Hands-On AI Forward-Engineering Cell Lead

EY; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 126,000 - 262,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid model in some roles

Medical and dental coverage

401(k) plans

Paid time off

Job summary

EY is seeking a Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems within a client engagement. You’ll be embedded with the client, directing a small cell, and balancing business outcomes with technical tradeoffs under regulated constraints.

With 8+ years of enterprise delivery, you’ll design, implement, and stabilize critical solutions, while managing stakeholders and maintaining production readiness in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 8+ years delivering complex enterprise systems, ideally in regulated or client-facing contexts.
• Hands‑on engineering depth across integration-heavy architectures, cloud platforms, and distributed systems.
• Experience with modern AI-enabled application stacks (e.g., agentic systems, orchestration frameworks, LLM-backed services).
• Proven ability to operate in forward-deployed, customer-facing, or solutions-architecture roles, owning outcomes end to end.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a small technical team while remaining an individual contributor.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end outcome delivery for the cell, including scoping, tradeoffs, technical direction, and production readiness.
• Embed directly with the client to define the real problem and translate business needs into an executable technical solution.
• Serve as the primary technical interface and trusted advisor to client stakeholders, managing expectations and communications.
• Stay hands-on, designing and building critical parts of the solution and diving into the client’s data and code when needed.
• Deploy, adapt, and stabilize solutions in the client environment, owning release readiness and runtime accountability.
• Direct the work of the cell’s Implementation Engineer and Data Engineer to ensure coherent, production-grade outcomes.
• Ensure deployments meet safety, integrity, and cost constraints, coordinating with control authorities and governance teams.

Skills

Outcome ownership

Client presence

Hands-on engineering

AI-enabled systems

Solutions architecture

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

EY is seeking a Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems within a client engagement. You’ll be embedded with the client, directing a small cell, and balancing business outcomes with technical tradeoffs under regulated constraints.

With 8+ years of enterprise delivery, you’ll design, implement, and stabilize critical solutions, while managing stakeholders and maintaining production readiness in a dynamic environment.