Lead Forward-Deployed AI Engineer

84.51˚; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 125,000 - 207,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k) with Roth option

Health Savings Account with matching

Paid time off and holidays

Job summary

84.51° Lead Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) sought to join the AI SDLC team, accelerating AI-enabled SDLC across Kroger and 84.51°. You will write code alongside developers, embed with delivery teams, and shape how AI tooling and policies evolve in enterprise workflows.

This hands-on generalist role spans Software Development, Observability, DevEx, Security, and Developer Experience. You’ll lead technical initiatives and contribute code while collaborating with platform and security stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 4-year degree in a technology related discipline (CS, CE, IS) or equivalent work experience.
• 5+ years of experience producing high-quality software on Agile development teams; Python and Java preferred.
• 5+ years of experience with public cloud technologies (Azure preferred).
• 3+ years of experience in Platform Engineering, DevEx, or related roles.
• Demonstrable experience working with Coding Agent Harnesses and related tooling in an enterprise setting (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor).
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with demonstrated experience leveraging these skills with technical teams and non-technical business units.
• Familiarity with AI concepts such as LLMs, Agents, Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Responsibilities

• Exemplify best-practice for software delivery with Agentic Coding tools (such as Claude Code)
• Regularly document and present learnings gleaned from embedded work or experiments to the AI Enablement organization
• Ensure accurate observability of adoption and usage patterns of agentic Coding tools using Datadog, Dynatrace or other related observability tools
• Bridge the gap between Platform offerings and User adoption or usage patterns, discovering and documenting any gaps in capability and experience
• Closely monitor and maintain our internal Plugin Marketplaces or similar to enhance usability of offerings
• Ensure we hit SLAs and lead incident management procedures
• Engage with other technology, infrastructure, and product teams as necessary to complete tasks
• Participate routinely in team on-call rotation and customer support during business hours

Skills

Agile development

Python

Java

Azure

Platform Engineering

Agent Harnesses

Interpersonal skills

Willingness to learn

AI concepts

Education

4-year degree in tech

Tools

Claude Code

Codex

Cursor

Terraform

Spacelift

Kubernetes

Helm

Datadog

Dynatrace

Job description

84.51° Lead Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) sought to join the AI SDLC team, accelerating AI-enabled SDLC across Kroger and 84.51°. You will write code alongside developers, embed with delivery teams, and shape how AI tooling and policies evolve in enterprise workflows.

This hands-on generalist role spans Software Development, Observability, DevEx, Security, and Developer Experience. You’ll lead technical initiatives and contribute code while collaborating with platform and security stakeholders.