Staff Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)
San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +1 moreSan Francisco, CA +2
$252,000–$315,000
View job →FDE jobs at Scale AI
Scale AI provides training data, model evaluations, and full-stack AI applications for frontier labs, enterprises, and governments.
Later private · About 1,001–5,000 people · AI Data + Defense
22 postings11 metrosmedian of posted base ranges $231,000
Updated
Postings read on
How Scale AI describes FDE work
Scale AI · US average
Customer contact
Work done for people outside the company
100% · avg 86%
Above average
Pre-sales
Evaluation or proposal work before a deal
14% · avg 25%
Below average
Production code
Postings that involve writing production code
86% · avg 80%
Above average
Seniority
Senior-level responsibility or above
100% · avg 94%
Above average
Travel
How often postings mention travel
36% · avg 41%
Below average
0%50%100%
Scale AI’s postings serve external customers more often than the US average (100% vs 86%) and involve pre-sales less often (14% vs 25%).
Shares leave out postings that say nothing about a measure. Travel counts silence as no mention. Work arrangement is stated in only 4 of 22 postings, so it is not compared. Compare with all US FDE postings and read the method →
Pay at Scale AI
Across 22 posted ranges, Scale AI’s median sits above $189,000 for senior FDE postings in the US.
Posted base ranges in annual US dollars, from postings that state both ends, each counted at the middle of its range. Bonus, commission and equity are not counted. Compare pay across all Scale AI postings →
Senior Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)
San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +1 moreSan Francisco, CA +2
$216,000–$270,000
View job →Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)
San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +1 moreSan Francisco, CA +2
$180,000–$225,000
View job →Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Public Sector
Austin, TX · Colorado Springs, CO · +4 moreAustin, TX +5Hybrid
$138,000–$292,560
View job →Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Public Sector
Denver, CO · Honolulu, HI · +1 moreDenver, CO +2
$235,200–$294,000
View job →Staff Frontier Agents Engineer (Applied AI)
San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +1 moreSan Francisco, CA +2
$265,000–$331,000
View job →Senior Frontier Agents Engineer (Applied AI)
San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +1 moreSan Francisco, CA +2
$216,000–$270,000
View job →Frontier Agents Engineer (Applied AI)
San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +1 moreSan Francisco, CA +2
$180,000–$225,000
View job →Senior Mission Software Engineer, Public Sector
Austin, TX · Colorado Springs, CO · +4 moreAustin, TX +5Hybrid
$186,000–$279,000
View job →Field Engineer, Public Sector
Austin, TX · Colorado Springs, CO · +3 moreAustin, TX +4
$150,400–$226,550
View job →Senior Staff Frontier Agents Engineer
San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +1 moreSan Francisco, CA +2
$288,000–$360,000
View job →Infrastructure Software Engineer, Enterprise GenAI
San Francisco, CA · New York, NYSan Francisco, CA +1
$179,400–$224,250
View job →Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Public Sector
Denver, CO · Washington, DCDenver, CO +1
$274,400–$343,000
View job →Field Engineer, Data Engine
Colorado Springs, CO · Omaha, NE · +2 moreColorado Springs, CO +3
$140,000–$260,000
View job →Plans what the customer deploys first
Forward Deployed Product Manager, Public Sector
New York, NY · Washington, DCNew York, NY +1
$200,000–$345,000
View job →Plans what the customer deploys first
Engagement Manager (Homeland Layered Defense), Public Sector
Washington, DC
$166,400–$208,000
View job →$166,400–$249,000
View job →$180,000–$225,000
View job →Builds for teams inside the company
Staff Software Engineer, Public Sector
San Francisco, CA · Saint Louis, MO · +2 moreSan Francisco, CA +3
$188,800–$362,000
View job →Builds for teams inside the company
Software Engineer, ARC Team
San Francisco, CA · Saint Louis, MO · +2 moreSan Francisco, CA +3Hybrid
$138,000–$259,440
View job →Leads the deployment team
Frontier Agent Engineering Manager, Enterprise
San Francisco, CA · New York, NYSan Francisco, CA +1
$252,000–$315,000
View job →$203,200–$254,000
View job →14 of 22 build what the customer runs.
Compare these roles with pay ranges at other US FDE employers.
Scale AI's FDE and deployment roles connect customer engineering to data, model evaluation, GenAI applications, and public-sector systems.
Scale AI's postings include Frontier Agents Engineer, Forward Deployed Engineer, Field Engineer, Software Engineer, Deployment Strategist, and technical program and leadership roles. Read the original posting to see whether the job builds systems, coordinates delivery, or supports a public-sector program.
The Frontier Agents Engineer role covers agent runtimes, orchestration, context pipelines, execution services, integrations, evaluations, tracing, observability, guardrails, and safety mechanisms. The Forward Deployed Engineer, GenAI role designs, builds, and deploys front-end and back-end systems for customer-specific GenAI solutions. The Field Engineer, Public Sector role builds data integrations and production pipelines for federal AI projects and requires an active TS/SCI clearance.
Compare the salary band for the actual hiring location and level. Confirm the office, customer site, clearance, and travel requirements when the posting is silent. See FDE salary data.
Employer postings · How we read postings
Compare with similar employers
Employers at a similar size or stage, by how many postings they have now.
- Agile Defense · 14 postings
- Anthropic · 10 postings
- Applied Intuition · 5 postings
Every employer hiring where this one is hiring.
- FDE and deployment jobs in New York metro · 878 jobs · 424 companies
- FDE and deployment jobs in SF Bay Area · 976 jobs · 487 companies