Technical Lead – Forward Deployment Engineer AI

Theron Solutions; Charlotte (NC); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Theron Solutions is seeking a Forward Deployment Engineer (FDE) Technical Lead - AI to lead hands-on engineering efforts across software, AI, data, cloud and platforms. You will work with customer stakeholders to define technical approaches, rapidly develop prototypes, and drive solutions from discovery to production deployment.

The role requires owning end-to-end technical implementation, mentoring junior engineers, and ensuring secure, scalable product delivery in ambiguous environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in computer science or related field.
• Experience developing backend services, APIs, and distributed applications.
• Experience processing and transforming structured and/or unstructured data.
• Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platform: AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Experience in Git, testing frameworks, code reviews and modern software engineering practices.
• Strong debugging and troubleshooting capabilities.
• Hands-on exposure to large language models and generative AI application development.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery sessions to understand customer business problems and constraints.
• Translate requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Own end-to-end technical implementation from discovery through deployment.
• Design and develop application services, APIs, integrations and AI-enabled solutions.
• Remain hands-on with coding, debugging, code reviews and troubleshooting.
• Lead prototyping and Proof-of-Concept development to validate approaches.
• Define architecture, data flows, APIs and deployment approaches.
• Mentor engineers across software, AI, data, cloud and platform technologies.
• Review code to ensure quality, security, and scalability.
• Diagnose complex production issues and drive solutions to production.

Skills

Backend services

APIs

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

Git & code review

Debugging & troubleshooting

AI/GenAI

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS or related

Tools

Git

Testing frameworks

Code reviews

AWS

Azure

Google Cloud

Job description

Role: Forward Deployment Engineer (FDE) Technical Lead - Artificial Intelligence

Location Options: Santa Clara, CA / Atlanta, GA / Cincinnati, OH / Edison, NJ / Miami, FL / Charlotte, NC / Houston, TX

Job Description:

The Forward Deployment Engineer (FDE) Technical Lead is a hands-on engineering leader responsible for solving complex problems by combining software engineering, AI/GenAI, data, cloud, integration and platform technologies.

The Technical Lead works directly with customer stakeholders, architects and engineering teams to understand business problems, define the technical approach, rapidly develop prototypes, and lead solutions through engineering integration and production deployment.

Unlike a traditional development lead, the FDE Technical Lead is expected to operate effectively in ambiguous environments, make pragmatic technical decisions, write and review code, troubleshoot complex issues, and take end-to-end ownership of customer outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery sessions to understand customer business problems, existing technology landscape, data, applications and constraints.
• Translate customer requirements and business problems into scalable technical solutions.
• Own the end-to-end technical implementation from discovery and prototyping through production deployment.
• Design and develop application services, APIs, integrations and AI-enabled solutions.
• Remain hands-on with coding, debugging, code reviews and technical troubleshooting.
• Lead rapid prototyping and Proof-of-Concept development to validate solution approaches.
• Define application architecture, APIs, data flows, integration patterns and deployment approaches.
• Guide engineers across software, AI, data, cloud and platform technologies.
• Review code and ensure engineering quality, security, scalability and maintainability.
• Diagnose complex application, data, integration, infrastructure and production issues.
• Drive solutions from prototype to production-ready implementation.
• Mentor junior and graduate FDEs and provide technical support and guidance.
• Communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, risks and recommendations clearly to customer stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science or related field.
• Experience developing backend services, APIs, and distributed applications.
• Experience processing and transforming structured and /or unstructured data.
• Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platforms: AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Experience in Git, testing frameworks, code reviews and modern software engineering practices.
• Strong debugging and troubleshooting capabilities.
• Hands-on exposure to:

• Large Language Models and Generative AI application development.
• LLM APIs and model integration.
• Prompt engineering and structured outputs.
• Embeddings and vector search/vector databases.
• Understanding of AI application performance, security and cost considerations.
• Integration of AI capabilities into enterprise applications.

• Understanding of production monitoring, logging and observability.

Good to Have

• Experience delivering solutions in customer-facing environments.
• Experience leading small Agile engineering teams.
• Hands-on experience with enterprise GenAI implementations.
• Experience with vector databases such as pgvector, Pinecone, Weaviate, Milivus or similar technologies.
• Experience with frameworks for building AI applications and agents.
• Cloud and/or AI certifications.

EOE

Our client is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. Employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, military service, genetic information, or any other status protected by law.