Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

International Business Machines Corporation; San Jose (CA); Remote; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) Consulting seeks a seasoned Forward Deployed Engineer specialized in Artificial Intelligence to tackle cognitive computing challenges. You will leverage data analysis and business acumen to deliver comprehensive AI solutions across structured and unstructured data.

Lead the design of AI solutions, collaborate across teams, deploy production-grade agents, and optimize systems using Python and modern AI frameworks.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership of production agent deployments (orchestration, reliability, scale).
• MCP architecture: designing MCP servers and tools as the integration backbone for agents.
• Output-evaluation frameworks owned at leadership level: eval strategy, golden datasets, LLM-as-judge, CI evals, guardrails, production monitoring.

Responsibilities

• Architect AI Solutions: Design and deliver AI solutions using foundation models and large language models with tools like Copilot / Code Whisperer.
• Develop Cognitive Computing Systems: Build cognitive solutions processing structured and unstructured data with NLP, ML, TensorFlow/PyTorch/Keras.
• Collaborate on AI Projects: Manage full AI lifecycle from research to production, using cloud platforms and databases.
• Drive AI Innovation: Create innovative AI solutions; apply Python across projects to solve business problems.
• Optimize AI Systems: Improve AI systems with libraries like SciKit-Learn, Pandas, Matplotlib; leverage cloud services.

Skills

Production deployments

MCP architecture

Output evaluation

Python

OpenAI API

Codex

Agents SDK

Event-driven

Workflow automation

Observability

Cloud platforms

Relational databases

NoSQL databases

NLP

ML

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Keras

Github Copilot

Amazon Code Whisperer

SciKit-Learn

Pandas

Matplotlib

OpenAI API

Job description

Introduction

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You'll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you'll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You'll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences.

Introduction

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You'll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you'll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You'll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences.

Your Role And Responsibilities

As a seasoned Forward Deployed Engineer specializing in Artificial Intelligence, you will leverage your expertise in combining data analysis and business acumen to tackle complex cognitive computing challenges. Your strong foundation in AI, NLP, and ML will enable you to deliver comprehensive cognitive solutions that effectively process and analyze both structured and unstructured data.

Your Primary Responsibilities Will Include

• Architect AI Solutions: Design and deliver AI solutions using cutting-edge technologies, with a strong focus on foundation models and large language models, utilizing tools like Github Copilot and Amazon Code Whisperer.
• Develop Cognitive Computing Systems: Create comprehensive cognitive solutions that effectively process and analyze both structured and unstructured data, leveraging expertise in NLP, ML, and AI frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Keras.
• Collaborate on AI Projects: Work on full AI project lifecycle, from research and prototyping to deployment in production environments, utilizing cloud platforms, relational and NoSQL databases, and modern UI frameworks.
• Drive AI Innovation: Pioneer innovative AI solutions, leveraging strong programming skills in Python and experience with AI frameworks, to solve complex business problems and drive cognitive computing advancements.
• Optimize AI Systems: Guide the optimization of AI systems, ensuring effective usage of libraries such as SciKit Learn, Pandas, and Matplotlib, and familiarity with cloud platforms and related services.

This job can be performed from anywhere in the US.

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• Demonstrated leadership of production agent deployments: orchestration architecture (multi-agent coordination, tool routing, state, retries, HITL), reliability, and scale
• MCP architecture: designing MCP servers and tools as the integration backbone for agents
• Output-evaluation frameworks owned at a leadership level: eval strategy, golden datasets, LLM-as-judge, regression/CI evals, guardrails, and production monitoring of agent quality
• Expert Python; OpenAI API + Codex (or equivalent) / OpenAI Agents SDK; event-driven systems; workflow automation; observability/tracing
• Integration architecture into enterprise systems of record

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• Experience defining org-wide standards for how agents are built and orchestrated
• Track record taking agents from prototype to proven production operation