Forward Deployed Engineer

Thinkahead

United States

On-site

USD 140,000 - 190,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance

401(k)

Paid company holidays

Paid time off

Parental and caregiver leave

Job summary

The Forward Deployed Engineer role at AHEAD embeds you within a cross‑functional delivery team to design, build, and run production AI applications on enterprise GPT platforms. You’ll own the full solution lifecycle—from discovery and design through rollout, optimization, and ongoing support—collaborating with business stakeholders and a transformation consultant to drive impactful outcomes.

You will prototype and scale AI patterns, ensure security and observability, and partner with teams to

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Data and Analytics.
Experience in technical roles with direct stakeholder engagement.
Experience designing or supporting AI-enabled production solutions.
Familiarity with evaluation metrics and iterative improvement loops.
Hands-on experience with Enterprise GPT platforms and automation tools.
Familiarity with enterprise security concepts and RBAC/SAML/OIDC.

Responsibilities

Own the full solution lifecycle from discovery and design through build, rollout, optimization and ongoing support.
Build, run, and productionize AI apps on enterprise GPT platforms with custom agents and workflows.
Integrate data from enterprise systems and extend capabilities via MCP-based integrations.
Ensure solutions are secure, observable, and compliant with enterprise standards.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams and stakeholders to deliver measurable business impact.

Skills

AI-enabled solutions

Cross-functional teamwork

Agent development

Workflow configuration

Observability & governance

Executive communication

Data connectivity

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering/IS/Data & Analytics

Tools

Glean

Claude

n8n

Zapier

Make

Salesforce

ServiceNow

SharePoint/Teams

Job description

The Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)

A hands‑on role embedded within AHEAD's internal AI transformation function. You will design, build, and run production AI applications on enterprise GPT platforms, including custom agents, workflows, connectors, and integrations. You will operate as the technical build resource within a cross‑functional delivery team, partnering closely with business stakeholders, a transformation consultant, and an adoption lead to support one of AHEAD’s key domains, such as Services, Go‑to‑Market, or Corporate & Technology. This person owns the full solution lifecycle from discovery and design through build, rollout, optimization, and ongoing support.

This role is well suited for someone who enjoys working directly with business teams, translating ambiguous needs into practical AI‑enabled solutions, and building production AI patterns such as orchestration, model integration, evaluation, observability, and secure enterprise deployment. Success in the role requires comfort working inside a shared team model where solution design, user adoption, and business outcomes are delivered in close coordination rather than in isolation.

Build on the Enterprise GPT Platform

Design and ship agents and multi‑step workflows using Glean, Claude, and other GPT platforms and applying platform tools such as Agent Builder, actions, MCP tools, and adjacent automation tools (e.g., n8n, Zapier, Make).
Apply AI solution patterns such as retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), workflow orchestration, agent‑assisted processes, model integration, API‑based automation, and human‑in‑the‑loop review.

Integrate & Orchestrate

Create connections to ingest data from enterprise systems like Salesforce, ServiceNow, SharePoint/Teams, email, and internal APIs.
Extend platform capabilities through MCP‑based integrations and context‑aware workflows that improve the usefulness and reach of AI solutions.
Implement custom services and integrations, including REST APIs and webhooks, when platform‑native patterns or existing automations are not sufficient.
Ensure solutions are secure, reliable, observable, and compliant with enterprise standards.
Create reusable templates, components, and solution patterns that can be applied across teams and use cases.

Identify & Solve Business Friction Points

Proactively surface pain points across business workflows and reimagine them leveraging the best available technology to create impact.
Rapidly prototype, validate with real users, and harden MVPs into scalable, production solutions.
Partner with stakeholders to prioritize high‑impact use cases based on business value, feasibility, risk, and repeatability, with a focus on scalable solutions rather than one‑offs.
Measure and communicate the value of solutions delivered, including time saved, errors reduced, adoption, reliability, and operational performance.

Own LLM Quality, Telemetry & Cost

Apply production LLM practices: prompt and agent design, guardrails, and evaluation.
Use test sets, quality metrics, and offline or online evaluation methods to improve solution performance over time.
Instrument usage, reliability, and token/credit consumption at the agent and team level.
Use data to improve quality and reduce unnecessary spend (context scoping, summarization, caching, model choice).

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Data and Analytics.
Experience in technical roles such as Forward Deployed Engineer, Solutions Engineer, Integration Engineer, Automation Engineer, or similar roles with direct stakeholder engagement.
Experience designing or supporting AI‑enabled solutions in production environments, prompting and system design, agent development, and workflow configuration.
Familiarity with evaluation approaches such as test sets, quality metrics, and iterative improvement loops.
Working knowledge of AI solution patterns such as retrieval‑augmented generation, orchestration, model integration, vector‑backed retrieval, and human‑in‑the‑loop workflows.
Ability to configure existing connectors to access required data.
Experience integrating enterprise applications using APIs, webhooks, automation tools, or lightweight services.
Familiarity with observability, monitoring, governance, guardrails, and responsible AI controls in enterprise environments.
Familiarity with common business systems such as Salesforce, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams, ServiceNow, ticketing or ITSM platforms, and CRM or ERP tools.
Hands‑on experience with Enterprise GPT platforms (e.g., Glean, Claude) and automation tools (e.g., n8n, Zapier, Make).
Familiarity with enterprise security concepts such as RBAC, least privilege, SSO, SAML, OAuth, OIDC, and auditability.
Experience working in cross‑functional delivery teams that pair solution building with business process transformation, user enablement, and change support.
Operate as a builder and long‑term advisor, not just an implementer.
Comfortable being embedded with business teams while upholding platform and security standards.
Communicate clearly with executives and non‑technical stakeholders about trade‑offs, risks, and impact.
Move fast on prototypes, but know when to slow down for risk, security, or cost.
Stay current on the cutting edge of AI — new models, MCP developments, agentic frameworks, and emerging tooling — and bring relevant innovations back to AHEAD.
Continuously scan the business for friction points and unmet needs; show up with ideas, not just execution.
Work effectively as part of a small, embedded team where technical build, business problem framing, and adoption support are closely coordinated.