What does it take to become a forward-deployed engineer?

Do you have what it takes to become America’s next top forward- deployed engineer (FDE)?

FDEs are customer-facing software engineers who help customize and build software solutions to address a specific need, and they’re quickly becoming one of tech industry’s most in-demand roles. IT Brew previously reported that job listings for FDEs quintupled between November 2024 and 2025, according to Lightcast data.

Eugen Alpeza, CEO of startup Edra, told IT Brew that, thanks in large part to AI lowering the cost of building highly specialized software, FDEs have become a must-have role.

“Companies’ processes are very specific to them, and people use forward deployed engineers to go in, figure out what is the actual process, and make an AI system that can follow it,” he said.

So, you think you can FDE? IT Brew caught up with several experts to find out what exactly companies want in their FDEs. Mark Wakelin, Salesforce EVP of FDE, said his company looks for FDEs who have an “IT developer mindset,” or someone with past experience as a software developer or in the data space industry who can apply an “engineering skill set to business problems.”

Wakelin told us late last year that Salesforce has been actively hiring FDEs, with a goal of employing 1,000 professionals for the role.

“We want the kids that used to take their toys apart to understand how they worked and then… put the toys back together and tried to make them go faster,” Wakelin said.

Alpeza added that FDEs operate at a much faster pace than traditional software engineers, making speed another criteria for prospective candidates.

“When the customer is always waiting on you, you want that iteration loop to be super, super quick,” he said.

People person. Professionals who want a career as an FDE don’t just need the technical chops to succeed, but also good soft skills. Deepak Anchala, co-founder and CEO of Adopt AI, told IT Brew in December that he seeks out personable professionals who are experienced with a broad portfolio of AI tools.

“We need people who have a decent understanding of all of the AI tools, very inquisitive, [and] who have good communication skills because you’re talking to customers all the time,” Anchala said.

Given that the FDE role is customer-facing, Anchala added that he is often looking for professionals who are located close to their prospective clients. Because of this, individuals expecting to transition into an FDE role should anticipate a decent level of in-person work.

“It’s a role where you can’t just sit and build in the backend,” Anchala said. “This is a role where you’re interacting with the customer, maybe two, three times a week.”

The great switcheroo. Developers seeking to become an FDE should start by working as closely with their end customers as possible, Alpeza said.

“There should not be a product manager between you and your users,” Alpeza said. “That’s the big difference.”