The role is new. The definition is messy. And a lot of companies are still figuring out what they actually need.
THE FDE HIRING PARTNER FOR THE WORLD'S FASTEST-GROWING COMPANIES
THE PROBLEM
What began with a handful of Palantir engineers has become one of the fastest-growing roles in tech, yet while many companies know they need FDEs, far fewer know what kind they actually need.
01
Forward Deployed Engineer” means something different at every company, making hiring and expectations inconsistent.
02
Some companies want a customer facing software engineer. Others need a product thinker or a deployment lead.
03
Without a shared definition of the role, companies often hire the wrong profile and struggle to scale successful deployments.
04
FDE hiring growth
TALENT NETWORK
FDE now describes multiple distinct roles with different skills and career paths.
Nazare maps the market beneath the acronym, helping companies identify the right profile instead of hiring by title.
THE APPROACH
Our technical and behavioural assessment framework is built from 1,000+ FDE interviews and designed around the combination that makes the role different.
We assess candidates across three core dimensions of real FDE performance.
We assess how candidates structure ambiguous technical challenges, form hypotheses, identify root causes and move confidently across code, data and systems.
Great FDEs know how to ask better questions, translate technical complexity, navigate difficult conversations and build trust while moving the work forward.
Autonomy matters. We look for FDEs who can make sound decisions with incomplete information, prioritise under pressure and take responsibility from first problem through to deployment.
THE FOUNDATION
Nazare brings together elite Forward Deployed Engineers, ambitious AI companies, exceptional roles and a community built around deploying technology that matters.
Years
Building and hiring Forward Deployed Engineering teams at Palantir.
WHY NAZARE
Founders, engineering leaders and hiring managers share what separates exceptional Forward Deployed Engineers from the rest.
“The Nazare team have been great - we hired an FDE in Paris and they presented high quality candidates throughout the process. They have been an excellent partner to support us building an FDE team at Comand AI.”
Marie Inuzuka
Co-Founder & CPO, Comand AI
“Thank you for your work! I really enjoy working together. We also started with a second recruiting agency, but I quickly stopped with them because it was just subpar to how you’re doing it.”
Florian Hansen
Founding Engineer, Hygen
"I worked with the Nazare team to hire two software engineers to join our team in London and Barcelona - they know the top talent and they work fast"
Raj Dosanjh
Co-Founder & CTO
THE CONTENT HUB
Perspectives on the people, roles, and ideas shaping how AI gets deployed in the real world.
Forward Deployed Engineering spent most of its life as a slightly strange corner of the technology industry. Palantir had FDEs. A few companies borrowed the model. Most engineers could go through an entire career without
Forward Deployed Engineers have become one of the more awkward hiring problems in AI. The demand is real enough. Research shared with TechCrunch by executive search firm Christian & Timbers found that the share of
Earlier this month, Anthropic announced that it is committing $100 million to train 10,000 Frontier Deployed Engineers by the end of 2027. The programme is more substantial than the usual enterprise certification exercise. Engineers are
NAZARE'S FDE EVENTS
Private dinners, focused roundtables, and community events for forward deployed engineers, AI strategists, founders, hiring leaders, and VCs.
GET STARTED
Access and hire exceptional FDEs from a trusted network built around the rare combination of engineering depth, customer instinct and ownership the role demands.
