Forward Deployed AI Engineer (Senior/Principal Level)

Cloudera; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 198,000 - 248,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO Policy

Flexible WFH policy

Wellness programs

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Cloudera is seeking a seasoned Forward Deployed AI Engineer to embed with enterprise customers and design scalable AI/ML solutions. You will build full-stack AI apps, collaborate with customer teams, and guide architecture decisions to production readiness.

Ideal candidates have 7+ years in production-grade systems plus 2–4 years in ML or GenAI, with strong software/data engineering and MLOps expertise. Strong communication with technical and executive audiences is essential.

Qualifications

• 7+ years building and deploying production-grade systems
• 2–4 years building ML systems or GenAI/agentic apps
• Strong hands-on software engineering and data engineering
• Experience with foundation models, fine-tuning, semantic search, and RAG
• LLMOps, evaluation, observability, serving, monitoring and lifecycle management
• Ability to translate customer needs into technical strategy

Responsibilities

• Build and prototype AI/ML apps on Cloudera platform
• Partner with strategic customers to move from prototype to production
• Shape enterprise AI architecture aligned to security and governance
• Codify reusable AI patterns into reference architectures
• Mentor teams and contribute to reusable tooling and playbooks

Skills

Full-stack ML engineering

Data engineering

Applied AI/ML

LLMOps / MLOps

Foundation models & RAG

Agentic AI / autonomous systems

Customer engagement

Education

BSc/MSc/PhD in related field

Tools

NVIDIA GPUs

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Job description

Business Area: Corp. Strategy Seniority Level: Director Job Description: At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights.

About Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) at Cloudera

Cloudera’s Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) function sits within the Applied AI organization, and is a specialized AI/ML 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 role

Cloudera is looking for a seasoned full‑stack ML engineer who can embed with customers to design technical use cases, and ship scalable enterprise AI/ML solutions on Cloudera. As a Forward Deployed AI Engineer you will:

• Build & Prototype AI Apps – Develop full-stack AI/ML applications on Cloudera to demonstrate how AI and agentic systems solve real enterprise use cases.
• Partner with Strategic Customers – Work directly with customer teams to drive AI and agentic use cases from early prototype toward production readiness.
• Shape Enterprise AI Architecture – Advise customer leaders on AI roadmaps, solution design, deployment, and AI use cases.
• Codify Solution Patterns – Standardize successful patterns into repeatable reference architectures, productized solutions, starter kits, and internal playbooks.
• Multiply impact – Be a thought leader, 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 products.

We are excited if you have:

• 7+ years of experience building and deploying production‑grade systems, including 2‑4 years experience building ML systems or GenAI/agentic applications.
• Strong hands‑on software engineering, data engineering, and applied AI/ML skills, with experience building full‑stack ML applications or agentic systems using modern AI frameworks and tooling.
• Experience with foundation models, context engineering, fine‑tuning, semantic search, Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG), and agentic workflows.
• Deep understanding of LLMOps/MLOps practices including evaluation, observability, serving, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• Experience 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 strategy.
• High agency with the ability to operate autonomously and thrive in ambiguous, fast‑moving customer environments.
• A collaborative mindset and passion for enabling others through mentorship, internal enablement, or reusable tooling.
• Bsc/Msc/PhD in related field or equivalent experience.

You may also have:

• Experience with cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Experience using the Cloudera platform.
• Experience with open source big data technologies like Spark, Iceberg, NiFi, etc.
• Experience with AI infrastructure and runtime technologies including NVIDIA GPUs, inference optimization, model serving, or distributed AI workloads.

The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is: New York & California: $198,000-$247,500. Individual compensation within the published range is determined by the candidate's skills, experience, qualifications, and primary work location. In addition to base pay, sales roles are eligible for Cloudera’s commission plan, while non‑sales roles are eligible for the corporate incentive plan. All employees receive a comprehensive benefits package.

This role is not eligible for immigration support or relocation.

What you can expect from us:

• Generous PTO Policy.
• Support work life balance with Unplugged Days.
• Flexible WFH Policy.
• Mental & Physical Wellness programs.
• Phone and Internet Reimbursement program.
• Access to Continued Career Development.
• Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages.
• Paid Volunteer Time.
• Employee Resource Groups.

EEO/VEVRAA