Forward Deployed AI Engineer

Cloudera; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Cloudera is seeking a seasoned Forward Deployed AI Engineer who will embed directly with customers, shape technical direction, and ship scalable, enterprise-grade AI applications. You will work with AI/ML, data engineering, and software to deliver end-to-end solutions for strategic clients.

You will mentor teams, codify patterns, and influence product direction by translating customer signals into actionable AI roadmaps in fast-moving environments.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building and deploying production-grade systems.
• 2–3 years of experience building Generative AI or agentic applications.
• Experience with cloud technologies and modern AI frameworks and tooling.

Responsibilities

• Build & prototype AI apps and agentic systems for enterprise use cases.
• Partner with strategic customers to drive AI use cases from prototype to production.
• Shape enterprise AI strategy and align initiatives with business goals.
• Codify reusable solution patterns and contribute to internal playbooks.
• Mentor Cloudera teams and share AI capabilities across the org.

Skills

AI engineering

Full-stack AI

MLOps

LLM/Agentic AI

Tools

Spark

Iceberg

NiFi

NVIDIA GPUs

Job description

Business Area:Corp. StrategySeniority Level:Mid-Senior levelJob Description:At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises.About Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) at ClouderaCloudera’s Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) function sits within the Applied AI org, and is a specialized AI engineering team focused on accelerating AI adoption within our most strategic enterprise customers. We embed directly with customers to rapidly pilot AI use cases, solve real-world business challenges, and help operationalize advanced AI capabilities within enterprise environments. Cloudera FDEs operate at the intersection of customer engineering, AI innovation, and enterprise deployment - driving high-impact AI outcomes for customers and codifying solution patterns for repeatable delivery at scale.About the roleCloudera is looking for a seasoned hands-on AI engineer who can embed with customers, shape technical direction, and ship elegant, scalable, enterprise-quality AI applications. As a Forward Deployed AI Engineer you will:Build & Prototype AI Apps - Develop full-stack AI applications on Cloudera to demonstrate how AI and agentic systems solve real enterprise use casesPartner with Strategic Customers - Work directly with customer teams to drive AI and agentic use cases from early prototype toward production readinessShape Enterprise AI Strategy - Advise customer leaders on AI roadmaps, use case prioritization, deployment considerations, and align AI initiatives with business goalsCodify Solution Patterns - Standardize successful patterns into repeatable reference architectures, productized solutions, starter kits, and internal playbooksMultiply impact - Mentor Cloudera teams, and contribute to resources that grow our AI capability. Channel field and customer signal back to Product teams to improve our AI platform and productsWe are excited if you have:5+ years of experience building and deploying production-grade systems, including 2-3 years experience building Generative AI or agentic applicationsStrong hands-on software engineering, data engineering, and applied AI/ML skills, with experience building full-stack AI applications or agentic systems using modern AI frameworks and toolingExperience with foundation models, context engineering, fine-tuning, semantic search, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and agentic workflowsDeep understanding of LLMOps/MLOps practices including evaluation, observability, serving, monitoring, and lifecycle managementExperience designing and implementing scalable AI solution architectures aligned to enterprise standards (security, governance, compliance, etc.)The ability to engage directly with customers, both technical and executive audiences - to translate needs into actionable technical strategyHigh agency with the ability to operate autonomously and thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving customer environmentsA collaborative mindset and passion for enabling others through mentorship, internal enablement, or reusable toolingYou may also have:Experience with cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, GCP)Experience using the Cloudera platformExperience with open source big data technologies like Spark, Iceberg, NiFi, etcExperience with AI infrastructure and runtime technologies including NVIDIA GPUs, inference optimization, model serving, or distributed AI workloadsWhat you can expect from us:Generous PTO PolicySupport work life balance with Unplugged DaysFlexible WFH PolicyMental & Physical Wellness programsPhone and Internet Reimbursement programAccess to Continued Career DevelopmentComprehensive Benefits and Competitive PackagesPaid Volunteer TimeEmployee Resource GroupsEEO/VEVRAA#LI-RC1#LI-REMOTE