Forward Deployed AI Engineer - Associate Director

About the Role

As an Associate Director in EY’s Forward Deployed Engineering team, you will support the design, development, and deployment of AI-driven, data-centric solutions within strategic client environments. This role blends strong technical expertise with emerging leadership capabilities to contribute to business impact through collaboration with client teams and internal stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Client Engagement & Solution Support
  • Collaborate with senior client stakeholders and technical teams to support AI and data strategy initiatives.
  • Assist in the full lifecycle of solution development—from problem definition, architecture design, prototyping, deployment, to scaling and adoption.
  • Help align client technology roadmaps with business objectives and emerging AI trends.
• Forward Deployment & Engineering Execution
  • Develop and implement AI and LLM-powered applications leveraging Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), autonomous agents, and orchestration frameworks.
  • Demonstrate proficiency in Python and agent frameworks such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or AutoGen.
  • Rapidly develop functional prototypes and production-ready demos within project timelines.
• Commercial & Growth Enablement
  • Support identification and pursuit of technical expansion opportunities to accelerate account growth.
  • Contribute to proposal development, technical demos, and client engagements by articulating AI/ML capabilities and business value.
  • Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Leadership & Team Collaboration
  • Mentor and guide junior engineers and data scientists within cross-functional pods.
  • Foster a culture of innovation, agility, and continuous improvement.
  • Contribute to the refinement of EY’s Forward Deployed Engineering frameworks, best practices, and technical capabilities.

Skills and Attributes

• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, fast-paced client environments.
• Strong hands-on AI/ML engineering skills combined with emerging solution leadership capabilities.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Commercial awareness focused on delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Passion for AI, cloud-native architectures, and emerging technologies.

Requirements

• 6+ years in software engineering, data engineering, or AI/ML solution delivery.
• Proven experience delivering scalable AI/ML solutions in client-facing or collaborative roles.
• Solid expertise in machine learning, generative AI, NLP, computer vision, data platforms, and big data technologies.
• Experience with cloud-native development, microservices, container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker).
• Proficiency with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, GCP.
• Familiarity with DevOps practices including CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible), monitoring, and logging.
• Exposure to agentic architectures, multi-agent orchestration, or cognitive harness patterns.
• Consulting or technical delivery experience with enterprise clients.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to complex technical engagements and collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of MLOps, LLMOps, AI governance, ethical AI frameworks, and model interpretability tools.
• Industry-specific expertise (financial services, healthcare, energy).
• Experience supporting sales, pursuits, or account growth initiatives.

Pay

The base salary range for this job in all geographic locations in the US is $156,400 to $301,000. The base salary range for New York City Metro Area, Washington State and California (excluding Sacramento) is $187,600 to $342,000. Individual salaries within those ranges are determined through a wide variety of factors including but not limited to education, experience, knowledge, skills and geography.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical and dental coverage.
• Pension and 401(k) plans.
• Flexible vacation policy, allowing you to decide how much vacation time you need based on your personal circumstances.
• Paid time off for designated EY Paid Holidays, Winter/Summer breaks, Personal/Family Care, and other leaves of absence when needed to support your physical, financial, and emotional well-being.

Schedule

Join us in our team-led and leader-enabled hybrid model. Our expectation is for most people in external, client serving roles to work together in person 40-60% of the time over the course of an engagement, project or year.