AI Engineer - FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer)

Vibehackers; Chicago, Northern (IL, KY); Hybrid; USD 153,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-friendly

Travel to customers

Region-specific benefits

Job summary

Databricks is seeking an AI Forward Deployed Engineer to design, build, and productionize GenAI and LLM applications at scale for customers. This senior, customer-facing engineering role partners with product and engineering teams to drive impact, deliver professional services, and shape roadmaps while traveling to customer sites roughly every 4–8 weeks.

The role emphasizes hands-on development, deployment, and technical advisory work, with remote work options and competitive total compensation

Qualifications

• Experience building production GenAI/LLM applications.
• Hands-on data science with Python tools.
• Cloud-based ML deployments on AWS/Azure/GCP.

Responsibilities

• Develop cutting-edge GenAI solutions incorporating Databricks AI research.
• Own production rollouts of consumer-facing and internal GenAI applications.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to customers across domains and present at conferences.
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to influence priorities and shape the product roadmap.
• Travel to customer sites as needed (approximately once every 4-8 weeks).

Skills

GenAI development

LLMOps

Production deployment

Data science

Large-scale data processing

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical communication

Education

Graduate degree in CS/Engineering/Statistics

Tools

HuggingFace

LangChain

DSPy

Pandas

scikit-learn

PyTorch

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

Directly focused on GenAI/LLM development and LLMOps using tools like LangChain and HuggingFace - very aligned with vibe coding for rapid AI prototyping and deployment.

About the Role

Customer-facing AI Forward Deployed Engineer at Databricks responsible for designing, building, and productionizing GenAI and LLM applications at scale for customers. The role combines hands-on engineering, deployment, and technical advisory work and is open to remote locations.

Job Description

Role

AI Forward Deployed Engineer (AI FDE) at Databricks - a customer-facing engineering role delivering professional services to design, build, and productionize GenAI and LLM applications at scale. The team works cross-functionally with product, engineering, and developer relations and is open to remote locations.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop cutting-edge GenAI solutions incorporating Databricks AI research.
• Own production rollouts of consumer-facing and internal GenAI applications.
• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to customers across domains and present at conferences (e.g., Data + AI Summit).
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to influence priorities and shape the product roadmap.
• Travel to customer sites as needed (approximately once every 4-8 weeks).

Requirements

• Industry experience designing, building, and deploying production GenAI and LLM applications (including RAG, multi-agent systems, Text2SQL, fine-tuning).
• Experience with tools and libraries such as HuggingFace, LangChain, and DSPy.
• Extensive hands-on data science experience using tools like pandas, scikit-learn, and PyTorch.
• Experience building production-grade ML deployments on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Graduate degree in a quantitative discipline (Computer Science, Engineering, Statistics, Operations Research) or equivalent practical experience preferred.
• Strong ability to communicate and teach technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Preferred: experience using the Databricks Intelligence Platform and Apache Spark for large-scale distributed data processing.

Compensation

Local pay range: $152,900 - $210,155 USD. Total compensation may include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and region-specific benefits.

Skills

GenAI application development LLMOps Production deployment Model evaluation & optimization Data science Large-scale data processing Cross-functional collaboration Customer-facing consulting Technical communication Presentation & thought leadership Teaching and mentoring Research translation

Experience Level

Senior

USD 152,900 - 210,155/year

• Open to remote locations
• Eligibility for annual performance bonus
• Region-specific comprehensive benefits
• Travel to customers (~every 4-8 weeks as needed)