> 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. # Senior Forward Deployed Engineer Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/77824c650e176a43 Eliza posts a senior FDE role to build what the customer runs in US with no pay posted. A senior individual contributor who owns architecture and end-to-end delivery of complex, high-stakes client AI/ML engagements, from ambiguous problem definition through production deployment. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Eliza](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/eliza) Posted Jul 28, 2026 by Eliza · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 Pay not posted US Remote Full-time A senior individual contributor who owns architecture and end-to-end delivery of complex, high-stakes client AI/ML engagements, from ambiguous problem definition through production deployment. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F77824c650e176a43&placement=top) - [View posting at Eliza](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/eliza/f70b2ec2-a079-4ad1-ad2e-b54cec71c66c/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 **Mostly building** 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 - **5+ years** software engineering Background - **Software engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 5+ 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 - **Work arrangement**: Remote - **Remote work restrictions**: United States - **Employment type**: Full-time ## More like this [Eliza](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/eliza) ### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f5d9dd7aa0343d25) Austin, TX Hybrid Since 2025 Pay not posted [Databricks](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/databricks) ### [Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Digital Native Business ](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/924a15a78c10c56b) San Francisco, CA Remote 7w ago $182,000–$250,208 [Arize AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/arize-ai) ### [Forward Deployed AI Engineer, West](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/97928758270bd183) San Francisco, CA Remote 4mo ago $155,000–$190,000 - [Other jobs at Eliza (6)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/eliza) ## The job description from Eliza Posted by Eliza on Jul 28, 2026 ### Senior Forward Deployed Engineer ### About Us Eliza is a technology services company and Advanced-tier OpenAI partner that’s dedicated to helping organizations build and deploy cutting-edge AI solutions. From generative AI and custom LLM integrations to predictive analytics and intelligent automation, we work across industries to bring real-world AI applications to life. Our projects combine deep technical expertise with hands-on client collaboration to solve high-impact problems. ### Role Overview The **Senior Forward Deployed Engineer (Senior FDE)** executes the core technical work on our hardest client problems. This is a senior individual contributor role with real depth: you take ambiguous, high-stakes work from problem definition through shipped outcome, own the architecture and the tradeoffs, and set the technical standard clients experience. Senior FDEs go deep on a major engagement or workstream rather than broad across a portfolio. You are the person we send when the problem is genuinely difficult, the requirements are unclear, and the client needs someone who can hold the technical line while still shipping. You will review critical work before it reaches clients and lift the engineers around you through pairing, review, and example. This role is for engineers who want the hardest technical problems and direct client exposure without trading hands-on work for a management track. ### Key Responsibilities ### 1. Lead Complex Technical Delivery - Own end-to-end delivery quality for a major engagement, workstream, or solution area. - Translate ambiguous client needs into practical execution plans, technical milestones, and shipped outcomes. - Maintain a clear view of status, risks, blockers, and dependencies within your scope. - Raise quality concerns early and correct course before client confidence is affected. ### 2. Own Architecture and Technical Tradeoffs - Lead solution architecture and technical decision-making for your workstream. - Make pragmatic tradeoffs between speed, quality, scope, maintainability, cost, latency, and client value—and explain your reasoning. - Review critical technical work before it is shared with clients or treated as production-ready. - Recognize when a problem needs deeper expertise or a second set of eyes. - Turn hard-won solutions into reusable patterns that raise the floor for future engagements. ### 3. Build and Deploy Production AI Systems - Design and ship AI/ML solutions using Python, modern ML frameworks, LLM orchestration tooling, and cloud-native infrastructure. - Integrate LLMs and other generative models into client products and workflows at production quality. - Own fine-tuning, prompt engineering, retrieval, and evaluation pipelines where the problem calls for them. - Make sound decisions about security, data privacy, and compliance constraints in enterprise environments. ### 4. Earn and Maintain Client Trust - Act as the senior technical voice on your engagement, credible with both engineers and executives. - Communicate direction, tradeoffs, risks, and progress clearly to technical and non-technical audiences. - Manage expectations with discipline when scope, timeline, data, or technical constraints change. - Keep account and commercial partners informed so client strategy reflects delivery reality. ### 5. Handle Risk with Judgment - Spot technical, delivery, scope, timeline, and client-alignment risks early. - Resolve what you can directly; escalate what you cannot, with clear context, options, and a recommendation. - Intervene decisively within your scope when quality, pace, or client confidence is at risk. ### 6. Lift the Engineers Around You - Mentor less experienced FDEs through technical review, pairing, and practical feedback. - Help teammates make better architecture, implementation, and communication decisions. - Model what excellent forward-deployed execution looks like in client-facing work. - Contribute to interview loops, onboarding, and technical standards. ### Qualifications ### Required - 5+ years of software engineering experience, including significant backend or full-stack depth. - Track record of independently owning complex, ambiguous technical work from definition through production. - Strong programming skills in Python; fluency in at least one additional language (JavaScript/TypeScript, Go, or similar). - Demonstrated experience delivering real-world ML/AI systems in production, not just prototypes. - Deep comfort with modern cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), infrastructure-as-code, and CI/CD workflows. - Excellent client communication: you can hold a room, explain a tradeoff, and deliver bad news early. - Sound architectural judgment and the instinct to escalate at the right moment rather than the last moment. ### Preferred - Substantial production experience with LLMs (e.g., Anthropic, OpenAI, Cohere), vector search, retrieval-augmented generation, or agentic systems. - Prior consulting, professional services, solutions architecture, or forward-deployed engineering experience. - Familiarity with MLOps practices and tooling (e.g., MLflow, Weights & Biases, SageMaker). - Working knowledge of enterprise security, data privacy, and compliance constraints. - Experience mentoring engineers through influence rather than authority. ### What We Offer - Competitive compensation (salary + annual bonus). - Equity options in a growing AI services company. - Fully remote work - Remote work perks include a WFH stipend and monthly lifestyle stipend - A genuine senior IC track—technical leadership with real scope, without a forced move into people management. - The hardest problems in the portfolio, and the autonomy to solve them. - Flexibility to work across industries and problem domains. - A collaborative, mission-driven team passionate about the real-world impact of AI. [View posting at Eliza](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/eliza/f70b2ec2-a079-4ad1-ad2e-b54cec71c66c/application) ## About Eliza Eliza helps enterprises adopt AI and build, evaluate, and optimize production AI systems through embedded engineering services. ## Similar jobs [Climb](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/climb) ### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f83694043c91d432) US Remote 4mo ago Pay not posted [Kong](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/kong) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/29169792a5c87d0f) Phoenix, AZ Remote 7w ago $192,010–$274,300 [Gray Swan](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/gray-swan) ### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer – Enterprise](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/2f8298f975b489cb) San Francisco, CA Remote 2mo ago $175,000–$220,000 [OneSix](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/onesix) ### [Senior Data Scientist ](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/2852f0b07e3442bd) US or Canada Remote 4mo ago $140,000–$180,000 [Superblocks](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/superblocks) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/50caaaffd3f99933) New York, NY · US remote Remote 2mo ago Pay not posted - [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 Eliza and want this page changed or removed? 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