Who is a Forward Deployed Engineer?
This role combines building, deploying, and owning AI systems. It spans software, platforms, and solutions. It exists to make AI work beyond demos.
Join World’s Largest FDE Community
PGP in FDE & Applied AI Solutions
Built by real FDEs & AI Industry Leaders
IIT Roorkee Certification Add-On
₹75 LPA +
Avg FDE Salary
Duration
8 Months
Application Deadline
2nd March, 2026
The demand for this role is Exploding
The new hot job in Al: forward-deployed engineers
Job postings for forward-deployed engineers increased by more than 800% in 2025.
The Rise Of The Forward Deployed Engineer: A New Career Path For The Native-AI Era
The forward deployed engineer fills that gap, ensuring that AI progresses with customers rather than drifting away from their needs.
FDE Model is Gaining Momentum
The FDE model is rapidly gaining momentum as organisations look to fast-track AI integration and adoption by embedding engineering talent directly with client teams.
Al Startups Have a New (Old) Secret Weapon: Forward Deployed Engineers
AI companies are hiring forward-deployed engineers to work directly with customers and tailor AI tools to real-world use cases.
Understand How FDE’s Work Cycle Operate
Bridging business needs and AI execution
1
Understand the Business Reality
Start by understanding how the business actually operates, not just the stated requirement.
2
Define the Right Problem
Translate business pain into a clear, solvable problem worth using AI for.
3
Design the AI Approach
Decide what AI should do, what data it will use, and how success will be measured.
4
Build Within Real Constraints
Develop solutions that fit existing data, systems, security, and infrastructure.
5
Deploy Into Production
Ship working AI into live environments where real users depend on it.
6
Own Outcomes and Improve
Monitor performance, fix failures, and continuously improve based on real usage.
70% AI pilots are failing
and FDEs are the answer to bridge this gap
Introducing The FDE Academy
World’s first and only structured pathway to become an FDE.
Built and taught by real FDEs who deploy AI systems in the real world.
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What Makes the FDE Academy Different
Built Backwards from AI Failure
Designed using MIT and Harvard research on why AI breaks after launch and training engineers to fix those exact points.
Parallel Dual-Track Architecture
Technical execution and consulting delivery run together every week, just like real FDE work.
32-Week High-Intensity Cohort
A long-form immersive program with sustained engagement and accountability.
Execution-First Learning
MVPs, POCs, and deployment simulations drive learning, not lectures.
Frameworks Before Tools
Deployment frameworks and decision models come first, GenAI tools follow.
A Living FDE Community
A role-specific network where learning, feedback, and opportunity compound
over time.
Curriculum Overview
Designed to Make You Industry Ready
Dual-Track Learning Path
Month 1-2: Foundation
Technical Track
Consulting Track
Python for production systems
Problem diagnosis frameworks
API integration & microservices
Client discovery methodologies
Database design & deployment
Stakeholder communication
Month 3-4: IIT Roorkee Certification Phase
Technical Track
Consulting Track
Advanced ML deployment
Solution scoping workshops
Cloud architecture (AWS/Azure)
Business case development
LLM fine-tuning & optimization
Technical writing for non-tech clients
Month 5-6: Production Focus
Technical Track
Consulting Track
Agentic systems & orchestration
Change management strategies
Real-time debugging & monitoring
Long-term client engagement models
Security & compliance in production
Success metrics & reporting
Month 6-8: Advanced Projects & Placement
Technical Track
Consulting Track
Multi-client deployment simulations
Crisis management & rapid response
Performance optimization at scale
Contract negotiation & scoping
Tool ecosystem mastery
Building trusted advisor relationships
Built & Taught By Real FDEs
Rajeev Kumar
Lloyds Technology
Forward Deployed Engineer
Subham Ghosh
PromptQL
Forward Deployed Engineer
Keshav M
OnFinance AI
Forward Deployed Engineer
Rushikesh Akhare
Luminai
Lead FDE
Kalaiselvan Swamy
Axelerant
Forward Deployed Engineer
Himanshu Kumar
Bluecore
Forward Deployed Engineer
Prem Shah
AIStudio
Forward Deployed Engineer
Prachi Panwar
Bluecore
Forward Deployed Engineer
Avichal
Sarvam
Forward Deployed Engineer
Vishnu Sanketh
Valiance Solutions
Forward Deployed Engineer
Shefin Shareef
Moveworks
Forward Deployed Engineer
Darshan Anand
Zomato
Forward Deployed Engineer
Tushar Sharma
C3 AI
Forward Deployed Engineer
Anirban Saha
Databricks
Senior AI FDE
Mrinal Raj
Mercor
Forward Deployed Engineer
Mentored By AI Industry Leaders
Biju Kalleppilli
SAP Labs
Industry Copilot Head
Ashutosh Shinde
PayU
Director, Software Engineering
Arpit Agarwal
Data Science Manager
Gaurav Srivastava
Amazon
Analytics Business Intelligence
Ashish Kulkarni
Kritrum
Director Applied AI
Vidhi Chugh
All About Scale
Head of AI
Nishant Chandra
Microsoft
Industry Copilot Leader & Head
Ruchika Singh
Spotify
Director, Data Science & Insights
Krithika Muthukrishnan
Scripbox
Chief Data Science Officer
Sumon Maal
SonyLiv
Director Engineering
Tushar Sahu
Director Engineering
Vishal Nagpal
Best Buy
Director of Data & A
Indrani Goswami
Nykaa
Associate Director
Anirban Nandi
Albertsons Companies India
Vice President, AI and Data
Srini Oduru
Kearney
Head of IT Delivery & Operations
Swati Jain
Deloitte
Partner, Digital AI & Analytics
Madhu Hosadurga
Schneider Electric
Global VP, Enterprise A
Nithya Subramanian
Best Buy
Sr Director Data & AI COE
Pankaj Rai
Aditya Birla Management
Group Chief Data & Analytics Officer
Ishu Jain
Myntra
Head of Central Analytics
Shrirsha Ray
Thomson Reuters
Director of Engineering
Muthumari S
Brillio
Global Head of Data & AI Studio
Ankit Mogra
Ather Energy
Director - Insights & Analytics
Anand Das
TVS Motors
Chief Digital & AI Officer
How You Will Learn
FDE Academy Method
Practitioner-Designed Learning
Curriculum and frameworks shaped by people who have deployed AI in real organizations.
Mentorship from FDEs and Senior AI Leaders
Guidance, reviews, and perspective from experienced Forward Deployed Engineers and AI leaders.
Learn → Apply → Build Loop (FDE LabTM)
Concepts move immediately into real scenarios and full system builds.
Agile, Sprint-Based Execution
Structured sprints with clear goals, reviews, and iteration… not passive learning.
Framework-First, Tool-Agnostic
Master 10+ proprietary FDE frameworks before applying 30+ GenAI tools in context.
Hiring-Grade Portfolio Output
Deployed systems, case narratives, and architecture walkthroughs built for interviews.
The FDE LAB™ Model
Learn
Core Concepts and Production Patterns (with 30+ GenAI Tools)
Agentic Orchestration
LangGraph, CrewAI, Semantic Kernel
Advanced Prompting
Chain-of-thought, ReAct, DSPy
Vector Search
Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant
LLM Operations
LangSmith, Helicone, Weights & Biases
Deployment Stack
Modal, Replicate, Together AI, BentoML
Safety & Guardrails
NeMo Guardrails, PII detection
Apply
Realistic Company Case Studies and Simulations
Agentic Orchestration
Payment Fraud Detection Build real-time ML pipeline. 100ms latency requirement.
Salesforce
CRM Auto-Enrichment Extract company data from web sources and calls.
Freshworks
Ticket Intelligence Route 100K monthly tickets. Multi-language support.
Postman
API Documentation Generator Analyze endpoints, generate docs, create test cases.
Razorpay
Transaction Reconciliation Match 3M transactions across bank statements.
Notion
Workspace Intelligence Q&A over docs, meeting summaries, action tracking.
Atlassian
Project Intelligence Sprint health prediction, delivery risk scoring.
Load More
Build
Production-Grade AI Systems and Deployments
Perplexity Research Engine
Multi-step research, source validation, citations Stack: Claude Opus, Firecrawl, Pinecone
Cursor Code Assistant
Context-aware completions, PR reviews Stack: Codestral, Continue.dev, Ollama
Intercom Support Automation
Ticket routing, sentiment analysis, 15+ languages Stack: GPT-4o, Semantic Router, Qdrant
Stripe Webhook Infrastructure
10K events/sec with retries, idempotency Stack: Inngest, Trigger.dev, Upstash
OpenAI Playground Alternative
Multi-model testing, cost tracking, versioning Stack: LiteLLM, Portkey, Helicone
Production RAG System
Citation scoring, hallucination checks, PII filtering Stack: LangGraph, NeMo Guardrails
Multi-Tenant SaaS Architecture
Data isolation, per-tenant fine-tuning, zero-downtime Stack: Neon Postgres, Tinybird, PostHog
Healthcare HIPAA AI
Audit logs, encryption, regulatory compliance Stack: Anthropic Claude, Presidio
Load More
IIT Roorkee Certification Add-On
Academic depth, built into the FDE Academy journey
IIT Roorkee x FDE Academy
The FDE Academy program includes learning delivered in association with IIT Roorkee — one of India’s most respected engineering institutions, known for its legacy in technology, research, and applied sciences, and globally recognised for its contributions across core engineering, data, and emerging technology domains.
Live sessions by IIT Roorkee professors
Structured Academic Curriculum (Week 1-12)
Optional Campus Immersion
Dual Certification : FDE Academy + IIT Roorkee
Compensation Ranges
( Indicative ranges. Actual compensation varies by experience, company, and geography. )
Role Title
Forward Deployed Engineer
India Salary
45 LPA - 1.8 Cr+
Global Salary
$220k – $380k
Role Title
Senior Forward Deployed Engineer
India Salary
₹60 LPA – ₹1.5 Cr+
Global Salary
$350k – $600k+
Role Title
Applied AI Engineer (Production)
India Salary
₹20 LPA – ₹70 LPA
Global Salary
$180k – $320k
Role Title
Senior Applied AI Engineer
India Salary
₹50 LPA – ₹1.2 Cr+
Global Salary
$350k - $550K
Role Title
AI Solutions Engr/ GenAI Architect
India Salary
₹35 LPA – ₹1.2 Cr+
Global Salary
$250k – $450k+
Role Title
AI Systems Lead / Staff Engineer
India Salary
₹80 LPA – ₹2.5 Cr+
Global Salary
$450k – $750k+
Career Outcomes, Backed by Futurense
The FDE pathway follows a structured approach aligned with industry demand. We actively engage with leading companies to stay ahead of evolving hiring needs and prepare our learners for real-world AI career opportunities.
Remote Opportunities
Service Now
Scale AI
Adobe
Databricks
MongoDB
Salesforce
Ramp
Open AI
Palantir
India Opportunities
Backed by Futurense’s Hiring Engine
Be a Part of World’s Largest FDE Community
Your long-term competitive edge.
The Program Includes
A 2-day In-Person Retreat in Goa
Exchange real-world insights on deploying AI in production
A small cohort today. A defining network over time.
Eligibility
4-Year Degree with Maths
2+ Years Technical Experience (or exceptional fresher)
Strong Python or SQL (numpy, pandas, or strong coding ability)
AI/ML Foundations (via coursework, certification, or projects)
Cloud Exposure (AWS/GCP/Azure cert or deployed project)
Clear Technical Communication (can explain concepts to non-technical audiences)
What to expect
Admission Process
This program is selective. Great learning comes from great peers. We choose individuals who raise the standard for themselves and for the room.
Fill the application form
Take the readiness test
Interview with the FDE panel
Enroll and begin your journey
The Opportunity is Now
FDE is not a role you pick up through scattered tutorials or short-term courses.The companies like Palantir, OpenAI, Anthropic are looking for engineers who can own AI systems end to end in real production environments.
Early positioning in an emerging role = asymmetric returns. This is that moment.
Frequently Asked Questions
We know you might have some questions before getting started in our platform
What is the PGP in Forward Deployed Engineering & Applied AI Solutions?
A 32-week, high-intensity, deployment-focused postgraduate program designed to train engineers to own AI systems in production.
Graduate with a deployment-ready portfolio built through 300+ hours of active learning, focused on reliability, integration, and real-world adoption.
Who is a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)?
A Forward Deployed Engineer is responsible for making AI work inside real organizations — owning outcomes from deployment to adoption until systems become stable, trusted, and business-critical.
Why is this role in demand right now?
Because AI doesn’t fail in demos — it fails after launch.
70%+ of AI pilots never reach sustained production, largely due to challenges in deployment, integration, reliability, and adoption. Forward Deployed Engineers exist to close that gap.
What makes FDE Academy different from typical AI programs?
Most programs optimize for certification.
FDE Academy optimizes for capability and ownership.
The focus is not topic completion — it is preparing engineers to deploy, own, and scale AI systems under real-world constraints.
How was the curriculum built?
The curriculum is grounded in real Forward Deployed work, drawing on insights from 160+ FDE roles and inputs from practicing engineers, hiring teams, and employers — ensuring alignment with what production-ready engineers are expected to deliver.
What is FDE Lab™️?
FDE Lab™️ is the proprietary learning system behind the program, built on a continuous loop:
Learn → Apply → Build
Learn production patterns
Apply them to realistic company scenarios
Build end-to-end systems evaluated for real-world readiness
Every build is measured against one question:
“Would this survive inside a real organization?”
Why is the program dual-track (Technical Track + Consulting Track)?
Real AI deployment demands both technical expertise and execution ownership.
Technical Track: Architecture, evaluation, monitoring, reliability, and deployment patterns.
Consulting Track: Problem discovery, solution design, stakeholder alignment, delivery, and feedback loops.
Both tracks run in parallel throughout the program — reflecting how Forward Deployed Engineers operate in production environments.
What is the weekly time commitment?
The program follows a structured cadence with live weekday sessions and deeper weekend builds.
Typical commitment is ~14–18 hours per week, depending on the phase. The rigor is intentional — because the role demands it.
Is the program selective? What is the selection process?
Yes — the program is intentionally selective to maintain a high-caliber cohort.
The process includes:
Proficiency test
Technical interview
Field readiness evaluation
Final FDE Board decision
We assess aptitude and ownership potential — not just current skill levels.
What do learners graduate with?
Graduates complete a deployment-ready portfolio, reviewed code, architecture artifacts, and a capstone demonstrating end-to-end ownership.
Learners also receive:
PGP Certification from FDE Academy
Professional Certification in association with IIT Roorkee
Lifetime access to a role-specific FDE community
Become one of India’s First Forward Deployed Engineer.
The world is hiring and this Academy prepares you for it.