> 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 in the San Francisco Bay Area

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/san-francisco-bay-area-builds-for-customers

Median salary $215,000 a year across 434 jobs. See what FDE postings in the Bay Area that build what the customer runs pay.

**570** postings · **329** companies · 434 state pay: median **$215,000**, half $184,000–$245,000

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

[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

[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

[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

[Generalist AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/generalist-ai)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/f13c7e99d08d7c7e)

San Mateo, CA On-site Yesterday

$150,000–$200,000

[Clera](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/clera)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/2f8984aea217c71f)

San Francisco, CA Hybrid Yesterday

$180,000–$220,000

[Syntiant](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/syntiant)

### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/e0bcf35f10ba6dd1)

Redwood City, CA 2d ago

$195,000–$225,000

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

### [Forward Deployed Engineer, Higher Education, Google Public Sector](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/d79f8d9d3dca840c)

Sunnyvale, CA 2d ago

$207,000–$300,000

[Concurrence](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/concurrence)

### [Staff Applied AI Engineer (Forward Deployed) [NYC or SF]](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/6fc4932d5c7940bc)

New York, NY On-site 3d ago

$240,000–$300,000

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

### [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0ebf30b12510c57d)

East Palo Alto, CA · Boston, MA · +3 more 3d ago

$168,100–$261,500

All 570 build what the customer runs.

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

See what FDE postings in the Bay Area that build what the customer runs pay.

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. The region is the whole Bay Area, not San Francisco alone.

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 in Seattle](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/seattle)
- [FDE salary in Austin](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/austin)
- [FDE salary in the San Francisco Bay Area](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/san-francisco-bay-area)
- [FDE salary in the New York metro](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/new-york)
- [FDE salary in Boston](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/greater-boston)
- [FDE salary in Los Angeles](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/greater-la)
- [FDE salary in Washington, DC](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/dmv)