Founding FDE Manager: Enterprise AI Deployments

Anthropic; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 320,000 - 405,000; Full time

Job summary

Anthropic is seeking a founding Forward Deployed Engineering Manager to build and scale a new enterprise deployment practice. You’ll hire, mentor, and lead a world-class FDE team, set technical and operational standards, and partner with Sales, Product, and Engineering to drive strategic customer engagements.

In this player‑coach role, you’ll stay hands-on on architecture reviews and debugging when needed, while shaping playbooks, staffing, and the culture that turns zero-to-one initiatives into

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, solutions architecture, or a technical customer-facing role such as forward deployed engineering or consulting.
• 2+ years of people management experience within a services/post-sales/FDE organization with a track record of hiring, developing, and retaining strong engineers.
• Experience building organizations from 0→1, not just inheriting an existing one.
• Experience working directly with enterprise customers on technical implementations, including comfort navigating complex organizational dynamics.
• Executive presence with the ability to move fluidly between strategic conversations with senior stakeholders and hands-on debugging sessions with engineers.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills. You can translate technical complexity into clear narratives for diverse audiences.
• Genuine excitement about building something new and defining what great looks like for a team that doesn't yet exist.

Responsibilities

• Hire, develop, and retain a world-class team of Forward Deployed Engineers. Set a high bar for technical talent and customer instincts.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, provide technical mentorship, and invest in the career growth of each team member. Create an environment where FDEs do the best work of their careers.
• Staff and oversee customer engagements across your team's portfolio, making resource allocation decisions that balance customer needs, team development, and business priorities.
• Collaborate with account teams and Engagement Managers during the pre-sales process to qualify engagements, scope work, and inform statements of work.
• Review technical architectures and code produced by your FDEs, ensuring the team ships high-quality, production-ready solutions that solve real customer problems.
• Stay hands-on enough to lead technical discovery sessions, prototype solutions, and debug complex issues alongside your team when needed.
• Build repeatable playbooks, starter repositories, integration templates, and an internal knowledge base that captures what your team learns in the field.
• Define team OKRs that tie to customer success outcomes and product adoption goals. Create operational cadences — standups, retros, engagement reviews — that keep the team aligned.
• Partner with Product and Engineering to translate field insights into product improvements. Serve as the voice of the customer in internal planning.
• Travel to customer sites as needed (25‑50%), particularly during engagement kickoffs and for your team's highest‑priority accounts.

Skills

Leadership

Enterprise deployments

People management

Client facing

Strategic influence

Job description

Anthropic is seeking a founding Forward Deployed Engineering Manager to build and scale a new enterprise deployment practice. You’ll hire, mentor, and lead a world-class FDE team, set technical and operational standards, and partner with Sales, Product, and Engineering to drive strategic customer engagements.

In this player‑coach role, you’ll stay hands-on on architecture reviews and debugging when needed, while shaping playbooks, staffing, and the culture that turns zero-to-one initiatives into