> 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 Architect Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/30313e48c76129f7 Climb posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in US with no pay posted. Owns the end-to-end architecture and production delivery of customer software engagements, translating business objectives into executable plans and production-ready systems. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Climb](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/climb) Posted Jul 2, 2026 by Climb · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 Pay not posted US +1 Remote Full-time Owns the end-to-end architecture and production delivery of customer software engagements, translating business objectives into executable plans and production-ready systems. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F30313e48c76129f7&placement=top) - [View posting at Climb](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/climb-ai/d9c28d17-c4af-4eaf-8c5b-d5deb09e072f/application) 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 Not posted Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mixed** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations (not covered) - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Technical lead ### What they ask for Experience - **8+ years** software engineering or technical architecture experience, including production systems in cloud environments Background - **Software engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 8+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The work is remote from the US. Can you work from the US? 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**: US · United States - **Work arrangement**: Remote - **Remote work restrictions**: United States - **Employment type**: Full-time ## More like this [Very Big Things](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/very-big-things) ### [Lead AI Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/6a56845282e5c78a) US Remote 2w ago Pay not posted [Ethicrithm](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/ethicrithm) ### [Future Hiring: Forward Deployed Engineer - USA](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9e871a3990b2e38b) US Remote 2w ago Pay not posted [Dscout](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/dscout) ### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer (Full-Stack)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0e9c59d4c6005d1d) US Remote 9d ago $250,000–$400,000 · OTE - [Other jobs at Climb (2)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/climb) ## The job description from Climb Posted by Climb on Jul 2, 2026 ### About Climb Climb is a Data and AI consultancy that partners with enterprises to design, build, and operationalize modern data platforms and production AI systems. As a Databricks partner, we go deep on lakehouse architecture, machine learning, and applied AI, with a bias toward production over proof of concept. Our team brings deep technical expertise and a builder's mindset to every engagement, and we measure our work not just by what ships, but by the business impact it drives. ### Role Summary The Forward Deployed Architect owns the technical architecture of a client engagement. You take business objectives and translate them into a production-ready system, defining the platform architecture, technical standards, integration patterns, and implementation approach that guide delivery from discovery through production. You design and build complete software systems: front-end, back-end, and the infrastructure and CI/CD that ship them. That includes applied AI, which is software built around non-deterministic models, where you design for evaluation, fallbacks, and failure handling the same way you design for any other part of the system. You make the right calls on synchronous and asynchronous patterns and build systems that are scalable, reliable, and operable. This is not a data engineering or data architecture role. This is a hands-on role. You stay close to the implementation, solving the hardest technical problems, reviewing critical design decisions, and writing code where it adds the most value. You keep the system coherent as multiple workstreams come together, balancing scalability, security, maintainability, performance, cost, and delivery speed. ### Key Responsibilities - Own the end-to-end system architecture on your engagement: front-end and back-end architecture, service boundaries, integration patterns, sync and async design, security, observability, and operational readiness. - Take engagement objectives and turn it into a coherent target architecture and an implementation plan the engineering team can execute against. - Make the platform and pattern decisions (frameworks, services, infrastructure, model selection where applicable, data flow, security, and cost) and stand behind them. - Own the path to production: CI/CD, infrastructure as code, environments, and the reliability of what ships. - Guide and review the engineering team's implementation, ensuring individual workstreams integrate into a coherent production system. - Stay hands-on: write code on the critical path and prove out the hard parts of the architecture yourself. - Deliver architecture documentation, implementation guidance, and production-ready systems that customers can confidently operate after handoff. - Contribute reference architectures, patterns, and accelerators back to the practice. ### Required Qualifications - 8+ years of software engineering or technical architecture experience, including production systems in cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP). - Proven experience serving as the technical design authority for production systems delivered to customers. - Hands-on full-stack depth: front-end with modern frameworks (React, Next.js, or similar) and back-end services in languages such as TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, or C#. - Experience designing systems that combine synchronous and asynchronous patterns (APIs, queues, event-driven processing, background workers, durable workflows), with a clear grasp of the tradeoffs in latency, reliability, consistency, and cost. - Hands-on with CI/CD, infrastructure as code (Terraform, Pulumi, CDK, or similar), and containers. - Build for operability: observability (logs, metrics, traces), SLOs, idempotency and retries, and safe rollout and rollback. - Experience designing around non-deterministic components, such as ML models, LLMs, or unreliable third-party APIs, including evaluation, fallbacks, and failure handling. - Demonstrated ability to guide multiple engineers while maintaining architectural consistency across the system. - Still codes: comfortable working on the critical path and proving out the hard parts yourself. - Strong communicator: technically precise with engineers, clear and confident with VP- and C-level leadership. - High tolerance for ambiguity; can turn a loosely scoped problem into a build the team can execute. ### Preferred Qualifications - Experience building production AI systems: RAG pipelines, agents, fine-tuned models, or LLM-native applications. - Hands-on experience with Databricks (Delta Lake, Workflows, Unity Catalog, Mosaic AI) is a strong plus. - Background in a consulting firm, systems integrator, or professional services environment. - Familiarity with SOW-based, outcome-priced delivery and active scope management. *Note on certification: Databricks experience is valued but not required at hire. Both Databricks and Anthropic certification are expected to be obtained post-hire.* ### Who Thrives Here - You think in whole systems, not just the component in front of you, and you keep the architecture coherent as the build grows. - You stay close to the code; you'd rather prove the hard part yourself than hand it off and hope. - You can hold the technical line with a client's architects and still get into the details with the engineers building it. ### Why Climb - **Ground floor, real backing.** You are joining early, with founders who have built and exited firms like this before. You help write the playbook rather than inherit one. - **Outcomes, not hours.** We sell and deliver against business results. Advancement is tied to delivery performance and account impact, not utilization targets. - **Senior team, no body-shop drag.** Small pods of A-players, heavy internal AI leverage, and no bloated middle layers between you and the work. - **IP that compounds.** Every engagement feeds reusable accelerators, patterns, and points of view back into the practice. ### What We Offer - Competitive base salary with performance-based bonuses - MacBook Pro and swag kit so you can do your best work - Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance - 401(k) with company match - Generous holidays, flexible PTO, and remote-first work environment - Professional development budget including Databricks and cloud certifications - Spot bonuses for relevant certifications - Conference attendance and thought leadership opportunities - Collaborative, low-ego culture with direct access to leadership - Opportunity to shape a growing practice from the ground floor Climb is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status. [View posting at Climb](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/climb-ai/d9c28d17-c4af-4eaf-8c5b-d5deb09e072f/application) ## Similar jobs [Focused](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/focused) ### [Senior Agent Engineer (Langchain)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/026e2d6af843f231) US Remote 6w ago $120,000–$170,000 [Venn](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/venn) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/1b0f8b1a54c7d20f) US Remote 7w ago $200,000–$400,000 [Doppel](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/doppel) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer (Remote)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f66cad8dfcb29dc7) US Remote 4mo ago $120,000–$220,000 [Growth Signals](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/growth-signals) ### [Forward Deployed Software Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/26d0566cb62406a1) Boston, MA · US remote Remote 2w ago Pay not posted [Procore](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/procore) ### [Staff Forward Deployment Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/6cd7c47ee1a1a108) Austin, TX Remote 9d ago $140,960–$193,820 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs that build what the customer runs](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=builds-for-customers) Hiring at Climb and want this page changed or removed? 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