> 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.

# Sr Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), AWS Forward Deployed Engineering, US Government

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9f1c2b67db2daf1a

Amazon (incl AWS) posts a senior FDE role to build what the customer runs in Denver, CO and 5 more, at $168,100–$250,200 base, above the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,849 postings with pay. Senior Forward Deployed Engineer leading technical strategy and hands-on delivery of production AI systems inside strategic enterprise customer environments. Read from the employer’s posting on November 6, 2026.

- [Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws)

Posted Nov 5, 2026 by Amazon (incl AWS) · open on Amazon (incl AWS) careers as of Nov 6, 2026

**$168,100–$250,200** *annualized* Denver, CO +5 Full-time

Senior Forward Deployed Engineer leading technical strategy and hands-on delivery of production AI systems inside strategic enterprise customer environments.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F9f1c2b67db2daf1a&placement=top)
- [View posting at Amazon (incl AWS)](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/10597415/sr-forward-deployed-engineer-fde-aws-forward-deployed-engineering-us-government)

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

$168K–$250K Above the median

Midpoint $209K · median $190K

This job $168K to $250K. Senior FDE postings, 1,849 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K.

[Compare pay across all Amazon (incl AWS) postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/amazon-incl-aws)

### 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 25%**

- **Coding**: Writes production code

- **Builds for**: External customers

- **Level**: Senior

- **Role**: Technical lead

### What they ask for

Experience

- **5+ years** non-internship professional software development
- **5+ years** programming with at least one software programming language
- **5+ years** leading design or architecture of new and existing systems, including design patterns, reliability, and scaling
- **3+ years** working in an Agile, startup, or rapidly scaling environment *Preferred*

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 job is in Denver, CO · Jessup, MD · +4 more. Could you work in one of these?

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**: Denver, CO · Jessup, MD · New York, NY · Arlington, VA · Herndon, VA · Seattle, WA

- **Employment type**: Full-time

- **Travel**: Up to 25%

## More like this

[Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws)

### [Sr Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), AWS Forward Deployed Engineering, US Government](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/23de35c0893990fc)

Jessup, MD · Arlington, VA · +4 more 3w ago

$168,100–$250,200

[Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws)

### [Sr Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), AWS Forward Deployed Engineering, US Government](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/6bb0ae9f5fef1b81)

Denver, CO · Jessup, MD · +3 more 11d ago

$168,100–$227,400

[STR](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/str)

### [Lead Mission Engineer - Full Stack ](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/473a8eb7a795e70f)

Denver, CO · San Diego, CA · +2 more 6w ago

$175,000–$240,000

- [Other jobs at Amazon (incl AWS) (80)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws)

## The job description from Amazon (incl AWS)

Posted by Amazon (incl AWS) on Nov 5, 2026

Application deadline: Nov 10, 2026

This position requires that the candidate selected be a US Citizen and currently possess and maintain an active Top Secret security clearance with SCI eligibility or higher.

A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) embeds directly inside a strategic enterprise customer to design, build, deploy, and run AI-powered production systems alongside the customer's engineering team. FDEs write production-grade software and own outcomes end-to-end, from prototype through enterprise-scale deployment, combining the technical rigor of an AWS SDE with the urgency and ownership required to deliver measurable customer business outcomes. They create reusable architectures, patterns, and engineering mechanisms that scale the entire FDE practice. This position requires that the candidate selected be a US Citizen and currently possess and maintain an active US Government Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility (or higher).

Key job responsibilities
- Lead technical delivery across customer engagements. Own the technical strategy and execution for complex, multi-workstream customer AI programs. Make architecture decisions that span multiple services and organizational boundaries. Align technical approach with the customer's long-term technology strategy. Requires up to 25% travel.
- Architect and build production AI systems at scale: multi-agent orchestration, enterprise retrieval systems, and decision intelligence platforms for the most complex engagements. Drive clarity where neither the business problem nor the technology approach is fully defined. Build production systems that handle enterprise-scale traffic and reliability requirements.
- Own production excellence across workstreams. Define operational standards, evaluation frameworks, and production-readiness criteria for AI systems. Establish mechanisms (testing strategies, observability standards, incident-response playbooks) that keep AI systems healthy.
- Scale the team's effectiveness. Define engineering patterns, contribute to the interview and hiring process, and mentor junior FDEs into independent contributors.
- Accelerate customer transformation. Identify systemic opportunities to expand AI adoption, create reusable accelerators that cut time-to-value from months to weeks, and feed learnings back into AWS services and the FDE practice.

A day in the life
A Senior FDE spends the day leading technical delivery inside the customer's environment: setting the architecture direction across workstreams, building alongside customer engineers on the hardest production AI problems, reviewing designs and code, and mentoring FDEs into independent contributors.

About the team
ABOUT AWS:

Diverse Experiences
Amazon values diverse experiences. Even if you do not meet all of the preferred qualifications and skills listed in the job description, we encourage candidates to apply. If your career is just starting, hasn’t followed a traditional path, or includes alternative experiences, don’t let it stop you from applying.

Why AWS
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. We pioneered cloud computing and never stopped innovating — that’s why customers from the most successful startups to Global 500 companies trust our robust suite of products and services to power their businesses.

Work/Life Balance
We value work-life harmony. Achieving success at work should never come at the expense of sacrifices at home, which is why we strive for flexibility as part of our working culture. When we feel supported in the workplace and at home, there’s nothing we can’t achieve in the cloud.

Inclusive Team Culture
AWS values curiosity and connection. Our employee-led and company-sponsored affinity groups promote inclusion and empower our people to take pride in what makes us unique. Our inclusion events foster stronger, more collaborative teams. Our continual innovation is fueled by the bold ideas, fresh perspectives, and passionate voices our teams bring to everything we do.

Mentorship and Career Growth
We’re continuously raising our performance bar as we strive to become Earth’s Best Employer. That’s why you’ll find endless knowledge-sharing, mentorship and other career-advancing resources here to help you develop into a better-rounded professional.

10047

### Basic qualifications

5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
- 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team
- Active US Government Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility (or higher)
- Experience leading agentic and spec-driven development at production scale (developing AI agents a plus)
- Experience with AI tools: eval frameworks, agent tooling, RAG pipelines, and prompt engineering

### Preferred qualifications

Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
- Experience with AWS services
- Experience building or deploying AI/ML applications at enterprise production scale
- Background as a founder, engineering lead, or startup builder with high ownership and urgency
- Experience architecting and delivering complex, multi-component systems in customer production environments
- Experience with React, TypeScript, Python, and/or Go
- Experience leading customer-facing technical projects or managing external stakeholder relationships
- 3+ years of experience working in an Agile, startup, or rapidly scaling environment

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

USA, CO, Denver - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, MD, Jessup - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, NY, New York - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Arlington - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Herndon - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually

[View posting at Amazon (incl AWS)](https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/10597415/sr-forward-deployed-engineer-fde-aws-forward-deployed-engineering-us-government)

## About Amazon (incl AWS)

Online retail, third-party marketplace, Prime/ads/devices, and AWS — the world's largest cloud platform powering startups and enterprises.

Public · 5000+ people

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