Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Public Sector, Nonprofit & Education

salesforce.com, inc.; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce is seeking Forward Deployed Engineers to design, build, and deploy agentic AI solutions directly inside enterprise environments. You will join a delivery team, partnering with a Deployment Strategist to ship production-ready solutions from day one.

You will own end-to-end components, work with data pipelines, and collaborate across product teams while traveling about 25% to customer sites. The role emphasizes hands-on AI, experimentation, and customer outcomes.

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• 3+ years of software engineering or technical delivery experience with at least one production system.
• Prior customer-facing technical delivery experience required.
• Experience delivering projects in Public Sector, Higher Education, or Nonprofit environments.
• Fluent in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, or Apex; willingness to expand.

Responsibilities

• Build and deploy AI-powered customer solutions within enterprise environments.
• Collaborate with Senior Forward Deployed Engineers and Deployment Strategist on end-to-end deliveries.
• Design agent intelligence, prompts, reasoning, and tool calls integrated with customer systems.
• Own data pipelines and platforms; ship production-grade components with observability.
• Develop dashboards and KPI reporting to monitor health and outcomes.
• Contribute to proofs-of-concept and MVPs for rapid deployment.
• Partner with customers to translate challenges into shippable agentic solutions.

Skills

Python

JavaScript/TypeScript

Apex

LLM Prompts

Data Modeling

APIs

Cloud / AI Stack

Salesforce Platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

LangChain

LlamaIndex

Job description

Overview

Salesforce is hiring Forward Deployed Engineers — experienced Technical Builders who design, build, and deploy agentic AI solutions directly inside enterprise customer environments. You will work as part of a delivery team, partnering with a Deployment Strategist to co-build solutions that go live in production from day one. Engagements range from a single large strategic customer to multiple accounts. The work spans configuration, customization, and full-stack deployment with measurable business impact.

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, focused on delivering customer success through AI, innovation, and core values. We seek Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI and keeping Salesforce\'s values at the heart of our work. The role is open to ongoing applications for eligible candidates.

Your Role

Production experience is required. A builder mindset is non-negotiable. You will contribute to AI-powered development, design agent intelligence, own technical components end-to-end, and work with data pipelines and platforms to ship solutions in production.

• AI-Powered Development: Ship real customer solutions with AI tools and Salesforce products embedded into daily workflows.
• Collaborative Delivery: Work with Senior Forward Deployed Engineers and a Deployment Strategist; own real components and progress from mentorship to leadership of complex deliveries.
• Frontier Access: Work on evolving capabilities spanning Agentforce, data, platform, and headless architectures; provide field insights to product teams.
• Continuous Innovation: Stay at the forefront of emerging AI tools and models and share learnings with the team and customers.

What You'll Actually Be Building

• Develop AI agents and experiences that take real actions for real organizations; align with production-scale customers.
• Design agent intelligence including prompts, reasoning, tool calls, and integration with customer systems.
• Own end-to-end technical components from architecture to deployment and observability.
• Build and integrate data pipelines with Salesforce Data 360, Snowflake, Databricks, and customer data platforms; model data and validate outputs.
• Create agent performance dashboards and KPI reporting to track health and business outcomes.
• Contribute to proofs-of-concept and MVPs that move from sketch to deployable quickly.
• Co-build with customers and partners, sharing best practices and enabling teams for future engagements.
• Surface platform gaps and field insights to senior engineers and product teams as feedback.
• Partner with the Deployment Strategist to translate customer challenges into shippable agentic solutions.

Qualifications

• You have a degree in Computer Science or a related field.
• 3+ years of software engineering or technical delivery experience, with at least one production system you can discuss; ideally in an AI tech stack or full-stack development.
• Prior customer-facing technical delivery experience (consulting, professional services, or forward deployed engineering) is required.
• Proven experience delivering customer-facing projects within Public Sector, Higher Education, or Nonprofit environments.
• Fluent in at least one of Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, or Apex; willingness to expand as needed.
• Hands-on with LLMs and prompt engineering; able to explain why a prompt failed and what you would change.
• Deep understanding of data modeling, APIs, and integration patterns; able to design them, not just consume.
• Ability to engage with sales teams and customer architects.
• Ships quality code and evaluates AI outputs with engineering rigor.
• Curious about the evolving AI/data landscape; pilots new tools and models.
• Thrives in collaborative environments; enjoys building together.
• Willing to travel approximately 25% of the time to work directly with customers.

Nice-to-Haves

• Salesforce platform experience or certifications (Administrator, Platform Developer I, Agentforce Specialist).
• Familiarity with agent frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex) and orchestration patterns.
• Hands-on with cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery).
• Experience across specialist AI delivery areas: data engineering, platform architecture, or headless deployments.

Accommodations and Compliance

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or recruiting process, please submit a request via the Accommodations Request Form.

Salesforce uses AI tools to aid recruiters in assessing candidates. Humans make final hiring decisions. See the Candidate Privacy Statement for details.

Posting and Diversity Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or other protected classifications. Details on compensation and benefits are provided where applicable and described in company policy.

Base salary ranges vary by location. The range provided is for general guidance and may differ by location. Recruiters can share specific salary information during the hiring process.