Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

About the role

​​​​​​​Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

5K C&T Services is seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer for an initial six-month contract opportunity supporting a confidential client in the data center and enterprise technology industry. The engagement may be extended based on client needs, project performance, and continued demand.

This is a senior, hands-on, customer-facing engineering role for an experienced professional who can translate complex business challenges into scalable, production-ready enterprise AI solutions.

The Senior Forward Deployed Engineer will work directly with strategic enterprise customers to understand their business objectives, assess their data and technology environments, and design solutions that deliver measurable business value.

The successful candidate will own the full solution lifecycle, from customer discovery and rapid prototyping through architecture, development, production deployment, and continuous optimization.

This position is well suited for someone who is comfortable working at the intersection of AI engineering, solution architecture, full-stack development, consulting, and executive customer engagement.

​​​​​​​ Hands-on experience with Palantir Foundry, Palantir AIP, ontology modeling, or related Palantir technologies.

Key Responsibilities

Work directly with enterprise customers to identify business challenges, understand data environments, and define high-value AI use cases.

Lead customer discovery sessions, technical workshops, architecture discussions, and solution-design activities.

Translate ambiguous customer requirements into clearly defined engineering plans, technical architectures, and delivery roadmaps.

Design and deliver enterprise AI applications, including agentic AI workflows, retrieval-augmented generation pipelines, knowledge-based applications, knowledge graphs, and real-time decision-support solutions.

Create rapid prototypes and proofs of concept that demonstrate measurable business value within days or weeks.

Serve as the primary technical owner throughout the engagement lifecycle, including discovery, scoping, architecture, development, deployment, and post-launch optimization.

Architect production-grade solutions using Palantir, Uniphore, or comparable enterprise AI development platforms.

Integrate AI applications with enterprise systems such as ERP platforms, CRM systems, data warehouses, data lakes, APIs, and streaming environments.

Build scalable pipelines for structured and unstructured data using ETL and ELT methods, vector databases, semantic models, and knowledge-base frameworks.

Develop and configure large language model and small language model solutions, including prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, model integration, evaluation, and agent orchestration.

Design multi-agent and autonomous workflows using frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, LlamaIndex, Haystack, or comparable technologies.

Develop full-stack enterprise applications using Python and related technologies such as Node.js, Go, React, or Vue.

Design and build front-end dashboards, interfaces, and applications that allow users to interact effectively with enterprise AI solutions.

Deploy and manage applications using Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, cloud-native architectures, and private cloud environments.

Work hands-on with GPU infrastructure, GPU clusters, and accelerated computing environments.

Implement observability, monitoring, telemetry, testing, governance, auditability, and version control for AI applications and autonomous agents.

Collaborate with product, engineering, sales, and customer success teams to identify technical requirements, platform improvements, and additional customer use cases.

Document reusable reference architectures, accelerators, frameworks, technical standards, and implementation best practices.

Mentor engineers and customer teams while supporting knowledge transfer and long-term solution adoption.

Required Qualifications

Ten or more years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, AI/ML engineering, solution architecture, or a related technical discipline.

At least four years of experience in a customer-facing engineering, consulting, solutions engineering, or field delivery role.

Demonstrated experience designing, developing, and deploying AI or machine learning applications in enterprise production environments.

Hands-on experience with Palantir Foundry, Palantir AIP, ontology modeling, or related Palantir technologies.

Strong hands-on development experience with Python.

Hands-on experience with at least one enterprise AI development platform or comparable enterprise data and AI platform.

Experience with large language models, prompt engineering, vector databases, data pipelines, retrieval-augmented generation, and agent orchestration.

Experience building agentic AI applications, multi-agent systems, autonomous workflows, or tool-enabled AI solutions.

Strong experience integrating applications with enterprise systems, APIs, relational and non-relational databases, data warehouses, data lakes, and streaming platforms.

Strong understanding of software architecture, full-stack engineering, and production deployment practices.

Hands-on front-end development experience using React, Vue, or a comparable framework.

Hands-on experience with Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud-native deployment patterns.

Hands-on experience working with GPU infrastructure, GPU clusters, or accelerated computing environments.

Ability to independently manage technical delivery in a fast-moving customer environment.

Ability to translate unclear or evolving customer needs into actionable engineering plans.

Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Experience presenting technical solutions to both executive and technical audiences.

Experience leading customer workshops, architecture discussions, and technical demonstrations.

Ability to work effectively with customers and project teams across all United States time zones.

Willingness and ability to travel at least 25%, with the flexibility to travel more when required by the engagement.

Existing authorization to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship.

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, data science, mathematics, physics, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Hands-on experience with Palantir Foundry, Palantir AIP, ontology modeling, or related Palantir technologies.

Experience with Uniphore BAIC.

Experience with another enterprise AI development platform comparable to Palantir or Uniphore.

Experience designing ontologies, knowledge graphs, semantic models, or ontology-driven data architectures.

Experience with vector databases such as Pinecone, Weaviate, Astra DB, or similar technologies.

Experience with small language model fine-tuning, model distillation, reinforcement learning from human feedback, or AI evaluation frameworks.

Familiarity with NVIDIA GPU infrastructure, including H100, B200, InfiniBand, or comparable technologies.

Experience with private cloud platforms such as OpenStack or VMware.

Experience working in data center, private cloud, cloud infrastructure, or high-performance computing environments.

Previous experience as a Forward Deployed Engineer, Senior Solutions Engineer, AI Solutions Architect, or customer-facing AI engineer.

Previous experience working for a technology consulting organization, AI company, cloud services provider, enterprise software company, or technology startup.

Palantir, Uniphore, AI, machine learning, cloud, Kubernetes, or related technical certifications.

Industry experience in financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, defense, supply chain, or another complex enterprise environment.

Engagement Details

This is an initial six-month contract engagement.

The contract may be extended based on project requirements, client demand, and contractor performance.

Compensation is $100-$135 per hour on a 1099 basis, depending on experience, technical qualifications, and enterprise AI platform expertise.

Exceptional candidates with highly relevant Palantir, GPU infrastructure, and enterprise AI deployment experience may be considered above the published range.

The preferred engagement structure is 1099.

C2C candidates will not be considered.

Candidates must already be authorized to work in the United States.

The client cannot provide current or future employment sponsorship.

The position is fully remote within the United States.

Candidates must be available to support customers and project teams across United States time zones.

Travel of at least 25% is expected and may increase depending on customer and project requirements.

Approved business travel expenses will be reimbursed.

The anticipated start date is within two to four weeks of candidate selection.

Interview Process

Initial screening with 5K C&T Services.

Technical and experience-based interview with the client.

Technical assessment, case study, or solution-design exercise.

Final client interview, as required.

The client expects to complete the interview process within approximately one week, subject to interviewer availability and candidate scheduling.

What Success Looks Like

Quickly establishes credibility with enterprise customers and internal stakeholders.

Understands customer business challenges and translates them into practical AI solutions.

Delivers high-quality prototypes and production solutions within agreed timelines.

Creates secure, scalable, and supportable architectures rather than one-time demonstrations.

Maintains strong engineering, documentation, testing, governance, and production-quality standards.

Communicates effectively with executives, technical leaders, engineers, and business stakeholders.

Identifies reusable technical components and approaches that can support future customer engagements.

Works independently while collaborating effectively with customer, engineering, product, and commercial teams.

About 5K C&T Services

5K C&T Services is an operator-led advisory and talent solutions firm supporting organizations across artificial intelligence, customer experience, digital transformation, cloud technology, and enterprise IT.

We connect clients with experienced professionals who can solve complex business and technology challenges. Our recruiting process combines technology-enabled candidate evaluation with direct professional screening to identify candidates who align with both the technical requirements and business objectives of each opportunity.

Application Process

Qualified candidates are encouraged to apply through the 5K C&T Services application process.

Candidates selected for consideration will participate in an initial screening with 5K C&T Services before being presented to the confidential client. Additional information regarding the client, project scope, technical assessment, and engagement terms will be shared with qualified candidates during the interview process.

5K C&T Services provides equal employment opportunities and evaluates candidates based on their qualifications, experience, and ability to perform the responsibilities of the engagement.