Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Digital Native Business
About this role
Complex data and AI challenges often stall digital native businesses before they can reach production, requiring technical specialists to bridge the gap between abstract architectures and measurable deployment. Databricks needs a Forward Deployed Engineer to help enterprise customers build, scale, and productionize end-to-end systems on the Databricks Platform. This technical, customer-facing role combines software engineering, data pipelines, and machine learning integration to guide strategic accounts through large-scale transformations.
The person in this position will own system architecture, design reference implementations, and embed directly with client engineering teams from the San Francisco Bay Area. Success requires deep distributed computing knowledge combined with strong interpersonal skills to manage stakeholder expectations and translate business requirements into working code. Engineers who enjoy solving complex architectural puzzles alongside clients will find a natural home in this team.
What you will do
- Lead customer technical projects by delivering production-grade systems, custom applications, and data ingestion pipelines.
- Guide strategic accounts through big data implementations, spanning end-to-end design, build, and deployment.
- Collaborate with engagement managers to scope technical delivery work and align solutions with customer requirements.
- Ensure deployed architectures are secure, scalable, and compliant with company best practices.
- Embed directly with client teams to understand technical challenges and accelerate platform adoption.
- Contribute reusable accelerators and frameworks that scale impact across multiple customer accounts.
- Provide actionable product and implementation feedback to engineering and customer support teams.
What you need
- Bring at least six years of professional experience in software engineering, data platforms, analytics, or data engineering.
- Write production-grade code comfortably in Python, Scala, JavaScript, or TypeScript alongside modern frameworks.
- Demonstrate working knowledge of at least two major cloud ecosystems with deep expertise in one.
- Apply deep technical experience with distributed computing through Apache Spark and its runtime internals.
- Design and deploy performant end-to-end data architectures combining data pipelines, AI models, and user interfaces.
- Manage technical project delivery by handling scope, timelines, and stakeholder conflicts across enterprise clients.
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the remote and location policy for this role?
This role is focused in the San Francisco Bay Area. Candidates should be based in the area, willing to relocate, or able to travel there at least one week per month to spend time with customers and the team.
What is the salary range for this position?
The local pay range for this role is $182,000 to $250,208 USD. Actual compensation packages are based on factors such as job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant training, and specific work location.
What kind of travel is expected for this position?
Travel to customer locations is required approximately twenty percent of the time.