> 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 AI Engineer

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/cf031a0099eba727

Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in Pleasanton, CA, at $110,000–$180,000 base, below the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Own customer-facing deployments of production AI applications for complex industrial operations, from problem definition and architecture through live operation. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Avathon (formerly SparkCognition)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/avathon-formerly-sparkcognition)

Posted Mar 27, 2026 by Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026

**$110,000–$180,000** Pleasanton, CA

Own customer-facing deployments of production AI applications for complex industrial operations, from problem definition and architecture through live operation.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fcf031a0099eba727&placement=top)
- [View posting at Avathon (formerly SparkCognition)](https://avathon.com/company/careers-job-listing/?gh_jid=4678588005)

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

$110K–$180K Below the median

Midpoint $145K · median $190K

This job $110K to $180K. 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)

Travel **Up to 50%**

- **Coding**: Writes production code

- **Builds for**: External customers

- **Level**: Senior

- **Role**: Individual contributor

### What they ask for

Experience

- **6+ years** hands-on technical experience building, scaling, or deploying software and AI/ML systems (including internships) *Preferred*

Background

- **Software engineering**

Visa

- **No visa sponsorship**

### Do you meet what the posting states?

The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now?

The job is in Pleasanton, CA. Could you work there?

The posting says no visa sponsorship. Do you need one?

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**: Pleasanton, CA

- **Visa sponsorship**: Not available

- **Travel**: Up to 50%

- **Pay**:

## More like this

[PwC (US)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/pwc-us)

### [Forward Deployed Software Engineer-Palantir Foundry-Senior Associate](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8f2f106eae6e8759)

Chicago, IL · Raleigh, NC · +57 more Hybrid 2w ago

$77,000–$202,000

[Applied Intuition](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/applied-intuition)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer - New Grad (2027)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0fae357470701c01)

Sunnyvale, CA On-site 2mo ago

$130,000–$158,000

[Salient](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/salient)

### [Software Engineer, Product](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/1f6f4f1ea14eb94f)

San Francisco, CA On-site 5mo ago

$140,000–$200,000

- [Other jobs at Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) (5)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/avathon-formerly-sparkcognition)

## The job description from Avathon (formerly SparkCognition)

Posted by Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) on Mar 27, 2026

### Who We Are & Why Join Us

**Avathon** is the leading Industrial AI autonomy platform, helping customers across heavy industries -- energy, mining, manufacturing, aerospace, defense, and logistics -- accelerate the journey toward autonomous operations. Our platform is built on a Computational Knowledge Graph foundation that contextualizes and connects operational data across siloed systems, bringing together time series, structured, unstructured, and machine vision data to power AI-driven applications in asset performance management, supply chain intelligence, visual AI, and global trade management. With capabilities spanning digital twins, normal behavior modeling, natural language processing, and computer vision, Avathon delivers real-time predictive intelligence and agentic decision-making at industrial scale.

**Cutting-Edge AI Innovation** -- Join a team at the forefront of AI, developing groundbreaking solutions that shape the future. **High-Growth Environment** -- Thrive in a fast-scaling startup where agility, collaboration, and rapid professional growth are the norm. **Meaningful Impact** -- Work on AI-driven projects that drive real change across industries and improve lives.

Learn more at: avathon.com

### About the Role

As the only physical AI unicorn headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, we go beyond models and dashboards — we deploy AI that continuously computes across supply chains, energy systems, and industrial operations. Our Operational Technology platform turns fragmented data into real-time, autonomous decisioning across the systems that power the global economy.

This is not digital AI. This is AI for operational reality — where latency, constraints, and failure have real-world consequences.

Forward Deployed AI Engineers at Avathon are rewiring how the physical world operates. You will work directly with customers to take the hardest operational problems — multi-echelon supply chains, constrained production systems, global logistics networks — and turn them into continuously computing, AI-led systems. You will design, build, and deploy production-grade AI applications that operate across real-world infrastructure where decisions propagate across thousands of nodes in real time.

### Responsibilities

This role operates with the intensity and ownership of a founder in the field:

- Own end-to-end delivery of high-stakes deployments in operational environments
- Design and implement Avathon's Computational Knowledge Graph (CKG) that unifies data, constraints, and decisioning — performing continuous computation across physical networks
- Replace static planning workflows with real-time, autonomous execution applications
- Work side-by-side with operators, planners, and key stakeholders to define problems and deliver solutions
- Push systems into production that directly control and influence real-world operations
- Drive product evolution by feeding field learnings back into Avathon's core platform

### Preferred Skills

- 6+ years of hands-on technical experience (including internships) building, scaling, or deploying software and AI/ML systems
- Experience building AI/ML applications in production
- Strong foundation in machine learning, optimization, and system design
- Exceptional inferencing skills on applying necessary models in the field
- Demonstrated proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Java, C++, TypeScript/JavaScript, or similar
- Ability to reason complex, interconnected systems (supply chains, networks, infrastructure)
- Ability to move from problem to architecture to deployment without handoffs

### We Value

- We value engineers who build systems and tune industrial models
- Comfort operating in ambiguity, pressure, and high-stakes environments
- Willingness to work directly with customers and operate in real-world environments
- Travel to customer sites (up to 50%)

### Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology, Engineering
- An active U.S. Government security clearance (preferred)
- Excellent problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills

### Must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future company sponsorship

### Compensation & Benefits

- California Base Salary Range: $110,000 – $180,000 USD (based on experience)
- Equity in the form of stock options
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
- 401(k) participation
- Generous PTO and company holidays
- Ongoing learning and development opportunities

**Location: **Reporting out of Avathon’s HQ in Pleasanton (San Francisco Bay Area), California.

*Avathon is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, pregnancy, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws.*

*Avathon is committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruiting process. If you need a reasonable accommodation, please contact us to discuss how we can assist you.*

[View posting at Avathon (formerly SparkCognition)](https://avathon.com/company/careers-job-listing/?gh_jid=4678588005)

## About Avathon (formerly SparkCognition)

Avathon builds AI for industrial asset performance, renewable energy, and defense/autonomy use cases.

Late-stage private · 200–500 people

## Similar jobs

[Accordion](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/accordion)

### [Senior Software Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/72a07d97973bb794)

Boston, MA · Charlotte, NC · +4 more Hybrid 1mo ago

$110,000–$200,000

[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

[BCG](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/bcg)

### [Forward Deployed AI Engineer, United States - BCG X](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/cf94a12d13c41b68)

Boston, MA · New York, NY · +10 more On-site 6w ago

$110,000–$190,000

[MongoDB](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/mongodb)

### [Senior Forward Deployment Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/ee18b4ffe9431fe6)

Seattle, WA · Denver, CO · +5 more Remote 2w ago

$126,000–$248,000

[Capgemini](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/capgemini)

### [Capgemini Invent - Senior Consultant, Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0014ace4470c3ce5)

Seattle, WA · New York, NY · +4 more 2mo ago

$112,600–$212,700

- [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior)
- [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 Avathon (formerly SparkCognition) and want this page changed or removed? Email info@nextmove.md and we take it down.

Employer postings · [How we read postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/method)