> 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.

# FDE salary for building what the customer runs

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/builds-for-customers

Median salary $198,000 a year across 1,337 jobs. See what FDE postings that build what the customer runs pay, and what that kind of work covers.

**1,847** postings · **855** companies · 1,337 state pay: median **$198,000**, half $163,000–$225,000

Postings read on November 6, 2026

Published September 21, 2026 · Updated November 6, 2026

[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 Today

$207,000–$300,000

[Ingram Micro](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/ingram-micro)

### [Principal Forward Deployed Engineer, Google Cloud](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/2fdc34e1d9832ea5)

Irvine, CA Today

$133,400–$226,800

[Thomson Reuters](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/thomson-reuters)

### [Senior Software Engineer - AI, CoCounsel FDE](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/4062210d6364bfec)

Frisco, TX · New York, NY · +7 more Hybrid Today

$118,400–$253,000

[jeffreym-consulting](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/jeffreym-consulting)

### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/160095c9c45ee8af)

San Francisco, CA On-site Today

$180,000–$250,000

[OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), Cyber - SF](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/5a5eb13cea3121c0)

San Francisco, CA Hybrid Today

$185,000–$300,000

[Ajax](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/ajax)

### [Founding Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0d4e6543d37b1522)

New York, NY On-site Today

$210,000–$270,000

[Databricks](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/databricks)

### [Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer - Public Sector](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/440870dea6def209)

Berkeley, CA · Kansas City, MO · +1 more Remote Today

$182,000–$250,208

[SAS Institute Inc.](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/sas-institute-inc)

### [Senior Forward Deployed Solutions Architect, Large Pharma](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/4c789e2f61e7b01f)

NJ · US remote Remote Today

$136,948–$167,380

[OpenAI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/openai)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), Cyber - NYC](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/c5efd2cc66aab827)

New York, NY Hybrid Today

$185,000–$300,000

[Clutch](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/clutch)

### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9a66d5225152e662)

US Remote Today

$158,000–$210,000

[Twenty](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/twenty)

### [Senior/Staff Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/18c2eb0f60fcfda6)

Fort Meade, MD On-site Today

$192,000–$455,000

[Google](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/google)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer III, Data Cloud, Google Cloud](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/82606f0a46009d9d)

San Francisco, CA · Austin, TX · +5 more Yesterday

$174,000–$252,000

All 1,847 build what the customer runs.

[Browse all matching jobs with salary information →](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?disclosed=1&role=builds-for-customers)

See what FDE postings that build what the customer runs pay, and what that kind of work covers.

These postings write the production code that runs in the customer's own system, rather than selling it, configuring it or leading the team. Employers often call the job Forward Deployed Engineer or Forward Deployed Software Engineer. It is a different question from the coding filter: a posting here can spend most of its coding on production code, on prototypes or on configuration.

Employer postings · Calculated from posted salary amounts · [How we read postings](https://nextmove.md/fde/method)

## Related reading

- [How to compare FDE job offers](https://nextmove.md/fde/resources/compare-fde-offers)

## Related salary guides

- [FDE salary for integrating and configuring the product](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/implementation-delivery)
- [FDE salary for planning what the customer deploys first](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/deployment-strategy)