Sr Manager Forward Deployed Engineering, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering

Amazon Web Services (AWS); Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 260,000 - 340,000; Full time

Job summary

Amazon Web Services (AWS) seeks a Senior Forward Deployed Engineering Manager to lead multiple pods of FDEs across strategic enterprise customers, defining delivery models, engineering standards, and talent strategy for the FDE practice at scale.

The role involves owning organizational-level outcomes, setting technical direction across concurrent customer programs, and building a high-performing FDE team with 15-30+ engineers. Travel 30-50% is required.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the FDE delivery organization and staff for optimal customer coverage; define engagement models and delivery cadences.
• Define the technical direction for complex AI programs; align with AWS teams; influence strategic decisions.
• Define operational standards and production readiness criteria for AI systems across the organization.
• Hire, develop, and retain FDE talent; coach FDE managers; drive performance and succession planning.
• Identify systemic opportunities to expand AI adoption across multiple customer organizations and feed learnings back to AWS.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience

Job description

Description

A Senior Forward Deployed Engineering Manager (Senior FDE Manager) leads multiple pods of FDEs across several strategic enterprise customers, defining the delivery model, engineering standards, and talent strategy for the FDE practice at scale. Senior FDE Managers own organizational-level outcomes - they set the technical direction across multiple concurrent customer programs, build and scale the FDE team, and drive the mechanisms that ensure consistent engineering excellence and measurable business impact across the entire portfolio.

A Senior Forward Deployed Engineering Manager (Senior FDE Manager) leads multiple pods of FDEs across several strategic enterprise customers, defining the delivery model, engineering standards, and talent strategy for the FDE practice at scale. Senior FDE Managers own organizational-level outcomes - they set the technical direction across multiple concurrent customer programs, build and scale the FDE team, and drive the mechanisms that ensure consistent engineering excellence and measurable business impact across the entire portfolio. Senior FDE Managers operate at org-level scope. They lead 15-30+ engineers, influence technical decisions across multiple customer engagements and AWS teams simultaneously, and define what "great" looks like for forward-deployed AI engineering management. They represent the FDE practice to AWS senior leadership and customer C-suite executives, balancing strategic vision with operational execution.

Key job responsibilities

Lead the FDE delivery organization.

• Own delivery across multiple customer engagements and FDE pods. Staff and structure teams for optimal customer coverage. Define engagement models, staffing strategies, and delivery cadences. Ensure consistent engineering quality across all active programs. Requires 30-50% travel.

Define technical strategy and standards.

• Set the technical direction for the most complex customer AI programs spanning your organization. Align technical strategy with adjacent AWS teams. Be a key influencer for strategic decisions, bringing technology and industry context to business decisions. Resolve escalations and drive closure with peers, Directors, and stakeholders.

Own production excellence at organizational scale.

• Define operational standards, evaluation frameworks, and production readiness criteria for AI systems across your organization. Establish mechanisms that ensure AI systems remain healthy across all active engagements. Drive improvements that enable the organization to insist on the highest operational excellence standards.

Build and scale the team.

• Hire, develop, and retain FDE talent across levels. Coach and develop FDE Managers. Drive performance management, succession planning, and organizational health. Create the talent pipeline for the FDE practice. Define hiring bar and calibration standards.

Accelerate transformation at portfolio level.

• Identify systemic opportunities to expand AI adoption across multiple customer organizations. Create accelerators and reusable platforms that reduce time-to-value. Influence AWS product roadmaps based on patterns observed across customers. Feed learnings back into AWS at the organizational level.

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.

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Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering experience
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related field, or equivalent experience