FDE Academy

Updated November 9, 2026

Forward deployed engineer jobs and salaries

387 open forward deployed engineer, deployment strategist and applied AI roles at 10 companies right now, with each company's own posted base pay. Collected from public job boards on November 9, 2026.

387open roles
10companies hiring
154roles with posted USD pay
$239Kmedian of posted base-pay midpoints
$445Khighest posted base

What does a forward deployed engineer do?

A forward deployed engineer (FDE) is a software engineer who works directly with customers to make a product work in their real environment: scoping the problem, building the integration, shipping it to production and handing it over. Companies from Palantir to the large AI labs hire for it under titles such as Forward Deployed Engineer, Deployment Strategist and Applied AI Engineer or Architect.

New to the role? Start with what an FDE actually does, then try the free LLM VRAM calculator and the RAG lab to see the kind of technical depth these roles expect.

Posted base pay by company

CompanyOpen rolesWith posted USD payPosted base rangeMedian midpoint
Databricks10070$153K to $343K$216K
Palantir960not publishednot published
OpenAI9242$146K to $445K$243K
Anthropic4621$200K to $400K$295K
Scale AI2110$177K to $360K$243K
Cohere111$265K to $325K$295K
Decagon93$175K to $230K$203K
Ramp44$168K to $352K$278K
Harvey43$255K to $350K$302K
Stripe40not publishednot published

Base salary only (no equity or bonus). Ranges are as posted by each company and vary by level and location. Companies that do not publish pay show none. Always confirm details on the posting.

Databricks forward deployed engineer jobs

100 openings, 70 with posted pay ($153K to $343K base).

Showing the 15 highest-paying of 100. See the rest on Databricks's careers site.

Palantir forward deployed engineer jobs

96 openings. Palantir does not publish pay ranges on these postings.

Showing the 15 highest-paying of 96. See the rest on Palantir's careers site.

OpenAI forward deployed engineer jobs

92 openings, 42 with posted pay ($146K to $445K base).

Showing the 15 highest-paying of 92. See the rest on OpenAI's careers site.

Anthropic forward deployed engineer jobs

46 openings, 21 with posted pay ($200K to $400K base).

Showing the 15 highest-paying of 46. See the rest on Anthropic's careers site.

Scale AI forward deployed engineer jobs

21 openings, 10 with posted pay ($177K to $360K base).

Showing the 15 highest-paying of 21. See the rest on Scale AI's careers site.

Cohere forward deployed engineer jobs

11 openings, 1 with posted pay ($265K to $325K base).

Decagon forward deployed engineer jobs

9 openings, 3 with posted pay ($175K to $230K base).

Ramp forward deployed engineer jobs

4 openings, 4 with posted pay ($168K to $352K base).

Harvey forward deployed engineer jobs

4 openings, 3 with posted pay ($255K to $350K base).

Stripe forward deployed engineer jobs

4 openings. Stripe does not publish pay ranges on these postings.

Frequently asked questions

How much do forward deployed engineers make?

Across the 154 openings in this snapshot that publish a US-dollar base salary range, the midpoint of the posted ranges has a median of about $239K, and posted bases run from $146K to $445K. These are base salaries only (no equity or bonus), and they vary by company, level and location.

Which companies hire forward deployed engineers?

In this snapshot: Databricks, Palantir, OpenAI, Anthropic, Scale AI, Cohere, Decagon, Ramp, Harvey, Stripe. Job boards change daily, so check the posting for the current status.

Is a forward deployed engineer the same as a solutions engineer?

No. Solutions engineers usually help prospects evaluate a product before a deal closes, while forward deployed engineers build and own what runs in production at the customer. The free first chapter compares the roles side by side.

Where does this data come from?

From the public job-board interfaces that companies publish for their own careers pages (Greenhouse, Ashby and Lever). We keep titles that match forward deployed engineer, deployment strategist and applied AI engineer or architect roles, and exclude management and recruiting roles. This is an independent snapshot, not an endorsement by or affiliation with any employer, and company names and logos belong to their owners.

Want to be ready for these interviews?

FDE Academy teaches the skills these postings ask for: scoping customer problems, building with LLMs, running models in a customer's environment and shipping to production. Seven chapters are free with no signup.

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