AI Forward‑Deployed Cell Lead — Client‑Facing

EY

Palo Alto (CA)

Hybrid

USD 126,000 - 230,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Medical and dental coverage

Pension and 401(k)

Job summary

EY is seeking a hands-on Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-enabled systems for a single client engagement in regulated industries. You will act as the technical authority within an Advanced Forward Engineering cell, translating complex business needs into secure, production-grade solutions while embedded at the client site.

This role requires deep technical judgment, strong client presence, and the ability to lead a small technical team while remaining an individual

Qualifications

8+ years delivering complex enterprise systems, ideally in regulated or client-facing contexts.
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.

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.