> 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 Engineer Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/d9b832dd64d37c26 Endeavor posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in Chicago, IL, at $150,000–$180,000 base, below the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. A customer-facing Forward Deployed Engineer leads engagements from initial problem scoping through production, building AI-enabled solutions with business-critical data. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Endeavor](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/endeavor) Posted Nov 2, 2026 by Endeavor · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 **$150,000–$180,000** + equity Chicago, IL On-site Full-time A customer-facing Forward Deployed Engineer leads engagements from initial problem scoping through production, building AI-enabled solutions with business-critical data. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fd9b832dd64d37c26&placement=top) - [View posting at Endeavor](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/endeavorai/75392531-e448-4a1a-9a24-8e5fba4a24b3/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 $150K–$180K Below the median Midpoint $165K · median $190K This job $150K 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 **Required, amount not stated** - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Technical lead ### What they ask for Experience - **3+ years** professional software engineering Background - **Software engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 3+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The job is in Chicago, IL. 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**: Chicago, IL - **Work arrangement**: On-site - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Travel**: Travel required, amount not stated - **Pay**: ## More like this [CrossCountry Consulting](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/crosscountry-consulting) ### [Forward Deployed Software Engineer (Recent Graduate) - Chicago](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/41a0b6e3ff27d353) Chicago, IL Hybrid 12d ago $95,000–$125,000 [Palantir](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/palantir) ### [Forward Deployed Software Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/cb748842cab6f816) Chicago, IL Hybrid 4mo ago $135,000–$200,000 [Intercom](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/intercom) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/43e74ff97f9abf5c) Chicago, IL Hybrid 9d ago $160,000–$213,300 - [Other jobs at Endeavor (3)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/endeavor) ## The job description from Endeavor Posted by Endeavor on Nov 2, 2026 - Endeavor is real-world enterprise AI. AI models are improving faster than most companies can put them to work. Endeavor closes that gap. We exist to secure American industrial leadership. AI is the largest advantage available to the companies that make, move, and defend things in this country, and most of them can't reach it alone. We close that distance — so their customers pay less, their people do work worth doing, and the companies themselves come out stronger than the competition abroad. To do that, we build custom AI systems for companies in mission-critical industries — manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, defense, life sciences. Not software they rent from a vendor that doesn't understand their business. Systems they own, built inside their own stack, in production in weeks. Operating Principles - One team, one fight. Small companies fail for a hundred reasons. Being internally misaligned shouldn't be one of them. We think like owners of the whole business — the question is always how *we* win. We're fighting the world, not each other. - Strong convictions, loosely held. Show up with a point of view and hold that view loosely enough that better evidence can move it. The best ideas come from candor and debate. - Default to open. Our clients trust us with their hardest problems and we extend that same trust internally. Information here is open by default — data, context, the reasoning behind decisions — because you can't own an outcome you can only see half of. The Role | Forward Deployed Engineer Forward Deployed Engineers work side by side with our customers. They quickly get to the bottom of the customer’s hardest problems, then architect and build solutions that use business-critical data and the latest advances in AI to solve them. At this level, you’ll lead engagements from the first conversation through to production. That means scoping the problem with customer stakeholders, making the key technical calls, and shipping systems that hold up in mission-critical environments. You’ll work in small, agile teams, own the end-to-end delivery of high-stakes projects, and help raise the bar for the engineers around you. What We Require - High agency and chaos ceiling, with strong first-principles thinking, outcome orientation, and resiliency. - 3+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a track record of taking projects from an ambiguous problem to production. - Proficiency with one or more programming languages, such as Python, C++, TypeScript/JavaScript, or similar. - Comfort working directly with customers and turning business problems into technical solutions. - An engineering background, ideally in Computer Science, Mathematics, Software Engineering, Physics, or Data Science. - Ability to travel. [View posting at Endeavor](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/endeavorai/75392531-e448-4a1a-9a24-8e5fba4a24b3/application) ## About Endeavor Builds and deploys enterprise AI systems that connect business data and automate operational work in industrial and other mission-critical organizations. Seed ## Similar jobs [PwC (US)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/pwc-us) ### [Forward Deployed Software Engineering - Senior Associate](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/1ce21e349081a139) New York, NY · Boston, MA · +1 more 2mo ago $77,000–$214,000 [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 [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 [Databricks](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/databricks) ### [Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Retail](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f8a1279fcdf62df7) Chicago, IL 3mo ago $182,000–$250,208 [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 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in Chicago](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=chicagoland) - [Similar jobs that build what the customer runs](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=builds-for-customers) Hiring at Endeavor and want this page changed or removed? 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