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Talent intelligence · Updated

Hiring guide

Open roles for forward deployed engineers (FDEs) are up 50% in a year. Everything you need to hire one: how scarce they are, what to offer, where to look, who you’re up against and what wins them.

A forward deployed engineer is a software engineer who works with a company’s customers to make its product deliver inside their business. They write the code, run the rollout and own the result after the sale.

What the job involves

Share of open FDE roles in San Francisco that ask for it

  • Owns delivery after the sale
  • Works alongside customers
  • Writes production code
  • Builds or deploys AI

2 kinds of FDE

The title covers 2 different jobs. Know which one you’re hiring before you search. Only 4% of roles are pre-sales.

  1. 56%

    of open roles

    The builder

    Ships production code in the customer’s systems, from integrations and data pipelines to AI agents.

    Also titled: Forward deployed engineer, applied AI engineer, AI engineer

  2. 40%

    of open roles

    The deployment lead

    Scopes the customer’s problem, runs the rollout and makes sure the product delivers what was promised.

    Also titled: Forward deployed engineer, AI agent engineer, solutions engineer

  • 1,200

    FDEs working in San Francisco

  • 640

    open roles for FDEs

  • 87 days

    median time a role stays open

  • $180k

    median expected base

We count people and roles that match the role of an FDE. We don’t just count titles. How we count

01

How hard is this hire?

1 in 3 FDE positions in San Francisco is an open role, twice the San Francisco Tech benchmark, and roles take 3 weeks longer to fill.

  • People in the role

    1,200

    FDEs working in San Francisco, September 2026

    5001,0001,500Jan ’23Sep ’23May ’24Jan ’25Sep ’25Sep ’261,235
    Sep ’261,235
    FDEs working in San Francisco, by month
    MonthFDEs
    January 2023283
    February 2023283
    March 2023278
    April 2023286
    May 2023293
    June 2023306
    July 2023309
    August 2023314
    September 2023318
    October 2023316
    November 2023316
    December 2023310
    January 2024332
    February 2024323
    March 2024331
    April 2024336
    May 2024349
    June 2024353
    July 2024369
    August 2024380
    September 2024382
    October 2024394
    November 2024406
    December 2024415
    January 2025465
    February 2025467
    March 2025484
    April 2025523
    May 2025553
    June 2025579
    July 2025614
    August 2025649
    September 2025689
    October 2025741
    November 2025767
    December 2025803
    January 2026883
    February 2026902
    March 2026932
    April 2026977
    May 20261,024
    June 20261,099
    July 20261,168
    August 20261,227
    September 20261,235

  • Open roles

    640

    FDE roles open in San Francisco, September 2026

    5001,000Aug ’25Nov ’25Feb ’26May ’26Sep ’26639
    Sep ’26639
    Open FDE roles in San Francisco, by month
    MonthFDE roles
    August 2025436
    September 2025426
    October 2025457
    November 2025456
    December 2025479
    January 2026478
    February 2026472
    March 2026505
    April 2026529
    May 2026585
    June 2026608
    July 2026636
    August 2026643
    September 2026639

  • Vacancy rate

    34.1%

    of FDE positions in San Francisco are open roles, September 2026

    20.0%40.0%60.0%Aug ’25Nov ’25Feb ’26May ’26Sep ’26Benchmark – San Francisco Tech: 16.9%34.1%
    Sep ’2634.1%
    Vacancy rate for FDEs in San Francisco, by month, against Benchmark – San Francisco Tech (16.9% in September 2026)
    MonthFDE vacancy rate
    August 202540.2%
    September 202538.2%
    October 202538.1%
    November 202537.3%
    December 202537.4%
    January 202635.1%
    February 202634.4%
    March 202635.1%
    April 202635.1%
    May 202636.4%
    June 202635.6%
    July 202635.3%
    August 202634.4%
    September 202634.1%

  • Time to fill

    87 days

    median time an FDE role stays open

    50%100%Day 0Day 30Day 60Day 90Day 120Day 15031%
    Day 15031%Benchmark – San Francisco Tech: 22%
    Share of roles in San Francisco still open each number of days after posting
    Days after postingFDE rolesBenchmark – San Francisco Tech
    Day 0100%100%
    Day 1585%84%
    Day 3078%73%
    Day 4569%63%
    Day 6062%53%
    Day 7556%45%
    Day 9049%38%
    Day 10544%33%
    Day 12039%29%
    Day 13536%25%
    Day 15031%22%

02

How much to offer

Expected base salary

When to offer more

Extra base pay for each, all else equal

  • 6–8 years’ experience, not 3–5+11%
  • A more prestigious employer+6%
  • No clear effect on payShipped production AI+7%
  • Founder or early employee+4%
  • Has led a team+3%
  • Elite university+1%
  • Already an FDE−4%

03

Where to look

  1. Number 1: Palantir

    The original FDE school

    Where the role began, and hiring managers ask to meet its engineers far more often than most.

  2. Number 2: Google

    A big local bench

    One of the Bay Area’s largest groups of FDEs, and its engineers are in demand with hiring managers.

  3. Number 3: Scale AI

    A large alumni pool

    Many current and former Bay Area FDEs, and hiring managers rate its engineers highly.

Where new FDEs come from

90%

weren’t FDEs in their last job

46%

joined from a startup or scale-up

  • Software, AI and data engineers38%
  • Graduates, researchers and others23%
  • Consultants and solutions engineers18%
  • Founders and engineering leaders12%
  • Already FDEs10%

04

Who you’re competing with

The enterprises, and the startups and scale-ups, that posted the most FDE roles in San Francisco in the 6 months to November 2026.

  1. Google22 roles
  2. OpenAI20 roles
  3. ServiceNow15 roles
  4. Snowflake15 roles
  5. Salesforce11 roles

05

How to win them

AI work and hands-on engineering get you in the door. To win the most in-demand FDEs, show where the role leads and what it pays.

What the most in-demand FDEs want

  1. 1

    Show where the role leads

  2. 2

    Put the salary up front

  3. 3

    Offer equity

  4. 4

    Give them ownership

  • A path into product, leadership or founding
  • Strong pay
  • Equity
  • Ownership of their work
  • A proven, well-known company

The same mix as other engineers

51%

of FDEs are open to any setup

48%

of other software engineers

  • Office-leaning
  • Open to anything
  • Remote-leaning
  • Remote only

Skip the 87‑day search

Brief Jill, the AI agent for hiring, on your FDE role. She’ll introduce you to engineers in Jack’s network who are open to a move.

Hire FDEs with Jill

About this guide

The data
This guide combines publicly available data on jobs and careers with our own data from Jack’s network of candidates and the companies hiring with Jill.
How we count FDEs
We decide who is an FDE by the work a job or career describes, not just its title, and apply that definition to people and job postings alike.
Kinds of company
Startups and scale-ups are private tech companies founded since 2005. Enterprises are listed, owned by a listed company, or larger than 5,000 staff.
Vacancy rate and time to fill
Vacancy rate is open roles as a share of all positions, filled and open. Time to fill follows each role from when it’s posted until it closes, and allows for roles that are still open. The Benchmark – San Francisco Tech line measures San Francisco’s tech startups and scale-ups the same way.
Pay
Pay is the base salary candidates in and near the role say they expect, weighted to match the seniority of the roles being hired. The premiums compare people with similar experience.
What wins them
We compare the profiles of people hiring managers ask to meet with those they passed on.