Technology Consultant/Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)

EPAM Systems; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

EPAM Systems seeks a Technology Consultant/Forward Deployed Engineer to integrate with enterprise clients and own AI-driven solutions from discovery to production. You will work across models, data retrieval, cloud infra, and enterprise integrations, applying agentic engineering practices to deliver rapid value.

Success is measured by business outcomes, not features shipped. You will mentor teams and help evolve best practices while solving high-value problems on client engagements.

Qualifications

• Senior-level software engineering experience in enterprise environments with AI solutions.
• Hands-on background in agentic AI, LLM app development, prompt engineering, tool calling, and RAG.
• Strong backend skills in Python/Java/Node.js, API design, microservices, and data stores.
• Frontend skills (React/TypeScript) to deliver end-to-end solutions.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/Google), CI/CD, and observability.
• Ability to design end-to-end architectures including security, data flows, and cost.

Responsibilities

• Embed with client teams to pinpoint high-value problems and own end-to-end delivery.
• Architect and build production-grade AI applications on client platforms.
• Define acceptance criteria and measure technical performance and business outcomes.
• Lead architecture reviews, workshops, and demonstrations for stakeholders.
• Produce documentation, runbooks, and handover materials for client teams.
• Mentor engineers and promote AI-native practices within engagements.

Skills

Agentic AI

LLM apps

Backend development

API design

React/TypeScript

Cloud platforms

DevOps/CI-CD

Enterprise integration

Tools

Claude Code

Codex

GitHub Copilot

Terraform

Kubernetes

Job description

We are seeking a Technology Consultant/Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to integrate with enterprise clients, uncover their highest-value problems, and resolve them through production-ready AI solutions. You will take ownership of each problem end to end: technical discovery, feasibility, architecture, build, deployment, and the measurable business outcome. You will operate on the client side, learn the client's business in depth, and re-engineer its processes around AI atop the platforms, data, and systems the client already runs. This position blends hands-on AI and full-stack engineering, solution architecture, and technical consulting. You will engage across AI models, agent frameworks, data and retrieval systems, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise integrations, applying AI coding agents and agentic engineering practices to deliver quickly. Depending on the engagement, your focus will lean toward one of three specializations: Partner Platform Expert, building on one AI partner's platform such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini and Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, or Microsoft Foundry; SDLC and AI Software Factory Expert, making client engineering teams measurably faster through harnesses and AI software factories; or AI Technical Solutions Expert, converting client use cases into production AI systems on the client's existing platforms. Success is judged by outcomes the client can see and sustain, not by features shipped or hours billed.

Responsibilities

• Embed with client business and technical teams to pinpoint high-value problems and own them end to end, from discovery and specification through architecture, build, production, and monitoring
• Map actual business processes, including their exceptions, and determine which steps to automate, which to keep with a human in the loop, and which to leave to people
• Evaluate feasibility and recommend the most suitable approach, whether agentic AI, deterministic workflows, traditional machine learning, or no AI at all
• Design end-to-end solution architectures spanning models, orchestration, data and retrieval, enterprise integrations, identity, security, observability, and cost
• Personally construct, test, and deploy production-grade, full-stack AI applications on clients' existing cloud and AI platforms
• Implement agent workflows, retrieval systems, tool integrations, evaluation frameworks, guardrails, monitoring, and human-in-the-loop controls
• Leverage AI coding agents and agentic engineering practices to speed up delivery, and review AI-generated code with the same rigor as human-written code
• Build upon shared platforms and reusable components rather than from scratch, and decide what stays specific to a client and what should be generalized for future engagements
• Define acceptance criteria, measure technical performance and business outcomes, and report results honestly, including when they fall short
• Lead technical workshops, architecture reviews, proofs of value, and solution demonstrations for client engineers, architects, business owners, and executives
• Convey technical trade-offs, feasibility assessments, risks, and recommendations clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Produce technical documentation, runbooks, training, and handover so client teams can operate and extend the solutions independently
• Establish engineering best practices within the engagement, mentor fellow engineers, and drive AI-native adoption
• Share client context across the team so no single person becomes a point of failure, and stay current with a rapidly changing AI toolset

Requirements

• Senior-level software engineering experience, with a proven record of building and operating production-grade software, including AI solutions, in enterprise environments
• Hands-on background in agentic AI, LLM application development, prompt and context engineering, tool calling, orchestration, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and AI evaluation Daily hands-on use of AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, or GitHub Copilot, with the judgment to review and correct the code they generate
• Strong backend development skills in at least one of Python, Java, or Node.js, including API design, microservices, and SQL and NoSQL data stores, together with sufficient modern frontend skills (for example React and TypeScript) to deliver usable end-to-end solutions
• Practical expertise in at least one major cloud (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), containers and Kubernetes, infrastructure as code (Terraform or Bicep), CI/CD, and observability
• Experience designing or contributing to end-to-end solution architecture, including system integration, data flows, security, scalability, resilience, and cost, with decisions documented and defended alongside client architects
• Proficiency in at least one major AI platform or ecosystem, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, or Microsoft Foundry, with the capability to work across different technology stacks
• Background in integrating AI applications with enterprise systems, databases, APIs, and systems of record such as SAP, Salesforce, ServiceNow, or Microsoft Dynamics
• Understanding of production AI requirements, including identity and access management, data governance, observability, guardrails, human oversight, failure handling, and running cost
• Capability to take a loosely defined problem to a production implementation with minimal direction, and to decide what to build and why, not only how
• Experience collaborating directly with clients, conducting technical discovery and process mapping with the people who run the work, facilitating workshops, presenting architecture decisions, and managing stakeholder expectations up to executive level
• Strong analytical, consulting, and communication skills, with the capability to explain technical concepts and trade-offs in clear business terms, including when a requirement is infeasible or the wrong approach
• Experience preparing technical documentation and delivering training or handover to client engineering and IT teams
• Practical knowledge of at least one business domain, such as financial services, healthcare, insurance, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, logistics, or the public sector, including relevant regulatory and compliance requirements
• English proficiency at B2 level or higher
• Nice to have Active partner certifications from Anthropic, Google, or OpenAI are an advantage, and EPAM supports engineers in earning and maintaining them