Forward Deployed Engineer

Forward Deployed Engineer

• FDT (AI-fluent profile shared across all Value Streams) Level / Location: GCB4/5 typical — Various — co-located with the FDT Tech Sit close to users (business teams, delivery pods, transformation squads) as the accountable engineer for rapid prototyping and delivery of end-to-end solutions. Build and iterate production-viable prototypes and thin-slice solutions spanning UI, APIs, integrations and automation—turning real user needs into working software quickly, safely and repeatably. This role bridges product intent and engineering execution, accelerating time-to-value while ensuring solutions are secure, supportable and aligned to enterprise standards and platforms. Reporting & stakeholders: Solid line into FDT Tech Lead / Engineering Lead. Strong day-to-day partnership with Product Owner(s), business SMEs and delivery pod leads on scope, prioritisation and trade-offs. Close collaboration with platform teams (e.g., AI platform / Data platform), architecture, and operations/support teams to ensure production readiness. Engage with tooling/platform owners to provide structured feedback and reusable patterns from field delivery. Scope & authority: Accountable for shaping, building and delivering prototypes and end-to-end thin-slice solutions close to users, including UI, APIs, integrations and automation workflows. Owns local technical decisions required to deliver outcomes at pace, within approved architecture patterns, engineering standards, controls and governance frameworks. Authority includes recommending solution patterns, implementing integrations/automations, and escalating material risks, dependencies or control gaps . Role description & core accountabilities This role exists because high-impact delivery often requires engineers embedded with users to rapidly discover the right solution, prove value via prototypes, and then harden and deliver end-to-end capabilities into production pathways. The Forward Deployed Engineer accelerates learning loops while maintaining engineering discipline, ensuring what’s built can scale, be supported and be reused.
• User-adjacent delivery & rapid prototyping
• Work directly with users to understand workflows and pain points; translate needs into prototypes, demos and thin-slice implementations that validate value quickly and reduce delivery risk .
• End-to-end solution build (UI/API/integration/automation)
• Design and implement complete solutions across front end, back end, integrations and automation, using approved platforms and patterns to deliver measurable outcomes.
• Solution shaping & technical options
• Propose pragmatic technical approaches, MVP scopes and delivery sequencing; balance speed with security, resilience, and maintainability.
• Integration & automation enablement
• Build and configure integrations (systems/APIs/events) and automate operational processes (workflows, controls, reporting) to remove manual steps and improve reliability.
• Engineering standards & controls adherence
• Ensure solutions meet engineering standards, secure coding practices, testing, and control requirements; raise risks early and embed controls by design.
• Production readiness & handover
• Drive operational readiness including logging/monitoring, runbooks, support handover, and non-functional considerations; ensure solutions can be operated safely at scale.
• Reuse and platform alignment
• Prefer reuse over bespoke; contribute reusable components, patterns, templates and reference implementations back to engineering/platform communities.
• Feedback loop to platforms
• Capture field constraints and needs; convert into actionable platform/tooling feedback (user stories, defects, enhancements, benefits) to improve enterprise capabilities.
• Stakeholder management close to delivery
• Communicate progress, trade-offs, and risks clearly to business and technology stakeholders; keep momentum and decisions unblocked. Success Profile — criticality for this role Criterion Criticality Experience Delivering end-to-end solutions (UI, APIs, integrations, automation) Essential Working in user-adjacent / ambiguous delivery environments Essential Secure engineering, testing and production readiness in enterprise contexts Essential Integration delivery and dependency management Essential Rapid prototyping and iterative delivery with users Essential Capability Customer / Client Centricity Essential Engineering discipline & quality assurance Essential Leading simplification and automation at solution level Essential Judgment and decision-making Essential Influencing and stakeholder alignment Essential Championing innovation through rapid iteration Essential Strategic technical thinking Desirable Inspirational Leadership Desirable Talent stewardship Desirable Personal Attributes Stamina & Resilience Essential Collaboration & influence Essential Leadership Span Essential Calibration rationale: This is a hands-on, user-adjacent engineering role optimised for speed-to-value and end-to-end delivery. Core capabilities around engineering discipline, customer centricity, integration delivery and pragmatic decision-making are Essential. Broader strategic leadership and talent stewardship are Desirable, as the role contributes to scaling patterns and mentoring but does not typically own enterprise-wide strategy. Experience — Required
• Proven experience delivering end-to-end software solutions, covering UI, APIs/services, and integration with upstream/downstream systems.
• Strong ability to rapidly prototype, iterate with users, and then harden solutions towards production readiness.
• Experience building integrations and automation (e.g., workflows, orchestration, scripting, CI/CD automation) in enterprise environments.
• Working knowledge of secure engineering practices, testing, observability (logs/metrics/traces), and operational handover.
• Experience collaborating with product and business stakeholders to shape MVP scope and manage trade-offs.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguous environments with shifting requirements, while maintaining delivery discipline and transparency. Experience — Preferred
• Experience delivering within regulated/controlled environments (risk, audit, security, data handling) and navigating governance pragmatically.
• Experience with platform-based delivery and reuse (shared services, APIs, integration platforms, enterprise tooling), including knowing when to reuse vs build.
• Experience with modern UI frameworks, API design, event-driven or integration patterns, and automation/orchestration tooling.
• Experience working in Value Streams / product-led delivery, transformation pods, or forward-deployed/embedded engineering models.
• Experience contributing reusable accelerators (templates, reference apps, integration patterns) and coaching other engineers. Behavioural skills
• User-obsessed builder; stays close to users, validates fast, and focuses on measurable outcomes over perfect paperwork.
• Pragmatic engineering discipline; moves quickly without skipping fundamentals (security, testing, operability, controls).
• End-to-end ownership mindset; takes accountability from discovery through build, release and handover; doesn’t throw work “over the wall”.
• Bias for simplification and automation; eliminates manual steps and complexity, automates repeatable tasks wherever sensible.
• Clear communicator under pressure; explains options, trade-offs and risks in plain language; keeps stakeholders aligned.
• Collaborative and inclusive; works well across roles and backgrounds, welcomes different perspectives to get to better solutions faster.
• Proactive risk management; identifies integration, dependency, data and control risks early; escalates with options, not surprises. Derailers / red flags
• Builds prototypes that cannot be industrialised, creating rework or hidden technical debt.
• Ignores security, controls or operational needs in the name of speed; pushes fragile solutions into production pathways.
• Over-builds or over-engineers instead of delivering thin-slice value and iterating.
• Creates bespoke point solutions where reusable platforms/patterns exist.
• Fails to manage dependencies or communicate risks early, causing delivery churn and stakeholder surprises.
• Focuses on delivery completion without ensuring supportability, monitoring and clear ownership. Year 1 outcomes (scale & embed)
• Consistent delivery of user-validated prototypes that convert into production-viable thin-slice solutions with clear value realised.
• Multiple end-to-end solutions delivered (UI/API/integration/automation) that measurably improve user workflows, reduce manual effort, or increase reliability.
• Demonstrable reduction in cycle time from idea to working software through embedded delivery and rapid iteration loops.
• Reusable components, patterns or templates contributed back to the Value Stream/platform communities, reducing duplication across teams.
• Strong production readiness discipline established (testing, security, observability, runbooks, handover), with reduced post-release incidents and rework.
• Clear, structured feedback provided to platform/tooling teams, influencing roadmap improvements based on field delivery realities.
• Recognised as a dependable embedded engineering partner who unblocks delivery and raises overall engineering maturity.