AI Forward Engineering Cell Lead - Hands-On & Client-Facing

EY; Des Moines (IA); Hybrid; USD 126,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Total Rewards package

Hybrid work model

Flexible vacation policy

Job summary

EY seeks a hands-on Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems for a single client engagement in regulated industries. Embedded with the client, you will lead a small cell, set technical direction, and manage tradeoffs with senior stakeholders to ensure secure, production-grade outcomes.

You will stay hands-on, design key components, and drive production readiness while balancing regulatory constraints and client priorities.

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.

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

Communication

Autonomy

Pragmatic approach

Education

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

Job description

EY seeks a hands-on Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems for a single client engagement in regulated industries. Embedded with the client, you will lead a small cell, set technical direction, and manage tradeoffs with senior stakeholders to ensure secure, production-grade outcomes.

You will stay hands-on, design key components, and drive production readiness while balancing regulatory constraints and client priorities.