Principal Forward Deployed Engineer

Overview

CData is the data layer between AI and ROI—delivering the connectivity, context, and control that make enterprise AI more accurate. Our platform powers AI and analytics workloads for leading companies like Anthropic, Databricks, Microsoft, Google, and Palantir.

About the Role

As a Principal Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE), you will lead complex AI and data projects for strategic enterprises. Your responsibilities include translating customer needs into production architectures, designing AI data connectivity end-to-end, and shaping the evolution of the CData Connect AI platform.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery workshops with customer architects, data leaders, and AI teams, mapping data sources, MCP Workspace scoping, and agent tooling requirements.
• Own the scoping for AI deployments with clear acceptance criteria around agent accuracy, data coverage, and governance.
• Translate complex AI + data concepts into executive-ready architecture proposals; defend trade-offs to CxO-level stakeholders.
• Design solutions across Connect AI’s 350+ sources covering MCP server configuration, semantic context modeling, and governance integration.
• Architect agent orchestration using Connect AI Toolkits, defining which data, schemas, and actions each agent can access in production.
• Design governed access patterns for AI agents: RBAC, OAuth 2.1, semantic scoping, and audit-trail requirements.
• Define AI best practices using agents, skills, and LLMs to drive successful customer outcomes.
• Identify architectural and product gaps during live enterprise engagements and partner with Product and Engineering to define scalable solutions.
• Author technical specifications and implementation recommendations for Connect AI enhancements, including both features and core architectural improvements.
• Build reusable reference architectures, deployment patterns, and MCP blueprints that reduce implementation friction and accelerate future customer deployments.
• Translate recurring customer deployment challenges into scalable platform capabilities and architectural standards.
• Elevate the team by mentoring FDEs on AI integration patterns, semantic data modeling, and customer-facing technical delivery.
• Serve as the first level technical escalation point for customer engagements.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Solutions Engineering, and Customer Success on architectural standards.
• Codify field patterns into shared assets, playbooks, templates, sample agents, that the broader team can reuse (SE, CS, support etc.).

Mandatory Qualifications

• 7+ years as a Solutions Architect, Principal SE, Forward Deployed Engineer, or Technical Lead at a data platform, AI, or enterprise SaaS company.
• Has built and shipped production AI applications — not just prototypes.
• Worked on a SaaS Platform in an Architect Profile (or closely aligned role).
• Customer-facing track record with senior technical buyers and architecture review boards.
• Strong AI/ML literacy: LLM capabilities, agentic architectures, RAG patterns, prompt engineering, and when to apply each.
• Able to define Multi-tenant Architectural patterns and security objectives.
• Hands-on enterprise data integration: SQL, ETL/CDC pipelines, API design, ODBC/JDBC, and multi-source connectivity.
• Able to design governed data access for AI agents — RBAC, OAuth 2.1, semantic scoping, and audit-trail requirements.
• Experience with modern data stacks (Snowflake, Databricks, Salesforce) and cloud-native deployment patterns.
• Able to translate complex AI + data concepts into executive-ready architecture proposals.
• High agency; comfortable being the senior technical voice in the room with the customer.
• Experience mentoring junior engineers without requiring direct reporting relationships.

Nice to Have

• Direct experience with the MCP protocol and AI agent frameworks (LangChain, CrewAI, Copilot Studio).
• Prior experience as an FDE or in a similar embedded customer-facing engineering role.

Location & Benefits

• Remote, U.S. (West Coast Preferred)
• Typical base pay range for this role across the US is $175,000–$240,000 per year.
• Comprehensive benefits including Medical, Dental, and Vision plans, Health Savings Account, Flexible Savings Account, Generous PTO, 11 paid holidays, 401k with 100% company match up to 6%, and remote-friendly culture.