forward-deployed roles. EY offers a hybrid model and a broad Total Rewards package.