Head of Forward Deployed Engineering

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems.

About the Role

Anthropic is seeking an exceptional leader to build and scale our Forward Deployment Engineering (FDE) organization.

Reporting to the Global Head of Applied AI, you'll lead a team of elite engineers who embed directly with our most strategic customers to drive transformational AI adoption—from rapid prototyping to production deployment of custom agents and enterprise‑scale AI systems.

You’ll architect and operationalize our FDE service portfolio across traditional enterprises and digital native businesses, ensuring customers realize measurable value while building internal AI capabilities. This role requires equal parts technical depth, commercial acumen, and organizational leadership as you scale a high‑leveraged team that sits at the intersection of product, engineering, and customer success.

Responsibilities

Build and Scale the FDE Organization

Lead, hire, and develop a world‑class team of Forward Deployment Engineers, Engagement Managers, and Platform Specialists.

Establish hiring standards, onboarding programs, and career frameworks for technical roles (you’ve likely interviewed 500+ people and hired 50+ in previous roles).

Build repeatable delivery methodologies for MCP server development, Claude Code SDLC integration, custom agent development, and API product acceleration, and continue designing new packages as our products and models evolve.

Drive Customer Transformation at Scale

Own delivery excellence for Tier 1 enterprise customers and strategic DNB partnerships requiring hands‑on technical support beyond standard Customer Success.

Partner with Sales and Customer Success leadership to define target account criteria and engagement trigger.

Architect multi‑agent solutions, Centers of Excellence frameworks, and API integration patterns that become referenceable at Fortune 500 scale.

Balance 1 : 1 bespoke engagements with 1 : many scalable offerings, determining when to lean on partner ecosystem vs. direct delivery.

Shape Product and GTM Strategy

Synthesize field insights from customer engagements to influence Claude product roadmap, platform tooling (MCP, Agents SDK), and developer experience.

Collaborate cross‑functionally with Product, Engineering, Research, and Field teams to translate customer pain points into product requirements.

Define clear handoff protocols between FDE, Customer Success (Activation Managers / CSMs), and Partner channels.

Build frameworks for measuring customer outcomes : time‑to‑value, adoption velocity, production deployment milestones, and business transformation ROI.

Establish Commercial and Operational Rigor

Define engagement scoping, pricing, and commercial models for FDE services (balancing value capture with strategic investment).

Resolve IP ownership frameworks and contractual considerations for co‑developed solutions (e.g., JPMC precedent).

Build capacity‑planning models to allocate scarce FDE resources against competing customer priorities.

Create executive visibility through QBRs showcasing FDE impact : lighthouse customer wins, reference architectures, and measured business outcomes.

You may be a good fit if you have :

Leadership & Team Building

10+ years in technical roles with 5+ years leading engineering or solutions teams through hypergrowth.

Experience building 0→1 organizations or new service lines within existing companies.

Proven ability to attract, develop, and retain senior technical talent in competitive markets.

Understanding of enterprise software deployment, API integration patterns, and SDLC tooling.

Knowledge of AI / ML systems, LLMs, or developer tooling.

History of embedding with customer engineering teams to deliver complex technical solutions.

Comfortable white‑boarding system architectures, debugging production issues, and reviewing code alongside your team.

Commercial & Strategic Acumen

Experience defining professional services offerings, engagement models, and pricing strategies.

Ability to balance customer success investment with revenue accountability and margin discipline.

Track record navigating complex enterprise sales cycles, particularly with Fortune 500 accounts.

Skill in cross‑functional leadership : aligned Sales, Product, Engineering, and CS organizations around common goals.

Why This Role Matters

You’ll be building the team that proves Claude can drive transformational business outcomes in the world’s most complex enterprises. Every engagement creates referenceable customer success stories, informs product development, and establishes patterns that scale across our customer base. This is a rare opportunity to shape how AI adoption happens at Fortune 500 scale.

Logistics & Compensation

Travel :

Expect 30–40% travel to customer sites and team locations.

Base Compensation :

$300,000 – $400,000 USD.

Equity, benefits, and potential incentive compensation are part of the full‑time package.

Logistics

Education Requirements :

Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent experience.

Location‑based Hybrid Policy :

Staff must spend at least 25% of time in one of our offices; some roles may require more.

Visa Sponsorship :

We sponsor visas where possible and will make every reasonable effort to secure a visa if you receive an offer.

We encourage you to apply even if you do not meet every single qualification. Representations from underrepresented groups are highly valued.

How we’re different

We believe that the highest‑impact AI research will be big science. At Anthropic we work as a single cohesive team on just a few large‑scale research efforts and value impact over individual puzzles. We host frequent research discussions to ensure we pursue the highest‑impact work and value communication skills.

Come work with us!

Anthropic is a public‑benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco. We offer competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and a lovely office space in which to collaborate with colleagues.

Equal Employment Opportunity

As set forth in Anthropic’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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