As people and organizations increasingly become aware of and adopt advances in software and hardware, sometimes it becomes apparent that getting an expert to help them get the most out of what is now possible is the clean, fast, cost-effective, working path.
This is written at the end of May, 2026. In the past month alone, let’s see a chronology of some data points and scribblings about growing interest in the Forward Deployed Engineer function:
- May 4, 2026: The WSJ reported a planned $1.5 billion in investmentswithAnthropic launching the building of a new AI services company“backed by a consortium of leading alternative asset managers including General Atlantic, Leonard Green, Apollo Global Management, GIC, and Sequoia Capital”. Too, see coverage in:AccentureandMarketWatch. - May 13, 2026: The Google CEO since 2019, Kurinan, announced on LIa new GTM org, “investing in hiring additional Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) to help…scale customer AI transformation”.- May 13, 2026: ChannelDive
[reported](https://www.channeldive.com/news/google-cloud-forward-deployed-engineering-jobs/820176/)Google’s FDE push as “hiring an army of…engineers”.
- May 13, 2026: ChannelDive
- May 13, 2026: Box CEO, Levie, called FDE “one of the most in-demand jobs in tech”,
[according to](https://www.fastcompany.com/91541878/google-box-ceos-say-this-is-the-most-in-demand-job-in-tech?utm_source=chatgpt.com)Fast Company. - May 16, 2026: TheNewStack
[covered](https://thenewstack.io/forward-deployed-engineer-fde-openai-google/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)the leap in FDE hotness. - May 28, 2026: a16z
announcedan eight-week cohort for FDEs, stating, “Demand for FDEs is growing rapidly as startups race to close the gap between what customers need and what AI agents can deliver. But best-in-class FDEs are rare and hard to reach.”
At the same time, people in tech circle ask and speculate:
- What is FDE?
- Isn’t FDE the same as solution engineering?
These are some things that this blog intends to help clarify in future posts.