Associate Forward Deployed Engineer

Databricks; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid office

Travel opportunities

Job summary

Databricks Inc. is seeking an Associate Forward Deployed Engineer in Mountain View. You will be embedded with customer teams, delivering production-grade data and AI solutions on the Databricks platform while partnering with senior FDEs and engineering.

The role blends software engineering with customer-facing leadership and rapid hands-on impact. This early-career position emphasizes growth toward end-to-end delivery ownership, architecture decisions, and collaboration across engineering, PM,

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, or data platforms & analytics.
• Solid computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, testing, and version control.
• Experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Familiarity with CI/CD and production data architectures, MLOps, ML/AI models and AI APIs.

Responsibilities

• Deliver production-grade systems and reference architectures, contributing reusable frameworks and best practices.
• Support strategic customers through transformational data & AI projects, from prototype through production deployment.
• Own architecture decisions for secure, scalable, full-stack solutions on the Databricks platform.
• Embed with customer teams to understand their challenges and deliver measurable impact.
• Collaborate with senior FDEs, Databricks engineers, and customer support to unblock customers and feed learnings back into the product.
• Manage technical scope and timelines for your workstreams, growing toward end-to-end delivery ownership.
• Work with the Databricks technical team, Project Manager, Architect and Customer team to meet customer needs.

Skills

Software engineering

Data engineering

Data platforms & analytics

Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)

CI/CD

ML/AI models & AI APIs

Communication skills

Distributed data processing

Tools

Apache Spark

Job description

Hub Cities: NYC | Mountain View | up to 20% travel to customer sites + Hybrid office expectation

As an Associate Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) at Databricks, you'll be in a hands-on, customer-facing role for builders who thrive at the intersection of technology and business impact. You'll work directly with enterprise customers to build and productionize data & AI solutions on the Databricks platform. This early-career role is ideal for a strong software engineer looking to grow into a technical leader. You will embed with customer teams, ship production-grade systems, and learn the Databricks platform deeply alongside senior FDEs and our engineering organization.

The impact you will have:

• Production Solution Delivery: Deliver production-grade systems and reference architectures, contributing reusable frameworks, tools, and best practices along the way.
• Transformational Impact: Support strategic customers through transformational data & AI projects, from prototype through production deployment.
• Own the Architecture: Contribute to architecture and design decisions for secure, scalable, full-stack solutions on the Databricks platform.
• Embed with customer teams to understand their technical and business challenges and help deliver measurable impact.
• Collaborate closely with senior FDEs, Databricks engineering, and customer support to unblock customers and feed learnings back into the product.
• Manage technical scope and timelines for your workstreams, growing toward end-to-end delivery ownership.
• Work with the Databricks technical team, Project Manager, Architect and Customer team to ensure the technical components of the engagement are delivered to meet customer's needs.

What we look for:

• 2+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, or data platforms & analytics.
• Solid computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, testing, and version control.
• Experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP), or a strong desire to develop cloud expertise quickly.
• Familiarity with CI/CD, and an interest in production data architectures and MLOps, ML/AI models and AI APIs.
• Excellent communication skills and a genuine interest in customer-facing engineering work.
• Build skills in technical areas, and demonstrate curiosity, adaptability, and eagerness to explore new technologies which support the deployment and integration of Databricks-based solutions to complete customer projects.
• Experience with Apache Spark or distributed data processing is a plus.We'll help you build platform depth on the job.
• Databricks Certification is a plus, and can be obtained after joining.

About Databricks

Databricks is a data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide rely on Databricks to unify and democratize data, analytics and AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe, and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow.

Recent graduate?: We'd love for you to explore our current internship openings on our careers page and submit your application for our roles designed for new college graduates.

This role is based in our Mountain View, CA office. Travel to customers is expected approximately 20% of the time.

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide - including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 - rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn , X , YouTube , and Instagram .
BenefitsAt Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here .

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.

Compliance

If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Databricks's Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.