AI-Driven Forward Engineering Cell Lead

EY; Charleston (WV); Hybrid; USD 126,000 - 262,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Flexible vacation policy

Competitive compensation

Job summary

EY is seeking a hands-on Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own the end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems for a single client engagement in regulated industries. You will be the technical authority, guiding the cell, interfacing with the client, and delivering production-grade solutions while maintaining security and compliance.

This role embeds with the client, remains hands-on when needed, and leads a small, senior team to ensure successful outcomes within regulatory constraints.

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, taking accountability for the business outcome, not just the code.
• Embed directly with the client to define the real problem and translate ambiguous business needs into an executable technical solution under regulatory and environmental constraints.
• Serve as the primary technical interface and trusted advisor to client stakeholders, managing expectations, communicating tradeoffs, and sustaining the trust that drives adoption.
• Stay hands-on, personally designing and building critical parts of the solution, and diving deep into the client’s systems, data, and codebase when the engagement requires it.
• Deploy, adapt, and stabilize solutions in the client environment using supported templates and profiles, owning release readiness and runtime accountability for what the cell ships.
• Direct the work of the cell’s Implementation Engineer and Data Engineer, ensuring integrations, orchestration, and data readiness come together into a coherent, production-grade outcome.
• Ensure every deployment meets safety, integrity, and cost constraints, partnering with control authorities and the Distinguished AFE on safe-to-ship decisions for regulated environments.

Skills

Outcome ownership

Client presence

Hands-on engineering

Technical judgment

Communicating tradeoffs

Autonomy in small teams

Pragmatic mindset

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related technical field

Tools

Cloud platforms

Distributed systems

Orchestration frameworks

Job description

EY is seeking a hands-on Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own the end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems for a single client engagement in regulated industries. You will be the technical authority, guiding the cell, interfacing with the client, and delivering production-grade solutions while maintaining security and compliance.

This role embeds with the client, remains hands-on when needed, and leads a small, senior team to ensure successful outcomes within regulatory constraints.