Forward Deployed AI Engineer

Guidehouse; McLean (VA); Remote; USD 113,000 - 188,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

401(k) Plan

Tuition Reimbursement

Mobility Stipend

Job summary

Guidehouse in McLean, VA is seeking a Forward Deployed AI Engineer to work directly with clients and delivery teams, turning complex requirements into practical AI solutions. You will prototype, test, and deploy generative AI and agentic systems in enterprise environments.

You will collaborate across engineering, data, and business stakeholders, applying MCP, A2A, and RAG patterns, and translate needs into technical designs while maintaining high-quality, well-documented code.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in software/AI engineering or related technical role.
• Hands-on with generative AI and enterprise LLM platforms.
• Experience with forward deployed engineering or client-facing delivery.
• Experience with MCP and A2A or multi-agent patterns.

Responsibilities

• Translate business and mission needs into technical designs, prototypes and working solutions.
• Prototype, test, and deploy generative AI and agentic AI applications in enterprise environments.
• Build AI solutions using LLMs, APIs, enterprise data, and modern development practices.
• Develop MCP-based integrations, A2A communications, and RAG solutions with human-in-the-loop patterns.

Skills

Generative AI

Agentic AI

Client delivery

MCP

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Claude APIs

Claude for Enterprise

Tool use

Vector databases

Job description

## Forward Deployed AI EngineerApply: US - VA, McLean: US - Remote (Any location): Full time: Posted Today: 46285**Job Family:**Data Science Consulting**Travel Required:**Up to 10%**Clearance Required:**Ability to Obtain Public Trust**What You Will Do:** As a **Forward Deployed AI Engineer**, you will work directly with clients, technical leads, and multidisciplinary delivery teams to turn complex business and mission needs into practical AI solutions.You will combine **hands-on software engineering, generative and agentic AI development, problem-solving, and client interaction** to rapidly prototype, build, integrate, test, and improve solutions in real-world environments. You will work alongside senior Forward Deployed Engineers and technical leads while developing deeper expertise in forward deployed engineering practices and client delivery. **Forward Deployed Engineering & Solution Delivery*** Work directly with clients and technical leads to understand workflows, technical challenges, user needs, and opportunities for applying AI.* Translate business, mission, and user requirements into technical designs, prototypes, and working solutions.* Design, prototype, test, and deploy generative AI and agentic AI applications in enterprise environments.* Build AI solutions using large language models, APIs, developer tooling, enterprise data, and modern application development practices.* Develop agentic solutions incorporating **Model Context Protocol (MCP), agent-to-agent (A2A) communication, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), tool use, structured outputs, context management, orchestration, and human-in-the-loop patterns**.* Participate in client discovery sessions, technical working sessions, demonstrations, and solution design discussions.* Gather feedback from users and stakeholders and rapidly incorporate that feedback into working solutions.* Troubleshoot technical issues and collaborate with client and delivery teams to identify practical solutions.* Explore emerging AI technologies and identify innovative ways to apply them to real-world business and mission problems. **Engineering & Integration*** Build and maintain integrations with enterprise systems, services, APIs, databases, data sources, and workflow tools.* Develop AI applications and agents that interact with enterprise data, tools, systems, APIs, and other agents.* Build **MCP-based integrations** connecting AI applications and agents with tools, services, enterprise systems, and data sources.* Implement **A2A and multi-agent patterns** supporting communication and coordination among specialized agents.* Build **RAG solutions**, including knowledge retrieval, embeddings, vector search, grounding, and integration with enterprise content and data.* Develop agentic workflows using tool use, structured outputs, context management, orchestration, and human review where appropriate.* Apply modern software engineering practices to develop reliable, maintainable, testable, and well-documented solutions.* Work with relational databases, vector stores, APIs, and other data storage and retrieval technologies.* Support testing, evaluation, logging, monitoring, and troubleshooting of AI-enabled applications and agentic workflows.* Participate in code reviews, technical design reviews, and other engineering quality practices. **Client Delivery & Problem Solving*** Communicate effectively with technical and non-technical client stakeholders.* Ask effective questions to understand client problems, workflows, constraints, and desired outcomes.* Explain technical concepts, prototypes, and solution approaches clearly to client stakeholders.* Participate in client demonstrations, technical discovery, and working sessions.* Work effectively in environments where requirements may be ambiguous, evolving, or initially undefined.* Apply creative and analytical thinking to break complex problems into manageable technical solutions.* Rapidly evaluate new technologies, patterns, and approaches and determine how they may apply to client needs.* Collaborate with senior engineers and client stakeholders to evaluate technical options, risks, and trade-offs.* Incorporate client and user feedback into solution design and implementation. **FDE Development & Collaboration*** Work with senior Forward Deployed Engineers and technical leads to develop strong FDE skills and delivery practices.* Apply FDE best practices related to discovery, problem decomposition, requirements translation, rapid prototyping, solution design, implementation, testing, demonstrations, and knowledge transfer.* Participate in pair programming, code reviews, architecture discussions, and technical learning activities.* Contribute reusable code, technical patterns, accelerators, documentation, and lessons learned to improve future implementations.* Share knowledge with other engineers and contribute to a collaborative engineering culture.* Demonstrate curiosity and a willingness to rapidly learn new AI technologies, engineering patterns, client domains, and business processes. **What You Will Need:*** Must be able to OBTAIN and MAINTAIN a Federal PUBLIC TRUST; candidates must obtain approved adjudication of their PUBLIC TRUST prior to onboarding with Guidehouse. Candidates with an ACTIVE PUBLIC TRUST or SUITABILITY are preferred.* THREE (3+) or more years of overall work experience.* Experience in software engineering, AI/ML engineering, data engineering, solution engineering, or a related technical role.* Experience performing forward deployed engineering or comparable client-facing technical delivery, including working directly with users or clients to translate business or mission needs into working technical solutions.* Hands-on experience building generative AI, large language model, or agentic AI solutions.* Hands-on experience developing solutions using Claude APIs, Claude for Enterprise, Claude Code, tool use, Custom Skills, or comparable enterprise large language model platforms and developer tooling.* Hands-on experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and its use in connecting AI applications or agents with tools, services, data sources, or enterprise systems.* Experience with agent-to-agent (A2A) or multi-agent solution patterns, including communication or coordination among multiple agents.* Hands-on experience developing retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions, including retrieval, embeddings, vector search, and grounding LLM applications with enterprise data or content.* Experience developing agentic workflows incorporating tool use, structured outputs, context management, orchestration, and human-in-the-loop patterns.* Strong software development skills using modern programming languages, APIs, services, and application development frameworks.* Experience integrating applications with APIs, databases, data sources, or enterprise systems.* Understanding of modern software engineering practices, including source control, testing, debugging, code review, documentation, and maintainable code development.* Strong client communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.* Ability to work effectively with clients and multidisciplinary teams in environments with evolving or ambiguous requirements.* Demonstrated curiosity, innovative thinking, creative problem-solving, and ability to learn and apply new technologies quickly.* Strong written and verbal communication skills.* US Citizenship is contractually required. **What Would Be Nice to Have:*** Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university.* Prior experience working as a Forward Deployed Engineer, Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Forward Deployed AI Engineer, or in a similar client-embedded engineering role.* Additional hands-on experience developing Claude-based solutions, including Claude Code, API development, tool use, Custom Skills, or Model Context Protocol.* Anthropic Academy coursework or certificates in areas such as AI Fluency, API development, Model Context Protocol, Claude Code, or related platform topics.* Anthropic partner training or certification experience, or equivalent platform-focused training.* Experience building end-to-end agentic AI applications from prototype through implementation.* Experience with testing and evaluation of generative AI or agentic AI systems, including validation, quality review, or regression testing.* Experience with relational databases, data modeling, vector databases, or modern data platforms.* Experience with cloud environments such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud.* Familiarity with AI safety, security, privacy, governance, and responsible AI practices.* Experience with logging, monitoring, tracing, or observability for applications or AI-enabled systems.* Experience delivering technology solutions in federal, regulated, or other complex enterprise environments.* Experience delivering technology, data, AI, or digital solutions in healthcare, life sciences, public health, or other health-related environments.* Familiarity with regulated health environments and considerations related to data privacy, security, governance, and responsible use of AI.* Interest in continuing to develop expertise in forward deployed engineering, agentic AI, and client-facing technical delivery.The annual salary range for this position is $113,000.00-$188,000.00. Compensation decisions depend on a wide range of factors, including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, security clearances, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs.**What We Offer:**Guidehouse offers a comprehensive, total rewards package that includes competitive compensation and a flexible benefits package that reflects our commitment to creating a diverse and supportive workplace.Benefits include:* Medical, Rx, Dental & Vision Insurance* Personal and Family Sick Time & Company Paid Holidays* Position may be eligible for a discretionary variable incentive bonus* Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance* 401(k) Retirement Plan* Basic Life & Supplemental Life* Health Savings Account, Dental/Vision & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts* Short-Term & Long-Term Disability* Student Loan PayDown* Tuition Reimbursement, Personal Development & Learning Opportunities* Skills Development & Certifications* Employee Referral Program* Corporate Sponsored Events & Community Outreach* Emergency Back-Up Childcare Program* Mobility Stipend