Forward Deployed Engineer III, Google Cloud, Applied AI

Google; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 174,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid time off

Sick leave

Maternity leave

Baby bonding leave

Holidays

Job summary

Google is hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) in Applied AI to lead the end-to-end delivery of conversational AI pilots for our largest customers. You will transform rapid prototypes into production-ready solutions and own the lifecycle from concept to scalable, secure AI systems at customer sites.

This high-travel role requires software engineering, ML operations, and cloud infrastructure expertise to drive customer success and measurable business value.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5 years of experience with software development using Python or similar coding languages.
• Experience architecting AI systems on cloud platforms (e.g., GCP).
• Experience deploying resources via Terraform or similar tools to automate the setup of agents, functions, or networking.
• Experience building full-stack applications that interact with enterprise IT infrastructures and developing external customer projects.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead developer for conversational artificial intelligence (AI) and customer experience (CX) applications, transitioning from rapid prototypes to production-grade agentic workflows.
• Architect and code conversational flows that are optimized for the connection between Google’s Conversational AI products and customers’ live infrastructure, including APIs, legacy data silos, and security perimeters.
• Build high-performance evaluation (Eval) pipelines and observability frameworks to optimize agentic workloads, focusing on reasoning loops, tool selection, and reducing latency while maintaining production-grade security and networking.
• Identify repeatable field patterns and technical 'friction points' in Google’s AAI stack, converting them into reusable modules or product feature requests for Engineering teams.
• Co-build with customer engineering teams to instill Google-grade development best practices, ensuring long-term project success and high end-user adoption.

Skills

Python

AI systems on cloud platforms (GCP)

Terraform

Full-stack applications integration

Enterprise IT integration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field

Master’s degree or PhD in AI/CS or related technical field

Tools

Terraform

GCP

ReAct

Job description

In most instances, this position requires in-person interviews as part of the hiring process.

The application window will be open until at least September 30, 2026. This opportunity will remain online based on business needs which may be before or after the specified date.

This role may also be located in our Playa Vista, CA campus.

Applicants in the County of Los Angeles: Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

Applicants in San Francisco: Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:

• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year

Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: San Francisco, CA, USA; Atlanta, GA, USA; Boulder, CO, USA; Chicago, IL, USA; Addison, TX, USA; Austin, TX, USA; Irvine, CA, USA; San Diego, CA, USA; Seattle, WA, USA; Sunnyvale, CA, USA; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New York, NY, USA

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5 years of experience with software development using Python or similar coding languages.
• Experience architecting AI systems on cloud platforms (e.g., GCP).
• Experience deploying resources via Terraform or similar tools to automate the setup of agents, functions, or networking.
• Experience building full-stack applications that interact with enterprise IT infrastructures and developing external customer projects.

Preferred qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in AI, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• Experience implementing multi-agent systems using frameworks like ReAct and self-reflection.
• Experience debugging Agent logic and optimizing tool selection, including tracing conversation IDs across microservices to identify and resolve failures in real-time.
• Experience connecting agents to enterprise knowledge bases and optimizing RAG chunking to prevent hallucinations.
• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time.
• Track record of troubleshooting live, high-traffic systems during critical windows.

About the job

As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) in Applied AI, you are the "Agent Engineer" and the primary driver for our customers' most critical AI initiatives. You take initial conversational prototypes and transform them into production-ready solutions, owning the end-to-end engineering life-cycle, including the transition from "Art of the Possible" to real-world business value and scalable, secure AI systems. In this high-travel, high-impact role, you will focus on leading technical delivery for Conversational AI pilots and establishing the first Customer User Journeys (CUJs) for our largest customers at their sites. Your role requires an understanding of software engineering, machine learning operations, and cloud infrastructure. It's an exciting time to join Google Cloud’s Go-To-Market team, leading the AI revolution for businesses worldwide. You’ll leverage Google's brand credibility—a legacy built on inventing foundational technologies and proven at scale. We’ll provide you with the world's most advanced AI portfolio, including frontier Gemini models, and the complete Vertex AI platform, helping you to solve business problems. We’re a collaborative culture providing direct access to DeepMind's engineering and research minds, empowering you to solve customer challenges. Join us to be the catalyst for our mission, drive customer success, and define the new cloud era—the market is yours. Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $174000 - $252000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits

Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead developer for conversational artificial intelligence (AI) and customer experience (CX) applications, transitioning from rapid prototypes to production-grade agentic workflows.
• Architect and code conversational flows that are not just functional, but optimized for the 'connective tissue' between Google’s Conversational AI products and customers’ live infrastructure, including APIs, legacy data silos, and security perimeters.
• Build high-performance evaluation (Eval) pipelines and observability frameworks to optimize agentic workloads, focusing on reasoning loops, tool selection, and reducing latency while maintaining production-grade security and networking.
• Identify repeatable field patterns and technical 'friction points' in Google’s AAI stack, converting them into reusable modules or product feature requests for Engineering teams.
• Co-build with customer engineering teams to instill Google-grade development best practices, ensuring long-term project success and high end-user adoption.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. See also Google's EEO Policy and EEO is the Law. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know by completing our Accommodations for Applicants form.