> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Forward Deployed AI Operating Principal Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/29e4e2500ba4f811 Sumeru Equity Partners posts a FDE role to build for teams inside the company in San Mateo, CA, at $320,000–$360,000 base, above the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Embeds with Sumeru’s B2B enterprise technology portfolio companies to identify, build, and scale production AI and automation workflows, proving measurable operational and financial impact. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Sumeru Equity Partners](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/sumeru-equity-partners) First seen Oct 24, 2026 · open on Breezy as of Nov 8, 2026 **$320,000–$360,000** San Mateo, CA On-site Full-time Embeds with Sumeru’s B2B enterprise technology portfolio companies to identify, build, and scale production AI and automation workflows, proving measurable operational and financial impact. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F29e4e2500ba4f811&placement=top) - [View posting at Sumeru Equity Partners](https://sumeru-equity-partners.breezy.hr/p/39f899cb7745-forward-deployed-ai-operating-principal/apply) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $320K–$360K Above the median Midpoint $340K · median $190K This job $320K to $360K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. ### The work Builds for teams inside the company Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales 2. Proof of concept 3. Implementation 4. Operations - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Technical lead ### What they ask for Experience - **10+ years** overall professional experience - **15+ years** overall professional experience - **5+ years** owning large-scale enterprise technology delivery, operations, professional services, or solution consulting - **2+ years** end-to-end enterprise-scale transformations - **3+ years** end-to-end enterprise-scale transformations *Preferred* Background - **Implementation and data engineering** - **Consulting** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 2+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The job is in San Mateo, CA. Could you work there? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: San Mateo, CA - **Work arrangement**: On-site - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Pay**: ## More like this [Roku](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/roku) ### [Sr. AI Transformation Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/33d5909e360f7f5a) San Jose, CA Hybrid 2mo ago $242,200–$486,000 [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ### [Applied AI Software Engineer, GTM Growth Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/894f3a5c14d4cbf9) San Francisco, CA 3mo ago $266,000–$405,000 [Perplexity](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/perplexity) ### [Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Enterprise AI Products)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/a107ab6384fd73e5) San Francisco, CA 4mo ago $220,000–$405,000 ## What you’ll do - Embed with portfolio company leaders to assess workflows and identify high-value automation opportunities. - Architect, build, and deploy AI and automation solutions, targeting pilots within 4–8 weeks. - Run KPI-driven pilots and scale proven workflows across companies, regions, and product lines. - Own portfolio AI roadmaps, automation vendor strategy, and pre-deal readiness assessments. ## What you’ll bring - 10–15 years of experience, including 5+ years owning enterprise technology delivery, operations, professional services, or solution consulting. - Hands-on experience building or deploying production systems and leading 2–3+ enterprise-scale transformations. - Practitioner experience with workflow automation and agentic tools, plus production LLM solutions and working knowledge of RAG. - Leadership or delivery experience in at least two specified operational functions. ## About Sumeru Equity Partners Sumeru invests growth capital in technology companies and partners with their teams on scaling and operational improvement. 10–50 people [View posting at Sumeru Equity Partners](https://sumeru-equity-partners.breezy.hr/p/39f899cb7745-forward-deployed-ai-operating-principal/apply) ## Similar jobs [Anthropic](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/anthropic) ### [Applied AI Demo Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/81f1836b1275c22b) San Francisco, CA · New York, NY Hybrid 2w ago $240,000–$315,000 [Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/jones-lang-lasalle-jll) ### [Forward Deploy Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/adb58e1e1a50fa0b) Chicago, IL · San Francisco, CA Remote 3mo ago $220,000–$320,000 [Paradigm](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/paradigm) ### [Product Engineer, Applied AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/3b955e26ed9776cb) San Francisco, CA On-site 3mo ago $250,000–$400,000 [NVIDIA](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/nvidia) ### [Senior AI Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/877b53d305d658a1) Santa Clara, CA New · 5d ago $224,000–$356,500 [Etched](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/etched) ### [Internal Acceleration, Engineer (Production)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/50520a6cf33f35c2) San Jose, CA On-site 3w ago $150,000–$400,000 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in SF Bay Area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=sf-bay-area) - [Similar jobs that build for teams inside the company](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=internal-deployment) Hiring at Sumeru Equity Partners and want this page changed or removed? Email info@nextmove.md and we take it down. Employer postings · [How we read postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/method)