Application deadline: Oct 16, 2026
A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) embeds directly inside a strategic enterprise customer to design, build, deploy, and run AI-powered production systems alongside the customer's engineering team. FDEs write production-grade software and own outcomes end-to-end, from prototype through enterprise-scale deployment combining the technical rigor of an AWS SDE with the urgency and ownership required to deliver measurable customer business outcomes. They create reusable architectures, patterns, and engineering mechanisms that scale the entire FDE practice.
This position requires that the candidate selected be a US Citizen and currently possess and maintain an active TS/SCI clearance with Polygraph.
Key job responsibilities
Lead technical delivery across customer engagements.
- Own the technical strategy and execution for complex, multi-workstream customer AI programs. Make architecture decisions that span multiple services and organizational boundaries. Align technical approach with the customer's long-term technology strategy. Requires up to 25% travel.
Architect and build production AI systems at scale.
- Design the foundational architectures — multi-agent orchestration, enterprise retrieval systems, decision intelligence platforms — for the most complex customer engagements. Drive clarity where neither the business problem nor technology approach is fully defined. Build production systems that handle enterprise-scale traffic and reliability requirements.
Own production excellence across workstreams.
- Define operational standards, evaluation frameworks, and production readiness criteria for AI systems across your engagement scope. Establish mechanisms (testing strategies, observability standards, incident response playbooks) that ensure AI systems remain healthy.
Scale the team's effectiveness.
- Define engineering patterns, contribute to the interview and hiring process, and mentor junior FDEs into independent contributors. Coach others on system design, customer engagement, and production operations.
Accelerate customer transformation.
- Identify systemic opportunities to expand AI adoption across the customer organization. Create accelerators and reusable platforms that reduce time-to-value from months to weeks. Feed learnings back into AWS services and the FDE practice.
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About the team
ABOUT AWS:
Diverse Experiences
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BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 5+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
- 5+ years of programming with at least one software programming language experience
- 5+ years of leading design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
- Experience as a mentor, tech lead or leading an engineering team
- Current, active US Government Security Clearance of TS/SCI with Polygraph
- Experience communicating technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior stakeholders
- Experience leading agentic and spec-driven development at production scale (developing AI agents a plus)
- Experience with AI tools: eval frameworks, agent tooling, RAG pipelines, and prompt engineering
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent
- Experience working with AWS Services
- Experience building or deploying AI/ML applications at enterprise production scale
- Background as a founder, engineering lead, or startup builder with high ownership and urgency
- Experience architecting and delivering complex, multi-component systems in customer production environments
- Experience with React, TypeScript, Python, and/or Go
- Experience leading customer-facing technical projects or managing external stakeholder relationships
- 3+ years of experience working in an Agile, startup, or rapidly scaling environment
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit
https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
USA, CO, Denver - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, NY, New York - 184,900.00 - 250,200.00 USD annually
USA, VA, Arlington - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually
USA, WA, Seattle - 168,100.00 - 227,400.00 USD annually