Forward Deployed Engineer

Job description

SUMMARY Forward Deployed Engineers are the engineering core of Avanade Next. They sit inside the client from week one and turn business ambition into production reality — proving the direction in Consulting with a working prototype, leading the build in Studios, and configuring products for client environments. They work alongside business stakeholders, Industry Reinvention Leads, Domain Architects, Value Architects and Trust Architects to understand what matters commercially, then build the system that delivers it. This is not a order-taking role. Forward Deployed Engineers help clients decide what should be built, challenge assumptions where the value is not there, and lead the work through to live deployment. They work in small expert teams directing agent networks rather than large delivery pyramids, and they carry accountability from the first brief through to production — which is unusual, and is the point. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Work with clients, Industry Reinvention Leads, Domain Architects, Value Architects and Trust Architects to understand business priorities and translate them into practical AI-enabled solutions. Build and deploy agentic AI systems end-to-end, embedded with the client and shipping from the first weeks of an engagement. Help clients identify where AI can create meaningful value, challenge assumptions where necessary, and shape solutions that are commercially viable and technically feasible at enterprise scale. In Consulting: build the working prototype that proves the strategy is real rather than theoretical. In Studios: take use cases from prototype to production-grade agentic systems with the engineering rigour that implies. In Products: configure and deploy pre-built agentic products into client environments. Design on the Avanade Agentic Platform and the Microsoft AI stack, choosing the right combination of Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry and AAP for the business problem. Apply AI-native engineering practices — agent-assisted development, automated evaluation, reusable components, observability and production operations. Work with Trust Architects on evaluation, accuracy and guardrails as part of the build, not as a later gate. Work with Value Architects so what is built stays connected to the measurable outcome it was funded for. Contribute reusable components, patterns and assets to the APAC IP library and the Avanade Agentic Platform on every engagement. Operate with high autonomy in the client's environment, including in the ambiguity of early-stage discovery. KEY MEASURES Client outcomes achieved through production deployments, evidenced by business value realised and client referenceability Production-grade delivery on every engagement; no prototype handed over without a production path. Demonstrable productivity through AI-native engineering practices and agent utilisation. Reusable assets contributed to the library from every engagement. Accuracy and evaluation thresholds met before release. . SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE 5+ years in software or AI engineering, with production systems to point to. Strong practical command of Azure AI Foundry, Copilot Studio, Azure OpenAI and agent orchestration; equivalent depth on another stack considered if the transfer is credible. Full-stack capability — front end, APIs, data and agent orchestration — enough to ship something whole. Experience building and evaluating agentic systems, including retrieval, tool use, and failure handling. Comfortable being deployed into a client environment with high autonomy and direct exposure to stakeholders. Track record of turning a prototype into production at pace, without leaving the mess for someone else. Able to hold a business conversation as well as a technical one — comfortable in front of client stakeholders without an intermediary. WAYS OF WORKING Embedded with the client from week one — this is a forward-deployed role, not a remote build role. Not order-takers for requirements. Forward Deployed Engineers help clients determine what should be built and then lead the journey to production. Held centrally in the shared workforce pool and deployed across all of Next; assignments change as demand moves. Works in small expert teams directing agents, with the productivity expectations that implies. AI-native by default — agents are used in the engineer's own work, on every engagement, without exception. Continuity matters: FDEs stay with a client across phases so context compounds rather than resets. Travel within region, and occasionally across APAC, depending on the mandate. .