{"title":"How to hire a forward deployed engineer in London","url":"https://www.jackandjill.ai/roles/forward-deployed-engineer/london","publisher":"Jack & Jill","slug":"fde-london","path":{"role":"forward-deployed-engineer","location":"london"},"published":"2026-10-22","updated":"2026-10-28","locale":"en-GB","currency":"GBP","role":{"singular":"forward deployed engineer","plural":"forward deployed engineers","article":"a","short":"FDE","shortPlural":"FDEs","shortArticle":"an","people":"engineers"},"place":"London","hook":"Forward deployed engineers (FDEs) are in high demand.","what":{"definition":"A forward deployed engineer is a software engineer who works inside a customer’s business to make the product deliver for them. The job is part software engineering, part consulting.","traits":[{"label":"Owns delivery after the sale","pct":98},{"label":"Works alongside customers","pct":97},{"label":"Writes production code","pct":86},{"label":"Builds or deploys AI","pct":74}],"flavours":[{"name":"The builder","pct":62,"what":"Writes production code inside the customer’s stack: integrations, data pipelines and AI applications.","aka":"Forward deployed engineer, AI engineer, applied AI engineer"},{"name":"The deployment lead","pct":34,"what":"Scopes and runs the rollout, turns the customer’s problem into a working solution and owns the outcome.","aka":"Forward deployed engineer, AI deployment engineer, technical consultant"}],"flavourNote":"Only 5% of roles are pre-sales."},"hard":{"answer":"Nearly 1 in 5 FDE positions in London is an open role, more than twice the London Tech benchmark, and roles take 4 weeks longer to fill.","inRole":{"months":["2023-01","2023-02","2023-03","2023-04","2023-05","2023-06","2023-07","2023-08","2023-09","2023-10","2023-11","2023-12","2024-01","2024-02","2024-03","2024-04","2024-05","2024-06","2024-07","2024-08","2024-09","2024-10","2024-11","2024-12","2025-01","2025-02","2025-03","2025-04","2025-05","2025-06","2025-07","2025-08","2025-09","2025-10","2025-11","2025-12","2026-01","2026-02","2026-03","2026-04","2026-05","2026-06","2026-07","2026-08","2026-09"],"values":[367,375,379,392,398,403,417,409,414,414,418,414,424,420,427,438,437,439,447,455,446,443,449,450,475,483,486,508,522,540,551,563,588,620,641,654,699,730,768,788,806,868,950,993,1020]},"openRoles":{"months":["2025-08","2025-09","2025-10","2025-11","2025-12","2026-01","2026-02","2026-03","2026-04","2026-05","2026-06","2026-07","2026-08","2026-09"],"values":[119,137,139,156,159,156,138,165,185,195,187,226,220,227]},"timeOpen":{"median":80,"days":[0,15,30,45,60,75,90,105,120,135,150],"stillOpen":[100,93.2,82.5,70.7,61.5,52.8,46,37.8,32.2,29.3,25.8]},"estimated":["inRole","openRoles"]},"cost":{"pay":{"p10":60000,"p25":75000,"p50":100000,"p75":120000,"p90":150000},"drivers":{"rows":[{"label":"A more prestigious employer","effect":11,"lo":8,"hi":14,"moves":true},{"label":"6–8 years’ experience, not 3–5","effect":10,"lo":7,"hi":14,"moves":true},{"label":"Founder or early employee","effect":10,"lo":5,"hi":15,"moves":true},{"label":"Shipped production AI","effect":7,"lo":0.3,"hi":14,"moves":true},{"label":"Has led a team","effect":6,"lo":0.1,"hi":12,"moves":true},{"label":"Elite university","effect":3,"lo":0.2,"hi":6,"moves":true},{"label":"Already an FDE","effect":4,"lo":-2,"hi":10,"moves":false}]}},"where":{"companies":[{"name":"Palantir","domain":"palantir.com","tag":"The original FDE school","why":"Where the role was invented, and still London’s deepest FDE bench."},{"name":"OpenAI","domain":"openai.com","tag":"Small team, big pull","why":"A small London team whose FDEs are among the most requested by hiring managers."},{"name":"Google","domain":"google.com","tag":"Deep bench, beyond the title","why":"Customer-facing ML and cloud engineers doing the job under other titles, and a growing FDE team."}],"paths":[{"role":"Software, AI and data engineers","split":{"Enterprise":8.5,"Startup or scale-up":20.7,"Other":3.3}},{"role":"Consultants and solutions engineers","split":{"Enterprise":11,"Startup or scale-up":12.1,"Other":1}},{"role":"Founders and engineering leaders","split":{"Enterprise":5.1,"Startup or scale-up":9.1,"Other":0.8}},{"role":"Already FDEs","split":{"Enterprise":1.7,"Startup or scale-up":3.4,"Other":1.7}},{"role":"Graduates, researchers and others","split":{"Enterprise":6.2,"Startup or scale-up":8.3,"Other":7.2}}],"newToRolePct":93,"fromStartupsPct":54},"competitors":[{"tier":"Enterprise","companies":[{"name":"Google","domain":"google.com","roles":26},{"name":"Accenture","domain":"accenture.com","roles":18},{"name":"Databricks","domain":"databricks.com","roles":10},{"name":"Amazon","domain":"amazon.com","roles":9},{"name":"OpenAI","domain":"openai.com","roles":8}]},{"tier":"Startup or scale-up","companies":[{"name":"Fireworks AI","domain":"fireworks.ai","roles":4},{"name":"Mistral AI","domain":"mistral.ai","roles":4},{"name":"Shield AI","domain":"shield.ai","roles":4},{"name":"Decagon","domain":"decagon.ai","roles":3}]}],"win":{"answer":"AI work and strong pay get you in the door. To win the most in-demand FDEs, lead with what they want more than the rest.","pitch":["Offer equity","Show where the role leads","Pitch the founding role","Sell the team"],"wants":{"rows":[{"label":"Equity","top":77,"rest":63},{"label":"A path into product, leadership or founding","top":45,"rest":32},{"label":"A proven, well-known company","top":24,"rest":12},{"label":"Exceptional teammates","top":42,"rest":30},{"label":"An early-stage startup","top":45,"rest":35}]},"workModes":{"title":"Fewer lean remote","benchmark":"Other software engineers","highlight":"Remote-leaning or remote only","rows":[{"label":"Office-leaning","top":25,"rest":18},{"label":"Open to anything","top":38,"rest":32},{"label":"Remote-leaning or remote only","top":37,"rest":49}]}},"city":{"location":"london","name":"London Tech","asOf":"2026-09","vacancyRate":8.2,"timeOpen":{"median":52,"days":[0,15,30,45,60,75,90,105,120,135,150],"stillOpen":[100,84.4,69.7,56.1,44,34.8,27.7,22.7,19,15.8,13.5]}}}