Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Digital Native Business
About this role
The Databricks team builds data and artificial intelligence solutions that empower organizations to productionize complex workloads using the Databricks Platform. Engineers in this customer-facing capacity guide strategic accounts through the architecture, design, and implementation of end-to-end systems spanning data engineering, machine learning, and application development. Professionals in this group bridge technical delivery with business strategy by embedding directly with client teams and collaborating cross-functionally with product and engineering units.
Candidates joining this function own technical delivery for digital native businesses, scoping projects and building reference architectures that ensure scalable, secure deployments. Ideal team members combine deep distributed computing expertise with exceptional client empathy, adaptability, and the ability to translate complex technical requirements into measurable outcomes.
What you will do
- Lead impactful customer technical projects by delivering production-grade systems, designing reference architectures, and integrating machine learning models.
- Guide strategic accounts through transformational big data implementations by handling end-to-end design, build, and deployment.
- Own architectural and design decisions to guarantee that solutions remain secure, scalable, and aligned with company best practices.
- Embed directly with client teams ranging from individual contributors to executives to understand challenges and drive adoption.
- Contribute reusable accelerators, frameworks, and best practices that scale impact across multiple accounts.
- Collaborate with internal engineering and support groups to relay product feedback and resolve engagement-specific issues.
What you need
- Bring six or more years of professional background in software engineering, data platforms, analytics, or data engineering.
- Write code fluently in at least one of Python, Scala, JavaScript, or TypeScript alongside modern frameworks.
- Demonstrate working knowledge across multiple cloud ecosystems with deep expertise in at least one major platform.
- Possess profound experience with distributed computing through Apache Spark and its runtime internals.
- Design and deploy performant end-to-end data architectures combining data pipelines, user interfaces, and AI models.
- Manage technical project delivery by scoping timelines, resolving stakeholder conflicts, and translating complex concepts.
Skills and tech stack
Questions candidates ask
What is the geographic expectation for this role?
This role is San Francisco Bay Area-focused, and candidates should be based in the area, willing to relocate, or able to travel to the region at least one week per month.
What is the salary range for the position?
The local pay range is $182,000 to $250,208 USD, with actual compensation determined by skills, experience, certifications, and location.
What kind of travel is required?
The position requires traveling to customer locations approximately 20% of the time.
What technical background is expected?
Applicants need six or more years of experience in data engineering, data platforms, analytics, or software engineering, along with deep expertise in Apache Spark.