AI - Cybersecurity Forward Deployed Engineer - FDE Senior Manager

Accenture; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 130,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Accenture Security seeks an experienced Cybersecurity Forward Deployed Engineer to embed with client teams and secure AI systems in real environments. You will own outcomes, reduce attack surfaces, and deliver production-safe AI deployments using Claude Code, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot as the main tooling.

Travel between 0% and 100% may be required. Qualified candidates have deep cybersecurity expertise, hands-on AI security design experience, and strong leadership to drive governance, risk

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience in a relevant field.
• Minimum 10 years of engineering experience with a cybersecurity discipline.
• Hands-on experience designing and deploying agentic AI solutions in production.
• Experience with cloud security across AWS, Azure, or GCP.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI security architecture and threat modeling for production agentic deployments across complex client environments.
• Deliver hands-on security engineering using agentic coding tools as the primary build environment.
• Own AI-specific threat surface management at programme scale.
• Architect and govern AI security controls across the enterprise stack.
• Lead AI governance framework implementation and model risk management.

Skills

AI security

Threat modeling

Security architecture

Agentic coding

Cloud security

IAM

GRC

Offensive security

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

GitHub Copilot

Job description

We Are

Accenture Security helps organizations prepare, protect, detect, respond, and recover along with all points of the security lifecycle. Cybersecurity challenges are different for every business in every industry. Leveraging our global resources and advanced technologies, we create integrated, turnkey solutions tailored to our client's needs across their entire value chain. Whether we’re defending against known cyberattacks, detecting and responding to the unknown, or running an entire security operations center, we will help companies build cyber resilience to grow with confidence. Our team of the security sector’s brightest people uses the coolest tech to out-hack the hackers and help clients build resilience from within. We blend risk strategy, digital identity, cyber defense, application security, and managed service solutions to rethink the entire security lifecycle.

We Are

Accenture Security helps organizations prepare, protect, detect, respond, and recover along with all points of the security lifecycle. Cybersecurity challenges are different for every business in every industry. Leveraging our global resources and advanced technologies, we create integrated, turnkey solutions tailored to our client's needs across their entire value chain. Whether we’re defending against known cyberattacks, detecting and responding to the unknown, or running an entire security operations center, we will help companies build cyber resilience to grow with confidence. Our team of the security sector’s brightest people uses the coolest tech to out-hack the hackers and help clients build resilience from within. We blend risk strategy, digital identity, cyber defense, application security, and managed service solutions to rethink the entire security lifecycle.

You Are

This is not a security consulting role. It is not a compliance advisory position. It is not a pen test engagement. A Cybersecurity Forward Deployed Engineer is a production engineer who works embedded inside a client’s enterprise—shoulder to shoulder with their security and engineering teams—to make AI systems secure, governed, and resilient in real, complex organizational environments. You own outcomes: reduced attack surface, production-safe AI deployments, measurable security posture improvement.

Agentic coding is not a supporting skill for this role—it is the primary method of delivery. You use Claude Code, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot as your standard operating environment. You build security tooling, detection systems, threat models, and governance frameworks with AI co-authoring the code alongside you. Engineers who treat AI tools as optional accelerators are not the profile. Engineers who cannot deliver without them are.

The Work

Cybersecurity FDEs operate as part of Accenture’s Reinvention Delivery Engine (RDE) Pod: a small, persistent, outcome-oriented team aligned to a client’s business domain or AI programme. The pod operates in 90-day delivery cycles, owns end-to-end outcomes across build, deploy, and optimize, and embeds directly inside the client’s technology organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead AI security architecture and threat modeling for production agentic deployments across complex multi-stakeholder client environments—LLM systems, multi-agent pipelines, RAG architectures, and MLOps infrastructure—owning the full security design from assessment through hardened deployment
• Deliver hands-on security engineering using agentic coding tools as the primary build environment: build AI-powered detection systems, automated threat response tooling, security assessment frameworks, and governance automation using Claude Code, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot in daily delivery practice
• Own AI-specific threat surface management at programme scale: OWASP LLM Top 10 controls, prompt injection hardening, model extraction prevention, adversarial input defences, and AI supply chain security across concurrent client workstreams
• Architect and govern AI security controls across the enterprise stack: identity and access for AI systems, data pipeline security, model serving security, and multi-system integration risk across cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Lead AI governance framework implementation: EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, and model risk management applied to live production systems, not theoretical compliance exercises
• Shape AI reinvention security strategy for client CISO and CTO: build risk-adjusted investment cases, security architecture roadmaps, and AI governance operating models aligned to commercial outcomes
• Define and publish reusable security patterns, playbooks, and accelerators that scale across multiple client engagements and grow the Secure AI practice
• Lead architecture design sessions, threat modeling workshops, and code-with sessions with client engineering and security leadership teams
• Cybersecurity domain expertise in at least one discipline (AppSec, SecOps, IAM, cloud, GRC, or offensive security)
• Proposal and SOW development, solution shaping, and client commercial engagement
• Executive workshop facilitation and C-suite / CISO-level communication
• Structured analytical thinking and hypothesis-driven problem decomposition
• Team leadership: developing and coaching managers and consultants through delivery

Travel may be required for this role. The amount of travel will vary from 0 to 100% depending on business need and client requirements.

Here’s what you need

• Minimum of 10 years of engineering experience in production environments with a cybersecurity discipline depth in at least one area: AppSec, SecOps / detection engineering, cloud security, IAM, offensive security / penetration testing, or GRC
• Minimum 2 year of hands‑on experience designing and deploying agentic AI solutions in a production environment—non‑negotiable; theoretical familiarity does not qualify
• Minimum 8 years of demonstrated end‑to‑end security delivery ownership experience in a client‑embedded or production environment; internal advisory or compliance‑only roles do not qualify
• Minimum 8 years working with Cloud platform security fundamentals across at least one provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP): IAM, network security, secrets management, and AI service security configurations
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent (minimum 12 years) work experience. (If Associate’s Degree, must have minimum 6 years work experience

Professional Skills Requirements

• Proven ability to communicate security risk in business terms: can translate threat exposure into risk‑adjusted investment rationale a CISO or CFO would act on
• People lead responsibilities: experience managing, developing, and performance‑managing a team of engineers; setting individual development plans and conducting career conversations

Compensation at Accenture varies depending on a wide array of factors, which may include but are not limited to the specific office location, role, skill set, and level of experience. As required by local law, Accenture provides a reasonable range of compensation for roles that may be hired as set forth below.

We anticipate this job posting will be posted until 08/10/2026.

Accenture offers a market competitive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, and long‑term disability coverage, a 401(k) plan, bonus opportunities, paid holidays, and paid time off. See more information on our benefits here:

U.S. Employee Benefits | Accenture

Role Location Annual Salary Range

• California $132,500 to $366,300
• Cleveland $122,700 to $293,000
• Colorado $132,500 to $316,400
• District of Columbia $141,100 to $337,000
• Illinois $122,700 to $316,400
• Maine $112,900 to $269,600
• Maryland $132,500 to $316,400
• Massachusetts $132,500 to $337,000
• Minnesota $132,500 to $316,400
• New York $122,700 to $366,300
• New Jersey $141,100 to $366,300
• Virginia $122,700 to $337,000
• Washington $141,100 to $337,000

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