> 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 Software Engineer Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/b115960eacb20c3f OpenAI posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in Seattle, WA, at $153,000–$325,000 base, above the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Embed deeply with strategic customers to understand their business challenges and technical requirements in detail. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) Posted Mar 4, 2026 by OpenAI · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 **$153,000–$325,000** + equity Seattle, WA Hybrid Full-time Embed deeply with strategic customers to understand their business challenges and technical requirements in detail. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fb115960eacb20c3f&placement=top) - [View posting at OpenAI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/7b90b83c-ec28-4e65-a235-6675e37b91c3/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 $153K–$325K Above the median Midpoint $239K · median $190K This job $153K to $325K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. [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 (not covered) Travel **Up to 50%** - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Individual contributor ### What they ask for Experience - **7+ years** professional full stack engineering experience Background - **Software engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 7+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The job is in Seattle, WA. 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**: Seattle, WA - **Work arrangement**: Hybrid - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Travel**: Up to 50% - **Pay**: ## More like this [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ### [Forward Deployed Software Engineer - NYC](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/6ea3d05e36a0bacf) New York, NY Hybrid 11mo ago $153,000–$325,000 [OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ### [Forward Deployed Software Engineer - SF](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/1b7ff350800722d8) San Francisco, CA Hybrid 11mo ago $185,000–$325,000 [Google](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/google) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer IV, Data Cloud, Google Cloud](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/7460c510f62762db) San Francisco, CA · Austin, TX · +5 more New · 2d ago $207,000–$300,000 - [Other jobs at OpenAI (52)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai) ## The job description from OpenAI Posted by OpenAI on Mar 4, 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 We are looking for customer-focused software engineers to build effective custom software that leverages OpenAI’s APIs to solve real customer problems. As an FDSWE, you will work with our customers and OpenAI Forward Deployed Engineers to design and implement scalable solutions that solve their most difficult problems. You will design abstractions to solve customer problems, and then use them to scale our speed and quality of delivery across all Forward Deployed engagements. You will collaborate closely with Sales, Solutions Engineering, Solutions Architects, and Customer Success Managers who work on the same account. You will also work with our Research and Applied Product and Engineering teams to provide insightful customer feedback. This role is based in Seattle. 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 - Embed deeply with strategic customers to understand their business challenges and technical requirements in detail. - Design, architect, and develop full-stack solutions using an experiment-driven, iterative approach. - Prepare detailed scopes of work and project plans for both proof-of-concept prototypes and full production deployments. - Work hands-on with customers' technical teams as a technical expert and trusted advisor, coding side-by-side to drive projects to completion on their infrastructure. - Collaborate with Product, Research and Applied teams to ensure seamless customer experiences, project success and actionable product feedback - Contribute to internal knowledge bases, codifying best practices and sharing insights gained from customer engagements to scale the Forward Deployed Engineering function. ### You’ll thrive in this role if you - 7+ years of professional full stack engineering experience (excluding internships) in relevant roles at tech and product-driven companies - customer-facing experience is highly desirable - Former founder, or early engineer at a startup who has built a product from scratch is a plus - Experience with relational databases like Postgres/MySQL - Have a bias for action and willingness to work iteratively with your customers to deliver the right solution that solves their problem. ### 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/7b90b83c-ec28-4e65-a235-6675e37b91c3/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 [Accenture](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/accenture) ### [Forward Deployed AI Engineer Sr Manager](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/2ef22c72ece768b6) Chicago, IL · Milwaukee, WI · +38 more 2mo ago $112,900–$366,300 [Scale AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/scale-ai) ### [Senior Frontier Agents Engineer (Applied AI)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/ad5a80e79ff38092) San Francisco, CA · New York, NY · +1 more 3mo ago $216,000–$270,000 [Talkdesk](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/talkdesk) ### [Forward Deployed AI Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/71bb34cf6e268fcd) Bellevue, WA 2w ago $170,000–$200,000 [Amazon (incl AWS)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/amazon-incl-aws) ### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/11d3959b74fe7867) Boston, MA · Seattle, WA · +4 more 9d ago $168,100–$261,500 [Rune Technologies](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/rune-technologies) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/02ddbd5a959d2529) Seattle, WA On-site 4w ago $190,000–$210,000 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in Seattle area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=puget-sound) - [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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