Forward deployed engineer

The way of working, forward deployed engineering, comes from large American software companies. In its original meaning a forward deployed engineer is employed by a product company and placed with the customer to make the company's own platform solve the customer's problem. Today AI companies use the title too, mostly with large customers. The approach differs from two better-known models. A consultant interviews, writes a report or a requirements specification and leaves, and someone else builds afterwards. A contracting agency sells capacity by the hour, and the customer directs the work and carries the risk that the hours produce something. A forward deployed engineer scopes and builds, so what is said in the workshop or the project office is not lost on the way to the code.

Example

At WOLLUM, FDE means the work starts with on-site scoping: the developer follows the work where it is done, finds the real problem together with the people who do the work, and builds a first working version. The customer gets a working version instead of a report, a fixed price per phase and the source code in their own hands.

In Norwegian context

In Norway the term appears mostly in job adverts from large international companies, and it is also used for hiring developers by the hour. For small and medium-sized businesses the point is different: WOLLUM has no platform or licence to sell, builds around the ERP and accounting system the business already has, and works for companies with 10–200 employees.