Forward Deployed Engineer Lead

HCLTech; New Jersey; On-site; USD 164,000 - 263,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

Paid holidays

Life & disability insurance

Job summary

HCLTech in the United States is seeking a Forward Deployed Engineer Lead to drive AI-enabled client delivery. You will embed with client teams, prototype solutions, lead a small pod, and ensure secure, scalable deployments using DevSecOps practices.

You will own end-to-end outcomes, apply GenAI capabilities to improve productivity, and mentor engineers while shaping technical direction for the engagement.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering fundamentals and full-stack delivery.
• Experience with standards-based integrations, DevOps/DevSecOps, and test automation.
• Conceptual fluency in AI/GenAI and use of AI coding assistants.
• Ability to conceptualize solutions in ambiguous, customer-embedded settings.
• Client-facing maturity and ability to own outcomes.
• Experience mentoring or leading small teams.

Responsibilities

• Conceptualize fast, embed with stakeholders, and prototype solutions quickly.
• Drive delivery and operational efficiency with measurable ROI.
• Engineer with AI leverage across the SDLC to boost productivity and quality.
• Develop agents and automation to improve delivery and operations.
• Ensure reliable AI output with prompt engineering and context practices.
• Design standards-based integrations with client ecosystems.
• Create reusable assets, templates and patterns for reuse.
• Prototype and iterate quickly over big upfront design.
• Own DevOps/DevSecOps: CI/CD and shift-left security.
• Lead and mentor a small team to raise engineering standards.

Skills

Software engineering fundamentals

AI/GenAI fluency

Client-facing maturity

Team leadership

DevOps/DevSecOps

Job description

HCLTech is looking for a highly talented and self- motivated Forward Deployed Engineer Leadto join it in advancing the technological world through innovation and creativity.

Job Title: Forward Deployed Engineer Lead

Job ID: 151243

Position Type: Full-time

Location: New York/New Jersey Area

About the role

As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you operate at the front line of delivery; embedded with the client, turning ambiguous business problems into working software, fast. You own the outcome end to end: conceptualize the solution, prototype it, integrate it into the client's real environment, harden it, and lead a small team to ship and sustain it. You are part builder, part consultant, and an engineer who uses AI/GenAI as a force multiplier for delivery and operational efficiency. You bring HCLTech's AI/GenAI capabilities to life inside the client's world, with Responsible AI and security as non-negotiables.

What you'll do

• Conceptualize fast: embed with stakeholders, rapidly frame a solution to a business problem, and stand up a working prototype in days, not weeks.
• Own efficiency as the scorecard: drive measurable delivery efficiency and operational efficiency ; shorter cycle times, less manual effort, lower defect leakage, clear ROI.
• Engineer with AI leverage: use AI coding assistants / toolset across the SDLC to lift your own and the pod's productivity and quality.
• Apply agents and automation: work with coding agents, custom agents and reusable skills to automate delivery and operations workflows; build them where the problem warrants it.
• Get reliable AI output: apply prompt engineering and sound context practices (context engineering, prompt caching, RAG / context-graph patterns) so AI output is accurate, cost-aware and production-grade.
• Integrate to standards: design standards-based integrations using proven integration patterns that plug into client ecosystems predictably and securely.
• Make reusability and predictability the default: build assets, templates and patterns the pod and account can re-apply, so outcomes are consistent and repeatable.
• Prototype and iterate quickly: favor fast, testable prototypes over big up-front design; learn from each loop.
• Own DevOps and DevSecOps: CI/CD, shift-left security, infrastructure-as-code, and automated testing built in from day one.
• Run a continuous, adaptable feedback loop: use telemetry, quality signals, evals and client feedback to iterate both the solution and the AI behind it.
• Stay ahead of the curve: adopt emerging AI and engineering concepts quickly, and bring field learnings back to the practice.
• Lead and mentor: set technical direction for a lean team of 3 or 4, raise the engineering bar, and grow the pod's overall capability and AI fluency.

What you’ll bring (must-have)

• Strong software engineering fundamentals - design, clean code, version control, testing, sound architecture; with hands-on full-stack delivery.
• Proven experience with standards-based integrations, integration patterns, DevOps/DevSecOps and test automation.
• Conceptual fluency in AI/GenAI and a working habit of using AI coding assistants for productivity; understands what agents, prompting, RAG and context graphs are and where they add value.
• Ability to conceptualize solutions to business problems quickly and operate effectively in ambiguous, customer-embedded settings.
• Client-facing maturity: translates fluidly between technical and non-technical stakeholders, and owns outcomes.
• Experience mentoring or leading small teams.

What great looks like (strongly preferred)

• Hands-on experience building custom agents and reusable skills, not just consuming AI tools.
• Practical command of prompt engineering, context engineering, prompt caching and RAG / context-graph design, including cost and latency optimization.
• Experience designing agentic / GenAI solutions on platforms such as GHCP, Claude Code, Kiro, Cursor or comparable (multi-LLM, Responsible AI, governance-aware).
• A track record of turning field patterns into reusable accelerators adopted beyond a single engagement.

Pay and Benefits

Pay Range Minimum: $164,000 base per year

Pay Range Maximum: $263,000 base per year

HCLTech is an equal opportunity employer, committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees regardless of race, religion, sex, color, age, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, physical disability or genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with federal, state, and/or local law. Should any applicant have concerns about discrimination in the hiring process, they should provide a detailed report of those concerns to [e-mail] for investigation.

A candidate’s pay within the range will depend on their skills, experience, education, and other factors permitted by law. This role may also be eligible for performance-based bonuses subject to company policies. In addition, this role is eligible for the following benefits subject to company policies: medical, dental, vision, pharmacy, life, accidental death & dismemberment, and disability insurance; employee assistance program; 401(k) retirement plan; 10 days of paid time off per year (some positions are eligible for need-based leave with no designated number of leave days per year); and 10 paid holidays per year

How You’ll Grow

At HCLTech, we offer continuous opportunities for you to find your spark and grow with us. We want you to be happy and satisfied with your role and to really learn what type of work sparks your brilliance the best. Throughout your time with us, we offer transparent communication with senior-level employees, learning and career development programs at every level, and opportunities to experiment in different roles or even pivot industries. We believe that you should be in control of your career with unlimited opportunities to find the role that fits you best.