Lead AI Forward Engineer — Client‑Facing, Production‑Ready

EY; Houston (TX); Hybrid; USD 126,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Medical and dental coverage

Flexible vacation policy

Job summary

EY seeks a hands-on Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems in regulated environments. Embedded with the client, you will define problems, translate needs into technical solutions, and lead a small cell to produce secure, production-grade outcomes.

The role emphasizes direct client engagement, technical direction, and accountability for business outcomes, with a focus on safety, compliance, and operational excellence.

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.
• Strong stakeholder-management skills, including managing client expectations under pressure.
• Solid understanding of software delivery lifecycle, quality gates, and production readiness in enterprise settings.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end outcome delivery for the cell, including scoping, tradeoffs, technical direction, and production readiness, taking accountability for the business outcome, not just the code.
• Embed directly with the client to define the real problem and translate ambiguous business needs into an executable technical solution under regulatory and environmental constraints.
• Serve as the primary technical interface and trusted advisor to client stakeholders, managing expectations, communicating tradeoffs, and sustaining the trust that drives adoption.
• Stay hands-on, personally designing and building critical parts of the solution, and diving deep into the client’s systems, data, and codebase when the engagement requires it.
• Deploy, adapt, and stabilize solutions in the client environment using supported templates and profiles, owning release readiness and runtime accountability for what the cell ships.
• Direct the work of the cell’s Implementation Engineer and Data Engineer, ensuring integrations, orchestration, and data readiness come together into a coherent, production-grade outcome.
• Ensure every deployment meets safety, integrity, and cost constraints, partnering with control authorities and the Distinguished AFE on safe-to-ship decisions for regulated environments.

Skills

Outcome ownership

Client presence

Hands-on engineering

Technical judgment

Communicating tradeoffs

Autonomy in small teams

Pragmatic mindset

Education

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

Job description

EY seeks a hands-on Lead Forward Deployed Engineer to own end-to-end delivery of AI-native systems in regulated environments. Embedded with the client, you will define problems, translate needs into technical solutions, and lead a small cell to produce secure, production-grade outcomes.

The role emphasizes direct client engagement, technical direction, and accountability for business outcomes, with a focus on safety, compliance, and operational excellence.