{"title":"How to hire a forward deployed engineer in San Francisco","url":"https://www.jackandjill.ai/roles/forward-deployed-engineer/san-francisco","publisher":"Jack & Jill","slug":"forward-deployed-engineer-san-francisco","path":{"role":"forward-deployed-engineer","location":"san-francisco"},"published":"2026-11-04","updated":"2026-11-04","locale":"en-US","currency":"USD","role":{"singular":"forward deployed engineer","plural":"forward deployed engineers","article":"a","short":"FDE","shortPlural":"FDEs","shortArticle":"an","people":"engineers"},"place":"San Francisco","hook":"Open roles for forward deployed engineers (FDEs) are up 50% in a year.","what":{"definition":"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.","traits":[{"label":"Owns delivery after the sale","pct":99},{"label":"Works alongside customers","pct":98},{"label":"Writes production code","pct":86},{"label":"Builds or deploys AI","pct":76}],"flavours":[{"name":"The builder","pct":56,"what":"Ships production code in the customer’s systems, from integrations and data pipelines to AI agents.","aka":"Forward deployed engineer, applied AI engineer, AI engineer"},{"name":"The deployment lead","pct":40,"what":"Scopes the customer’s problem, runs the rollout and makes sure the product delivers what was promised.","aka":"Forward deployed engineer, AI agent engineer, solutions engineer"}],"flavourNote":"Only 4% of roles are pre-sales."},"hard":{"answer":"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.","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":[283,283,278,286,293,306,309,314,318,316,316,310,332,323,331,336,349,353,369,380,382,394,406,415,465,467,484,523,553,579,614,649,689,741,767,803,883,902,932,977,1024,1099,1168,1227,1235]},"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":[436,426,457,456,479,478,472,505,529,585,608,636,643,639]},"timeOpen":{"median":87,"days":[0,15,30,45,60,75,90,105,120,135,150],"stillOpen":[100,85.1,77.5,68.9,61.6,56.2,49.4,44,39.4,36,30.6]},"estimated":["inRole","openRoles"]},"cost":{"pay":{"p10":120000,"p25":145000,"p50":180000,"p75":210000,"p90":250000},"drivers":{"rows":[{"label":"6–8 years’ experience, not 3–5","effect":11,"lo":7,"hi":15,"moves":true},{"label":"A more prestigious employer","effect":6,"lo":3,"hi":11,"moves":true},{"label":"Shipped production AI","effect":7,"lo":-2,"hi":15,"moves":false},{"label":"Founder or early employee","effect":4,"lo":-3,"hi":12,"moves":false},{"label":"Has led a team","effect":3,"lo":-5,"hi":11,"moves":false},{"label":"Elite university","effect":1,"lo":-3,"hi":6,"moves":false},{"label":"Already an FDE","effect":-4,"lo":-11,"hi":4,"moves":false}]}},"where":{"companies":[{"name":"Palantir","domain":"palantir.com","tag":"The original FDE school","why":"Where the role began, and hiring managers ask to meet its engineers far more often than most."},{"name":"Google","domain":"google.com","tag":"A big local bench","why":"One of the Bay Area’s largest groups of FDEs, and its engineers are in demand with hiring managers."},{"name":"Scale AI","domain":"scale.com","tag":"A large alumni pool","why":"Many current and former Bay Area FDEs, and hiring managers rate its engineers highly."}],"paths":[{"role":"Software, AI and data engineers","split":{"Enterprise":17.5,"Startup or scale-up":15.9,"Other":4.2}},{"role":"Graduates, researchers and others","split":{"Enterprise":5.9,"Startup or scale-up":9.1,"Other":7.6}},{"role":"Consultants and solutions engineers","split":{"Enterprise":9.2,"Startup or scale-up":7,"Other":1.4}},{"role":"Founders and engineering leaders","split":{"Enterprise":2.3,"Startup or scale-up":9.2,"Other":0.8}},{"role":"Already FDEs","split":{"Enterprise":1.8,"Startup or scale-up":5.2,"Other":2.9}}],"newToRolePct":90,"fromStartupsPct":46},"competitors":[{"tier":"Enterprise","companies":[{"name":"Google","domain":"google.com","roles":22},{"name":"OpenAI","domain":"openai.com","roles":20},{"name":"ServiceNow","domain":"servicenow.com","roles":15},{"name":"Snowflake","domain":"snowflake.com","roles":15},{"name":"Salesforce","domain":"salesforce.com","roles":11}]},{"tier":"Startup or scale-up","companies":[{"name":"Handshake","domain":"joinhandshake.com","roles":9},{"name":"Fireworks AI","domain":"fireworks.ai","roles":5},{"name":"Distyl AI","domain":"distyl.ai","roles":5},{"name":"Hippocratic AI","domain":"hippocraticai.com","roles":5},{"name":"Applied Intuition","domain":"appliedintuition.com","roles":4}]}],"win":{"answer":"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.","pitch":["Show where the role leads","Put the salary up front","Offer equity","Give them ownership"],"wants":{"rows":[{"label":"A path into product, leadership or founding","top":45,"rest":29},{"label":"Strong pay","top":90,"rest":77},{"label":"Equity","top":77,"rest":65},{"label":"Ownership of their work","top":83,"rest":72},{"label":"A proven, well-known company","top":28,"rest":18}]},"workModes":{"title":"The same mix as other engineers","benchmark":"Other software engineers","highlight":"Open to anything","rows":[{"label":"Office-leaning","top":24,"rest":19},{"label":"Open to anything","top":51,"rest":48},{"label":"Remote-leaning","top":18,"rest":23},{"label":"Remote only","top":7,"rest":9}]}},"city":{"location":"san-francisco","name":"San Francisco Tech","asOf":"2026-09","vacancyRate":16.9,"timeOpen":{"median":65,"days":[0,15,30,45,60,75,90,105,120,135,150],"stillOpen":[100,84.2,72.9,63,53.4,44.8,37.9,32.8,28.8,25.2,22.2]}}}