Forward Deployed Engineer, Perplexity Computer

The best FDEs we've seen are roughly 1⁄3 engineer, 1⁄3 customer-facing solutions architect, 1⁄3 services-oriented program manager. You should be excellent at at least two of the three and credible in all three.

Must-haves

5+ years in a customer-embedded technical role: forward-deployed engineering, senior solutions engineering, solutions architecture, or technical consulting at a strong services organization.

Proven track record running customer engagements as projects: scoping, milestones, status, executive comms, risk management, exit criteria. You have said "no" and "not yet" to customers and made it stick.

AI-native. You use frontier LLMs, agents, and coding assistants daily and have strong intuition for what current models can and cannot do reliably.

Executive-credible communication. You can walk a CIO through architecture in a credible way while running the program on the ground as well.

High agency in ambiguity. No PM, no spec, no perfect requirements. You go in, figure out what matters, and ship.

Nice-to-haves

Prior FDE, applied-AI, or deployment-strategist role at a frontier AI company

Sales Engineering leadership at an enterprise SaaS or infra company where you owned the technical outcome of $1M+ deals

Solutions Architect in a strong services team

Experience deploying agents, RAG systems, or multi-step LLM workflows in a regulated or complex enterprise environment

History of working at startups or small teams, owning customer projects end-to-end