Senior Director, Forward Deployed Engineering

Decision Lens; Arlington (VA); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Decision Lens seeks a Senior Director, Forward Deployed Engineering to lead and personally deliver complex customer engagements while building and mentoring the FDE team. The role embeds in customer environments to design and deploy production‑grade applications and sets technical standards for a growing practice.

The candidate will own end‑to‑end delivery, drive scalable patterns, and translate field insights into product feedback. Travel ~40% and on‑site work at customer locations are expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years in software engineering, forward‑deployed/field engineering, technical consulting, or enterprise delivery.
• 3+ years leading and directly managing technical teams while remaining hands‑on.
• Proven ability to deliver end‑to‑end software across frontend, backend, data, and workflow.
• Experience embedding with customers in complex environments and translating requirements.
• Strong API, data modeling, and deployment pattern knowledge.
• Hands‑on AI‑assisted development tools experience and prudent risk management.
• Eligibility for Secret or above security clearance; travel about 40%.
• Preferred: DoD/DoW, IC, or government consulting background.

Responsibilities

• Own complex customer engagements from discovery through build, stabilization, and transition.
• Develop and lead the Forward Deployed Engineering team; set technical and delivery bar.
• Mentor FDEs on translating ambiguity into deployed software and responsible AI development.
• Lead high‑stakes engagements and provide senior technical and customer credibility.
• Establish engineering standards for security, communication, and clean exits.
• Institutionalize reusable apps, templates, and accelerators to scale delivery.
• Collaborate with Product/Engineering on roadmap, staffing, and account strategy.

Skills

Leadership

Customer embedding

Full-stack delivery

AI-assisted development

Security best practices

Travel ~40%

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS or related field

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

GitHub Copilot

APIs

Data modeling

Job description

The Senior Director, Forward Deployed Engineering is a player-coach who leads Decision Lens’s FDE function while remaining hands-on with customers. This leader builds both solutions and the team that delivers them—embedding in customer environments to design and deploy production-grade applications while hiring, coaching, and setting the technical standard for a growing FDE team.

This role is dedicated to owning complex customer engagements from discovery through build, stabilization, and transition as well as developing the team, establishing consistent delivery practices, and translating field insights into feedback for Product and Engineering.

The Senior Director will personally lead high-stakes engagements, model the standards expected across the team, and step in when senior technical leadership is needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

Customer Delivery

Personally embed onsite with customers on the most strategic, ambiguous, or at-risk engagements—running discovery, workflow mapping, solution design, build, stabilization, and clean handoff.

Design and build working applications on the Decision Lens platform (DataHub/AppHub) across the full stack: frontend, backend, APIs, data layer, workflow logic, and deployment configuration.

Design data models supporting decision workflows—prioritization, scoring, traceability, auditability, and executive reporting.

Use AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate delivery while owning architecture, quality, security, and testing.

Run demo-driven development cycles with frequent customer feedback; take personal responsibility for the reliability and quality of what ships.

Hire, develop, and retain a high-performing team of Forward Deployed Engineers; set the technical and delivery bar and hold the team to it.

Provide hands‑on coaching and code/architecture review; mentor FDEs on translating ambiguity into deployed software and on responsible AI‑assisted development.

Directly manage FDE performance, growth plans, staffing across engagements, and career development.

Step into any FDE’s engagement to unblock, elevate, or provide senior technical and customer credibility when needed.

Establish and enforce standards for engineering discipline, security, customer communication, and clean exit so solutions never become permanently dependent on any individual.

Scaling the Function

Institutionalize reusable apps, templates, integration patterns, workflow components, and data models; build the playbooks and accelerators that let the team scale rather than become a bespoke services shop.

Serve as the senior voice of the field to Product and Engineering, distinguishing one-off customer work from repeatable product opportunity and influencing the roadmap.

Partner cross-functionally with CX, Engineering, Sales, Solutions Engineering, and functional SMEs on solution design, staffing, and account strategy.

Communicate tradeoffs in business, operational, and mission terms; say “no,” “not yet,” or “phase two” gracefully to protect timeline, architecture, and mission outcomes.

Job Qualifications

Required

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

10+ years in software engineering, forward‑deployed/field engineering, technical consulting, or enterprise application delivery, including hands‑on delivery you would still do today.

3+ years leading and directly managing technical teams (engineering, FDE, delivery, or consulting) while remaining personally hands‑on.

Demonstrated ability to build working software end‑to‑end across frontend, backend, data, and workflow logic—and to set the technical standard for others.

Proven track record embedding with customers in complex environments and translating ambiguous requirements into deployed software.

Strong understanding of APIs, data modeling, workflow logic, application security, and deployment patterns.

Hands‑on experience with AI‑assisted development tools and sound judgment about where they help and where they create risk.

Eligibility for Secret or above security clearance required; active clearance strongly preferred.

Willingness to travel ~40% based on customer needs.

Preferred

Active Secret, TS, or TS/SCI clearance.

Experience in DoD/DoW, IC, defense technology, or government consulting.

Familiarity with PPBE, portfolio management, or decision‑support constructs.

Experience with multi‑criteria decision frameworks (weighted scoring, MAUT, AHP), LLMs, AI agents, or configurable workflow platforms.

Familiarity with the Decision Lens platform, Tableau, Power BI, or similar environments.

Track record building reusable frameworks, templates, or accelerators and scaling a delivery team.

Location: Decision Lens operates in a remote‑first environment. Our headquarters are located in Arlington, VA. This role is on the Customer Experience team and requires on‑site work and/or travel at customer locations driven by customer needs and contractual requirements.

Compensation: Thesalary range for this position is $175,000–$250,000 per year. The range reflects that this role may be filled at varying seniority levels; actual compensation will be determined by factors including relevant experience, skills, qualifications, and internal equity. This position is also eligible for a bonus.

Company Overview

Decision Lens is an AI‑driven platform for high‑stakes government decisions, built to give leaders the clarity, speed, and analytical rigor that hard choices between competing priorities demand.

Behind every government budget, program, or policy tradeoff is a leader and a team accountable for the outcome, often working with incomplete information and competing pressures. That’s the problem we’ve dedicated ourselves to solving.

Decision Lens establishes a governed decision framework that connects real‑time data to the criteria and rationale behind every decision, so leaders can make better, faster tradeoffs with confidence and defend them at any point in time.

Decision Lens Inc is an equal opportunity employer, and as such affirms the right of every person to participate in all aspects of employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic.