Senior Associate, Forward Deployed Engineer
About the role
Known for being a great place to work and build a career, KPMG provides audit, tax and advisory services for organizations in today's most important industries. Our growth is driven by delivering real results for our clients. It's also enabled by our culture, which encourages individual development, embraces an inclusive environment, rewards innovative excellence and supports our communities. With qualities like those, it's no wonder we're consistently ranked among the best companies to work for by Fortune Magazine, Consulting Magazine, Seramount, Fair360 and others.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and ship full-stack AI-native systems, including user interfaces, APIs, data pipelines, and foundation model integrations, taking concepts rapidly from MVP to hardened production software
- Own the architecture, security, scalability, and resilience of your workstream to ensure mission-critical systems operate seamlessly under live enterprise workloads
- Execute within fast-paced two-to-six-week sprint cycles, iteratively refining solutions based on direct user and client feedback while surfacing technical constraints early
- Implement robust evaluation disciplines and harness tooling across model workflows, capturing learnings into modular, reusable components for broader team adoption
- Actively participate in client working sessions and discovery efforts, communicating technical concepts clearly and presenting working software through live demos and compelling narratives
- Pair closely with fellow engineers to elevate engineering standards through disciplined code reviews, automated testing, comprehensive documentation, and shared best practices
- Act with integrity, professionalism, and personal responsibility to uphold KPMG's respectful and courteous work environment
Qualifications
- Minimum four years of recent, hands-on experience shipping secure, full-stack production software focused on data, ML, and AI-native applications (proficiency in modern languages such as Python, Go, Rust, or Java)
- Bachelor's degree from an accredited college/university in a STEM field or five years relevant practical experience
- Proven track record hardening, scaling, and operating distributed systems within major cloud environments (Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud (GCP)), with hands-on experience in enterprise-grade deployments
- Deep technical familiarity with frontier LLMs, modern AI coding harnesses (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor), agent frameworks, and integration protocols (e.g., Model Context Protocol or tool-use standards)
- Demonstrated expertise across the end-to-end model loop, including context engineering, prompt optimization, automated evaluation tooling, and strategic model selection
- Entrepreneurial drive and comfort with ambiguity, characterized by strong technical leadership, a bias for shipping, and a history of owning outcomes (early-stage startup or founder experience is a strong plus)
- Strong stakeholder-facing presence with the ability to translate complex architectures to diverse audiences
- A portfolio, GitHub repository, or code walk-through demonstrating shipped work is a plus
- Ability to travel domestically as needed
Pay
California Salary Range: $78,000 - $143,500
For salary ranges by city outside of California, see KPMG Pay Transparency.
Benefits
KPMG offers a comprehensive, competitive benefits package with options designed to help you make the best decisions for yourself, your family, and your lifestyle. Available benefits are based on eligibility. Depending on job classification, standard work hours, and years of service, KPMG provides a Total Rewards Package that includes 401(k) and medical and may include dental, vision, disability and life insurance, personal well-being and Personal Time Off. Additionally, each year KPMG publishes a calendar of holidays to be observed during the year depending on your job classification and entity affiliation. Additional details about benefits can be found on the KPMG US Careers site at Benefits & How We Work.