🚀 Databricks Retail FDE is hiring!
We’re looking for Senior Forward Deployed Engineers who want to do more than advise from the sidelines — we want builders. As an FDE, you’ll work directly with some of the world’s largest companies to design, build, and productionize real Data + AI solutions. You’ll own architecture, write code, solve hard engineering problems, and help customers take projects from an idea on a whiteboard all the way into production.
If you have a strong background in data engineering, software engineering, Apache Spark, cloud architecture, AI/ML, or application development — and you enjoy being in front of customers — I’d love to see you apply. We have never had this many FDE roles in Retail open at the same time so there are plenty to apply for if you are interested.
We have several Sr. FDE – Retail openings across the U.S. 👇
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If you’re the kind of engineer who likes building, owning the outcome, working directly with customers, and solving problems where Data + AI meet the real world, this is a great opportunity.
Apply — or share this with someone who would crush this role.
#Databricks #Hiring #ForwardDeployedEngineer #FDE #DataEngineering #ArtificialIntelligence #GenAI #ApacheSpark #RetailTech #DataAI
There’s a point in a great engineer’s career where the question changes. It stops being: “Am I doing well here?” and becomes “Is this place still big enough for what I can do?”.
- Maybe you’re 4-6 years into your current company.
- Your initial RSU grant is reaching the cliff.
- You’ve solved the hard problems.
- You know the architecture better than almost everyone in the room.
- You’re the person people call when something is on fire.
- You’ve earned the title, the comp, the credibility.
And somehow… you’re bored. That’s the dangerous part. Because if you’re exceptionally good, comfort can quietly become the most expensive decision you make in your career.
So here’s my challenge: Start over. Not from zero. From experience.
Bring everything you’ve learned and put yourself somewhere that makes you feel like you still have something to prove. I’m looking for a very specific kind of person for the Databricks Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team. Not someone looking for “their next job.” I want the person who is probably one of the strongest engineers on their current team. The person who can walk into ambiguity, figure out what actually matters, challenge assumptions, design the architecture, write the code, sit across from a customer, and own the outcome all the way into production.
- Someone who wants hard problems.
- Someone who wants customers with massive scale.
- Someone who wants to work across data engineering, distributed systems, AI, applications, architectur…
Some engineering roles ask you to maintain what already exists. This one asks you to help create what comes next.
We are looking for exceptional Senior Forward Deployed Engineers (FDE) who want to work directly with some of the world’s largest retailers and turn their hardest data and AI problems into production systems that create real, measurable impact.
As an FDE at Databricks, you are not sitting on the sidelines making recommendations that someone else may eventually implement. You are in the room with the customer. You own architecture decisions. You write the code. You build the solution. You guide executives and engineering teams through difficult decisions—and you get to see your work change how a major business operates.
What has made this role special for me is the people. You will work alongside brilliant, humble builders who will challenge you, support you, and make you better. You will have the opportunity to stretch across data engineering, distributed systems, cloud architecture, applications, machine learning, and GenAI—often while solving problems that have never been solved before.
We are not simply looking for someone who knows every Databricks feature. We are looking for people who are curious, technically fearless, deeply committed to their customers, and unwilling to walk away from a hard problem.
If you have spent your entire career building expertise and are wondering where you can use all of it, Databricks might be that place. It was for me.
R…
This explains the essence of what it means to be a Forward Deployed Engineer. Nice post Jason Martin! I could not have said it better myself.
Four capabilities converge to make FDE deliver. Together, they are what differentiates Databricks FDE.
Technology: a robust data and AI platform, built for the outcomes customers are asking for
The Lakehouse is the open, unified foundation; Databricks Apps, Genie, and Lakebase extend it into production AI applications, natural-language data access, and operational data. The platform is multi-model and multi-cloud by design. That foundation is the difference between a prototype that demos well and a system that runs your business.
Experience: an engineering-led delivery model
With expertise in data engineering, application development, and deployment of production systems, our FDEs bring the elite engineering talent required to translate the platform's raw potential into a deployed business solution. Our engagements are engineering-driven, centered around customer business objectives.
Scale: a global partner network across regions and skills
Partners are essential to delivering the breadth of expertise FDE demands. Delivering business outcomes requires meeting customers where they are: the technologies they leverage, the industries they operate in, and their location. For years we have worked side-by-side with partners to deliver on our most complex and exciting engagements. We now have hundreds of partners that enable us to brin…
