> 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. # Regional Director, Forward Deployed Engineering - Public Sector Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8d1c79c233b80ea5 Cursor (Anysphere) posts a director FDE role to lead deployment teams in Washington, DC, at $350,000–$400,000 base, above the staff+ FDE median of $225,000 across 376 postings with pay. Leads and scales a regional team of forward deployed engineers serving high-priority public sector customers, owning engagements from discovery through production delivery. Read from the employer’s posting on November 10, 2026. - [Cursor (Anysphere)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/cursor-anysphere) Posted Nov 9, 2026 by Cursor (Anysphere) · open on Ashby as of Nov 10, 2026 **$350,000–$400,000** Washington, DC On-site Full-time Leads and scales a regional team of forward deployed engineers serving high-priority public sector customers, owning engagements from discovery through production delivery. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F8d1c79c233b80ea5&placement=top) - [View posting at Cursor (Anysphere)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cursor/0473120a-7dd7-4604-b5f6-0b834cc6e782/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 $350K–$400K Above the median Midpoint $375K · median $225K This job $350K to $400K. Staff+ FDE postings, 376 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $197K to $262K, median $225K. ### The work Leads the deployment team Balance **Mostly pre-sales or support** Project stages 1. Pre-sales 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations (not covered) - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Staff+ - **Role**: People manager ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting reads as a staff-level role. What level are you at now? The job is in Washington, DC. 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**: Washington, DC - **Work arrangement**: On-site - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Pay**: ## More like this [Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws) ### [Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/54139ba3c218c1dc) East Palo Alto, CA · Irvine, CA · +4 more 13d ago $184,900–$287,700 [Applied Intuition](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/applied-intuition) ### [Software Engineering Manager (Defense/PhysicalAI)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/54e611b0f8201f20) Washington, DC On-site 2mo ago $250,000–$300,000 [Accenture](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/accenture) ### [Forward Deployed Engineering Manager](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/a60e7ba97aa7fff1) Arlington, VA · Milwaukee, WI · +39 more 6w ago $80,400–$316,300 - [Other jobs at Cursor (Anysphere) (3)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/cursor-anysphere) ## The job description from Cursor (Anysphere) Posted by Cursor (Anysphere) on Nov 9, 2026 SpaceX was founded under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today, SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary and expanding consciousness to the stars. SpaceXSI is building Super Intelligence to help humanity understand the universe. Our teams are building the full Super Intelligence stack: from our Colossus supercomputers, to Grok models, to our suite of applications, including Grok Bot, Grok Build, Grok Imagine, Grok Voice, and X. We're creating a powerful flywheel where more compute trains better models, better models power more useful products, and what we learn from people using those products shapes what we build next. ### REGIONAL DIRECTOR, FORWARD DEPLOYED ENGINEERING - PUBLIC SECTOR Our Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) don't advise from the sidelines. They embed with customer teams, build production-grade AI coding workflows alongside them, and leave behind habits that keep paying off after the engagement ends. As Regional Director, you'll lead and scale this team across our most important public sector customers, own engagements from technical discovery through delivery, and build the partner track that extends this work through GSIs and consulting firms. Success is measured by what's different in a customer's org at day 30, not by what got shipped. ### RESPONSIBILITIES - Build and lead a team of FDEs in your region: hire, set clear technical performance standards and career paths, and coach the team on scoping and delivery of FDE engagements - Own scoping for PubSec FDE projects: run discovery and architecture reviews, surface integration and infrastructure constraints, and turn ambiguous customer problems into time-boxed proposals with clear ROI for six- and seven-figure engagements. - Hold the delivery quality bar across your team's engagements: tight scoping, milestone tracking, technical standards, and clean handoffs to customer engineering teams. - Serve as executive technical sponsor and primary customer point of contact on your region's highest-priority engagements, owning delivery and the relationship from IC engineers to the C-suite, and stepping in directly where the stakes are highest. - Generate a product feedback loop with Product and Engineering with enough detail to drive roadmap decisions, and turn what works into reusable solutions and product surface areas for all customers. - Contribute to the launch and scaling of the PubSec partner FDE track: train and enable GSI and consulting partners, and hold them to the same quality bar as the in-house team. ### BASIC QUALIFICATIONS - Experience directly managing a team of engineers who build and ship production software - Professional software development experience in Python, JavaScript, or TypeScript - Experience building and deploying AI-powered workflows in production environments ### PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE - U.S. citizenship required. Active security clearance (Public Trust, Secret, Top Secret, or TS/SCI) or ability to obtain one. - Leadership experience in forward deployed engineering, data science, machine learning engineering or software engineering - Debugging model failures in production AI systems - Scoping six- and seven-figure technical engagements with Sales and presenting them to C-suite and engineering leadership buyers - Enabling GSI or consulting partners to deliver technical engagements ### COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS The annual compensation range for this role is listed below. ### Annual Salary $350,000 - $400,000 USD Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience. Base salary is just one part of our total rewards package at SpaceXSI, which also includes equity, comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, short & long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and various other discounts and perks. [View posting at Cursor (Anysphere)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cursor/0473120a-7dd7-4604-b5f6-0b834cc6e782/application) ## About Cursor (Anysphere) AI-native code editor (VS Code fork) plus autonomous coding agents, sold to individual devs and enterprise engineering teams. Acquired · 1000–2000 people ## Similar jobs [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ### [Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, Financial Services](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/1da2d6eeed3a8943) New York, NY Hybrid New · 5d ago $302,000–$385,000 [Lumbra](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/lumbra) ### [Lead Forward Deployed Engineer (TS/SCI Clearance Required)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0cf8ad197920db5c) Arlington, VA On-site 3mo ago $200,000–$300,000 [Hadrian](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/hadrian) ### [Sr. Director, Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/398acf9eaf31771b) Torrance, CA On-site 4w ago $300,000–$415,000 [Percepta](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/percepta) ### [Applied AI Engineer - Manager](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f22c1bc1523b1cde) New York, NY On-site 2mo ago $250,000–$425,000 [Chalk](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/chalk) ### [Director, Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/47c6797aead04cf6) San Francisco, CA On-site 2mo ago $300,000–$350,000 - [Compare staff+ FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/staff) - [Similar jobs in Washington, DC area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=dmv) - [Similar jobs that lead deployment teams](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=leadership) Hiring at Cursor (Anysphere) and want this page changed or removed? 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