Sr Forward Deployed Engineer, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering, US Government

Amazon Inc.; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 227,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

RSUs

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Job summary

Amazon Web Services, Inc. seeks a Forward Deployed Engineer to embed with enterprise customers, designing, building, deploying, and running AI-powered production systems. You will own outcomes end-to-end, architect multi-service AI solutions, and mentor junior engineers while driving enterprise-scale deployments.

The role requires US Citizenship and an active TS/SCI clearance with Polygraph, with up to 25% travel. AWS offers comprehensive benefits and RSUs as part of compensation.

Qualifications

• AI systems design experience in building scalable, production AI applications.
• Strong background in building production-grade software and architectures.
• Experience leading multi-workstream AI programs and mentoring engineers.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical delivery across customer engagements.
• Own the technical strategy and execution for complex, multi-workstream customer AI programs.
• Architect and build production AI systems at scale across enterprise-grade requirements.
• Own production excellence across workstreams with standards and incident response playbooks.
• Scale the team's effectiveness through patterns, interviewing, and mentoring.
• Accelerate AI adoption and develop reusable platforms across customer organizations.

Skills

AI systems design

Production-grade software

System architecture

Mentorship

Job description

Job ID: 10517566 | Amazon Web Services, Inc.

A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) embeds directly inside a strategic enterprise customer to design, build, deploy, and run AI-powered production systems alongside the customer's engineering team. FDEs write production-grade software and own outcomes end-to-end, from prototype through enterprise-scale deployment combining the technical rigor of an AWS SDE with the urgency and ownership required to deliver measurable customer business outcomes. They create reusable architectures, patterns, and engineering mechanisms that scale the entire FDE practice.

This position requires that the candidate selected be a US Citizen and currently possess and maintain an active TS/SCI clearance with Polygraph.

Key job responsibilities

• Lead technical delivery across customer engagements.
• Own the technical strategy and execution for complex, multi-workstream customer AI programs. Make architecture decisions that span multiple services and organizational boundaries. Align technical approach with the customer's long-term technology strategy. Requires up to 25% travel.
• Architect and build production AI systems at scale. Design the foundational architectures — multi-agent orchestration, enterprise retrieval systems, decision intelligence platforms — for the most complex customer engagements. Drive clarity where neither the business problem nor technology approach is fully defined. Build production systems that handle enterprise-scale traffic and reliability requirements.
• Own production excellence across workstreams. Define operational standards, evaluation frameworks, and production readiness criteria for AI systems across your engagement scope. Establish mechanisms (testing strategies, observability standards, incident response playbooks) that ensure AI systems remain healthy.
• Scale the team's effectiveness. Define engineering patterns, contribute to the interview and hiring process, and mentor junior FDEs into independent contributors. Coach others on system design, customer engagement, and production operations.
• Accelerate customer transformation. Identify systemic opportunities to expand AI adoption across the customer organization. Create accelerators and reusable platforms that reduce time-to-value from months to weeks. Feed learnings back into AWS services and the FDE practice.

About the team

ABOUT AWS:

Diverse Experiences Amazon values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying.

Why AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating — that’s why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.

Work/Life Balance

We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud.

Inclusive Team Culture

AWS values curiosity and connection. Our employee-led and company-sponsored affinity groups promote inclusion and empower our people to take pride in what makes us unique. Our inclusion events foster stronger, more collaborative teams. Our continual innovation is fueled by the bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and passionate voices our teams bring to everything we do.

Mentorship and Career Growth

We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits .

USA, CO, Denver - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually

USA, NY, New York - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually

USA, VA, Arlington - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually

USA, WA, Seattle - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually

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Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status. Veterans, military spouses, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.