Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Seattle

vibehackers; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Hybrid work model

Travel opportunities

Job summary

OpenAI is seeking Forward Deployed Engineers to partner with customers, design and deploy production systems powered by frontier models. You will lead end-to-end technical delivery from scoping and design to adoption, working with customer teams and internal Product, Research, and GTM partners.

Based in Seattle with a hybrid schedule (3 days in the office per week), relocation assistance, and travel up to 50% to collaborate with Product, Research and Partnerships.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of engineering or technical deployment experience with customer-facing work.
• Experience scoping and delivering complex systems in fast-moving environments.
• Experience building or deploying systems powered by LLMs or generative models.
• Strong communication with engineers, product teams, and customer stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical delivery across deployments from prototype to production.
• Build full-stack systems that deliver customer value and inform learning loops.
• Embed with customer engineering and domain teams to guide adoption and implementation.
• Scope work, sequence delivery, remove blockers, and balance scope, speed, and quality.
• Contribute code directly when necessary and review production-grade code.
• Codify working patterns into tools, playbooks, or reusable building blocks.
• Share field feedback to inform Research and Product about model performance and product experience.
• Keep cross-functional teams aligned and ensure follow-through.

Skills

System Design

Full-stack Development

Customer-facing

Delivery

Technical Scoping

Deployment and Rollout

Production Operations

Code Contribution and Review

Cross-functional Collaboration

Stakeholder Communication

Risk Identification and Mitigation

Decision Making

Playbook and Tooling Creation

Job description

Directly builds and deploys LLM/generative-model powered systems for customers, so it's centered on AI-driven product delivery and productionizing models.

About the Role

Forward Deployed Engineers at OpenAI partner with customers to design, build, and roll out production systems powered by frontier models. The role leads end-to-end technical delivery—scoping, system design, implementation, and production adoption—working closely with customer teams and internal Product, Research, and GTM partners.

Job Description

Role

Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) at OpenAI lead complex end-to-end deployments of frontier models in production alongside strategic customers. FDEs own discovery, technical scoping, system design, implementation, and production rollout, and measure success by production adoption, measurable workflow impact, and evaluation-driven feedback.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead technical delivery across multiple deployments from prototype to stable production.
• Build full-stack systems that deliver customer value and inform learning loops.
• Embed with customer engineering and domain teams to guide adoption and implementation.
• Scope work, sequence delivery, remove blockers, and make trade-offs between scope, speed, and quality.
• Contribute code directly when necessary and review production-grade code across frontend and backend.
• Codify working patterns into tools, playbooks, or reusable building blocks.
• Share field feedback to inform Research and Product about model performance and product experience.
• Keep cross-functional teams aligned and ensure follow-through.

Requirements

• 5+ years of engineering or technical deployment experience that includes customer-facing work.
• Experience scoping and delivering complex systems in fast-moving or ambiguous environments.
• Experience building or deploying systems powered by LLMs or generative models and understanding how model behavior affects product experience.
• Strong communication skills with engineers, product teams, and customer stakeholders; ability to identify risks and make sound decisions under pressure.

Location & Logistics

• Based in Seattle; hybrid work model with 3 days in the office per week.
• Relocation assistance offered.
• Travel up to 50% required.
• Work closely with Product, Research, Partnerships, GRC, Security, and GTM teams.

Skills

System Design Full-stack Development Customer-facing Delivery Technical Scoping Deployment and Rollout Production Operations Code Contribution and Review Cross-functional Collaboration Stakeholder Communication Risk Identification and Mitigation Decision Making Playbook and Tooling Creation

Experience Level

Senior

Employment Type

FullTime

• Hybrid schedule (3 days in office per week)