Forward Deployed Engineer (Internship)

CustomerInsights.AI; New Jersey; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

CustomerInsights.AI is seeking Forward Deployed Engineers to work directly with pharmaceutical clients, translating business challenges into structured AI-enabled solutions. You will design approaches, develop prototypes, and drive adoption of delivered solutions with cross-functional teams.

Strong communication, problem solving, and ownership are essential as you navigate ambiguity and deliver measurable business outcomes in a dynamic, platform-led environment.

Qualifications

• Strong problem-solving ability to break down ambiguous business problems.
• Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, databases and APIs.
• Good understanding of machine learning fundamentals and model evaluation.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for diverse audiences.
• Ability to interact with customers and translate feedback into solutions.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with customers to understand goals, workflows and constraints.
• Break down complex problems into clear requirements and measurable outcomes.
• Lead discovery conversations with stakeholders about goals, pain points and success metrics.
• Translate business challenges into structured solution approaches and plans.
• Develop prototypes and production-ready solutions with senior engineers guidance.
• Build LLM workflows, AI agents, data pipelines and lightweight apps.

Skills

Problem solving

Data structures

APIs & integration

Communication

Ambiguity tolerance

Customer empathy

Ownership

Five globalization considerations

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Python

SQL

REST APIs

CI/CD basics

Job description

CustomerInsights.AI builds analytics and AI infrastructure for pharmaceutical commercial organizations. Founded in 2018 by pharma and analytics leaders, CIAI works across sales, marketing, market access, patient services, and commercial operations for clients ranging from emerging biotech to some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

Our platform-led delivery model develops reusable data, analytics, and AI capabilities that help organizations reconcile fragmented data, strengthen data governance and lineage, and make complex commercial information accessible through scalable applications and intelligent workflows.

About the Role

We are looking for highly capable graduates who thrive in ambiguity and enjoy solving real-world business problems through technology. As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you will operate at the intersection of customer engagement, problem solving, technical execution, and communication.

Unlike traditional engineering roles, FDEs work directly with customers and stakeholders to understand business challenges, identify opportunities, design solution approaches, rapidly develop prototypes, and drive successful adoption of delivered solutions.

Successful FDEs combine the curiosity of a consultant, the execution ability of an engineer, the structured thinking of a problem solver, and the communication skills required to build trust with customers. They are comfortable navigating ambiguity, learning new domains quickly, and turning ideas into measurable business outcomes.

What You Will Do

• Work directly with customers and business stakeholders to understand their goals, workflows and technical constraints.
• Break down complex, ambiguous problems into clear requirements, solution components and measurable outcomes.
• Lead discovery conversations with customers and stakeholders to understand business goals, pain points, workflows and success metrics.
• Translate ambiguous business challenges into structured solution approaches, implementation plans and measurable outcomes.
• Challenge assumptions, identify root causes and recommend practical solutions that balance business value and technical feasibility.
• Rapidly develop prototypes and proof-of-concepts to validate ideas and accelerate customer feedback.
• Build LLM workflows, retrieval-augmented generation solutions, AI agents, APIs, data pipelines and lightweight applications.
• Convert proof-of-concepts into secure, reliable and maintainable production solutions with guidance from senior engineers.
• Test, evaluate, debug and improve solutions for accuracy, performance, scalability and user experience.
• Present solution approaches, trade-offs, demonstrations and results to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Document requirements, architecture, implementation decisions, test results and operating guidance.
• Collaborate with small, cross-functional teams and adapt quickly as customers’ needs and priorities evolve.
• Continuously learn new technologies, domains and delivery methods, and apply them to real-world problems.

Who We Are Looking For

• Strong problem-solving ability and intellectual curiosity. Able to break down ambiguous business problems, ask thoughtful questions, identify root causes and develop structured solution approaches.
• Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, databases, APIs, software engineering fundamentals and basic system design.
• Good understanding of machine learning fundamentals, including training, evaluation, feature engineering, experimentation and error analysis.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex ideas simply.
• Confidence interacting with customers, asking thoughtful questions and receiving feedback constructively.
• High agency, ownership and resourcefulness. We are looking for individuals who naturally take initiative, learn independently, and move projects forward without requiring detailed instructions.
• Strong candidates are comfortable operating in ambiguous environments and enjoy figuring things out.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences and build confidence with customers and stakeholders.

Preferred Technical Exposure

The technologies listed below are representative examples rather than specific requirements. We value learning agility, engineering fundamentals and problem-solving ability over experience with any framework or platform.

• AI and Machine Learning: Supervised and unsupervised learning, deep learning, natural language processing, predictive modelling, model evaluation and explainable AI.
• Generative and Agentic AI: LLM application development, prompt engineering, RAG, vector databases, embeddings, evaluation, guardrails, multi-agent concepts, LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen or Semantic Kernel.
• Programming and Application Engineering: Python, SQL, REST APIs, FastAPI or Flask, Git, unit testing, debugging and basic CI/CD.
• Cloud and Data Platforms: Azure, AWS or GCP; Databricks or Snowflake; data pipelines, containerization and basic deployment concepts.

What We Value

• Outcome orientation: A focus on solving meaningful business problems rather than building technology for its own sake.
• Engineering mindset: Attention to quality, reliability, maintainability and responsible use of AI.
• Customer empathy: The ability to understand user context and design solutions that are practical.
• Communication: Clear, concise and audience-appropriate communication in discussions, presentations and documentation.
• Adaptability: Comfort operating in fast-moving environments with evolving priorities.
• Teamwork: Respectful collaboration with colleagues from technical, business and domain backgrounds.
• High Agency: The ability to independently identify opportunities, learn new concepts quickly, take ownership and drive meaningful outcomes with minimal direction.
• Consultative Problem Solving: The ability to understand the underlying business need, ask the right questions and recommend practical solutions rather than simply implementing requested features

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How Success Will Be Measured

• Ability to understand customer challenges and frame effective solution strategies.
• Quality and speed of turning ideas into working prototypes and production-ready solutions.
• Customer adoption and measurable business impact generated by delivered solutions.
• Effectiveness in communicating with customers, stakeholders and technical teams.
• Demonstrated ownership, initiative and ability to navigate ambiguity.
• Growth in technical expertise, domain knowledge and customer-facing effectiveness.