Role Overview

The Forward Deployment Engineer (FDE) is thetip-of-the-speartechnical role responsible for ensuring that EXLdata.ai issuccessfully deployed, adopted, and scaledwithin client environments.

You will work side-by-side with client teams, product engineering, and our GenAI agent teams to:

• Deploy EXLdata.aiinto client cloud infrastructure (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• Resolve infra, security, and data pipeline issuesin real time
• Customize accelerators and agent workflowsfor client-specific needs
• Drive measurable value realizationfrom Day 1
• Champion product enhancements back to the EXLdata.ai engineering team
• Deliver white-glove supportfor clients using our managed platform offering

This role is ideal for asenior data engineerwho loves solving real-world problems, can operate in ambiguous conditions, learns fast, and thrives in high-impact client environments.

Key Responsibilities

1. Deployment & Infrastructure Engineering

• Deploy EXLdata.ai in client-owned AWS/Azure/GCP environments.
• Configure networking, security, CI/CD, Kubernetes, API gateways, and identity integration.
• Troubleshoot environment, infra, IAM, and pipeline-related issues.
• Lead cloud-level optimizations (scaling, cost, performance tuning).

2. Data Engineering & Pipeline Enablement

• Build, customize, and optimize data pipelines usingPySpark, SQL, Databricks, Snowflake, or native hyperscaler data services.
• Integrate platform agents into client workflows (Data Migration, DQ, DataOps, Annotation).
• Assist client SMEs in onboarding data sources, targets, and transformations.

3. Value Realization & Client Enablement

• Serve as thetechnical anchorfor first-of-kind deployments at each client.
• Ensure clients see measurable value from agent-driven automation (SLA reduction, pipeline acceleration, DQ uplift, migration speed).
• Provide hands-on support across discovery, configuration, runbooks, and UAT.

4. GenAI Agent Integration

• Work with product engineering on integrating new GenAI agents into client pipelines.
• Tailor agent behaviors, triggers, and workflows for domain-specific use cases.
• Share field insights that shape our agent roadmap.

5. Product Innovation & Feedback Loop

• Act as the voice of the customer for the EXLdata.ai product team.
• Identify enhancements, feature gaps, and new accelerator ideas.
• Participate in internal sprints, tooling improvements, and platform hardening.

6. Managed Service / White-Glove Model

• Support deployments in EXL-hosted private cloud environments.
• Serve as the first line of operational excellence for premium clients.
• Lead operational reliability, monitoring, and support SLAs.

Expertise

• 6 612+ years as aSenior Data Engineer, Forward Deployment Engineer
• Strong hands-on experience withat least one hyperscaler(AWS or Azure or GCP).
• Deep expertise in:
  • PySpark, SQL, Python
  • Databricks / Snowflake(one mandatory, both preferred)
  • Cloud data services (Kinesis, Glue, Redshift, Synapse, BigQuery, DataProc, etc.)
  • Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD
  • IAM, VPC, private networking, secrets, API management

Delivery & Client Facing Skills

• Demonstrated ability towork directly with client engineering teams.
• Comfortable running design discussions, debugging sessions, and deployment workshops.
• Strong communication skills; able to simplify technical topics for business audiences.
• Ability to operate independently with aconsulting mindset and ownership mentality.

GenAI & Multi-Agent Curiosity

• Exposure to LLMs, agent tooling (LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, etc.), or willingness to learn fast.
• Strong interest in how AI can automate data engineering and governance.

Base Compensation Range: 125,000-175,000

• The posted range is the hiring range for this role 6 a subset of the broader range available to employees over time 6 and reflects base salary across our national hiring scale. Final offers are based on several factors, including the candidate's skills and experience, internal pay equity, work location, market conditions for the role, and the specific scope and responsibilities of the position. The top of the range is reserved for candidates who notably exceed the requirements; the lower end applies to those with less experience or fewer preferred qualifications. For positions based in higher-cost zones (e.g., California, New York, New Jersey), actual compensation may exceed the posted range; your recruiter will share specifics during the process.