Forward Deployed Engineer
Application analysis
Forward Deployed Engineer at Databricks is a forward deployed data & ai platform role for engineers who want customer-facing technical work with real deployment ownership.
Reading this role
This Forward Deployed Engineer role centers on embedded customer delivery — discovery, prototyping, integration, and production rollout. Key signals from the listing: Senior scope.
About Databricks
Databricks sells a unified data platform to enterprises. Forward deployed engineers help customers migrate workloads and prove value on live data. The role is anchored in London, United Kingdom, so expect on-site customer work in that region.
Signals in the listing
Stand out for Forward Deployed Engineer
- Lead your application with one paragraph tying Forward Deployed Engineer to a specific customer or deployment you owned — Databricks hires for shipped outcomes, not tool lists.
- Prepare a 5-minute “week one on site” plan: who you would meet, what you would inspect in their stack, and what artifact you would deliver by day five.
- Show you can go from discovery notes → working integration → production checklist without needing a large internal team.
- This role is tied to London, United Kingdom — mention willingness to work on-site with customers and any existing ties to that market (clients, partners, or domain knowledge).
Stand out at Databricks
- Demonstrate Spark/SQL fluency with a concrete example — Databricks will probe for specifics, not buzzwords.
- Demonstrate enterprise stakeholder management with a concrete example — Databricks will probe for specifics, not buzzwords.
- Strong candidates show they can whiteboard a lakehouse migration and then actually implement the first milestone.
- Read recent engineering blog posts, product launches, and customer stories on databricks.com — reference one explicitly in your outreach to show genuine interest.
Tailored from this listing’s title, company, and description. Always verify requirements on the company careers page before applying.
Role description
About the Team
The Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team is a highly specialized, customer-facing software engineering team at Databricks. We work with Databricks most strategic customers to design, build, and productionize first-of-their-kind data and AI solutions. This team is the right fit for you if you love working side-by-side with customers, collaborating with teammates, and pushing your curiosity across the latest trends in data, applications, and AI innovation.
Role Description
As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you will embed directly with our most strategic customers to design and deliver custom fullstack applications and solutions on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform and other common software stacks. You will own the architecture, lead design decisions, and implement end-to-end systems spanning data engineering, AI, and application development. This is a hands-on, customer-facing role for software engineers, developers, and builders who thrive at the intersection of technology and business impact. The ideal candidate combines engineering expertise with adaptability, curiosity, and a passion for solving complex problems that drive measurable outcomes.
The impact you will have:
Own the Architecture: Lead architecture and design decisions, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, and aligned with both customer needs and Databricks best practices. Application Engineering: Design and develop applications spanning backend, frontend, and integrations, bringing data and AI to life for enterprise users leveraging the Databricks platform.