> 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 Engineer (FDE) Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/3654e0e90e2207e8 OpenAI posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in San Francisco, CA, at $185,000–$300,000 base, above the staff+ FDE median of $225,000 across 388 postings with pay. Forward Deployed Engineers lead end-to-end production deployments of frontier models for strategic customers, owning discovery, system design, implementation, and rollout. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) Posted Sep 11, 2026 by OpenAI · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 **$185,000–$300,000** + equity San Francisco, CA Hybrid, 3 days a week in office Full-time Forward Deployed Engineers lead end-to-end production deployments of frontier models for strategic customers, owning discovery, system design, implementation, and rollout. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F3654e0e90e2207e8&placement=top) - [View posting at OpenAI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/967f94aa-1706-4dba-ac89-bfbc2c38b688/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 $185K–$300K Above the median Midpoint $243K · median $225K This job $185K to $300K. Staff+ FDE postings, 388 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $197K to $262K, median $225K. [Compare pay across all OpenAI postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/openai) ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept 3. Implementation 4. Operations Travel **Up to 50%** - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Staff+ - **Role**: Technical lead ### What they ask for Experience - **5+ years** engineering or technical deployment experience including customer-facing work Background - **Software engineering** - **Solutions and customer engineering** - **Implementation and data engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 5+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a staff-level role. What level are you at now? The job is in San Francisco, 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 Francisco, CA - **Work arrangement**: Hybrid, 3 days a week in office - **Remote work restrictions**: Based in San Francisco; 3 days per week in the office. - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Travel**: Up to 50% - **Pay**: ## More like this [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - NYC](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/74fe6961648194f3) New York, NY Hybrid 1mo ago $185,000–$300,000 [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Seattle](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/77ecee88fe61f440) Seattle, WA Hybrid 1mo ago $185,000–$300,000 [Snowflake](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/snowflake) ### [Staff Forward Deployed Engineer, Applied AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0fe67c4c90ee64d6) Menlo Park, CA 11d ago $200,000–$287,500 - [Other jobs at OpenAI (52)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ## The job description from OpenAI Posted by OpenAI on Sep 11, 2026 ### About the team OpenAI’s Forward Deployed Engineering team partners with customers to turn research breakthroughs into production systems. We operate at the intersection of customer delivery and core platform development. ### About the role Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) lead complex end-to-end deployments of frontier models in production alongside our most strategic customers. You will own discovery, technical scoping, system design, build, and production rollout, partnering directly with customer engineering and domain teams. You will measure success through production adoption, measurable workflow impact, and eval-driven feedback that changes product and model roadmaps. You’ll work closely with our Product, Research, Partnerships, GRC, Security, and GTM teams. This role is based in San Francisco. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week. We offer relocation assistance. Travel up to 50% is required. ### In this role you will - Own technical delivery across multiple deployments from first prototype to stable production - Build full-stack systems that deliver customer value and sharpen how we learn - Embed closely with customer teams, understand their needs, and guide adoption of what you build - Scope work, sequence delivery, and remove blockers early - Make trade-offs between scope, speed, and quality; adjust plans to protect delivery - Contribute directly in the code when progress or clarity depends on it - Codify working patterns into tools, playbooks, or building blocks that others can use - Share field feedback that helps Research and Product understand where the models succeed and where they can improve - Keep teams moving through clarity and follow-through ### You might thrive in this role if you - Bring 5+ years of engineering or technical deployment experience that includes customer-facing work - Have scoped and delivered complex systems in fast-moving or ambiguous environments - Write and review production-grade code across frontend and backend using Python, JavaScript, or comparable stacks - Have built or deployed systems powered by LLMs or generative models and understand how model behaviour affects product experience - Simplify complexity and make fast, sound decisions under pressure - Communicate clearly with engineers, product teams, and customer stakeholders - Spot risks early and adjust without slowing down - Model calm and judgment when the stakes are high ### About OpenAI OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement. Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations. To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through this form. No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this link. OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology. [View posting at OpenAI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/967f94aa-1706-4dba-ac89-bfbc2c38b688/application) ## About OpenAI Builds frontier AI models and ships them through ChatGPT consumer and enterprise products, Codex, and developer APIs. Late-stage private · 5000+ people ## Similar jobs [Luminai](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/luminai) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer, Team Lead](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f54c517d3cf04a24) San Francisco, CA · New York, NY Hybrid 2mo ago $190,000–$270,000 [Crusoe](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/crusoe) ### [Staff Applied AI Inference Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f6b6957db986de8d) San Francisco, CA On-site 2mo ago $215,000–$260,000 [Veeam Software](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/veeam-software) ### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8b90677b8c9d0226) San Jose, CA Hybrid 7w ago $158,520–$294,360 [Docker, Inc](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/docker-inc) ### [Principal Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/b6d3e67e51b2bef4) San Francisco, CA Remote 4w ago $198,000–$319,000/mo [ServiceNow](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/servicenow) ### [Staff Software Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/ccce31439d4dfefe) Santa Clara, CA 6w ago $166,500–$291,400 - [Compare staff+ FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/staff) - [Similar jobs in SF Bay Area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=sf-bay-area) - [Similar jobs that build what the customer runs](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=builds-for-customers) Hiring at OpenAI and want this page changed or removed? 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