Forward Deployment AI EngineerAtlas, a Lyra Tech Group portfolio company, is looking for a Forward Deployment AI Engineer. The FDE will embed with our clients' businesses - rolling up your sleeves to design, build, and deploy AI-powered solutions that create real operational impact. You won't be sitting behind a desk writing specs; you'll be on-site at small and mid-size businesses diagnosing inefficiencies, earning stakeholder trust, and shipping production-grade AI agents, automated workflows, and engineering solutions that change how these organizations run.
This is a hands-on, client-facing engineering role built for someone who is as comfortable presenting to a small business owner as they are writing Python.
Your work as a Forward Deployment AI Engineer will include several components: - Embed directly with clients to discover operational pain points, map workflows, and identify high-ROI opportunities for AI and automation
- Design and build AI agents using frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, or similar - including tool-use, memory, and multi-agent orchestration patterns
- Develop AI-powered workflows that integrate with clients' existing systems (CRMs, ERPs, cloud platforms, communication tools, etc.)
- Engineer automation solutions across areas such as document processing, data extraction, reporting, customer communication, and internal operations
- Own the full delivery lifecycle - from scoping and architecture to build, testing, handoff, and lightweight documentation
- Train and enable client teams to maintain and iterate on solutions post-deployment
- Serve as a trusted technical advisor, translating complex AI capabilities into clear business value for non-technical stakeholders
- Contribute internally by codifying reusable components, playbooks, and delivery templates that scale across the practice
Our ideal Forward Deployment AI Engineer has the following qualifications:- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field
- Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future
- 2+ years of professional experience in software engineering, AI/ML engineering, or a technical consulting role
- Working proficiency in Python and familiarity with REST APIs and cloud services
- Hands-on experience building with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or similar)
- Understanding of prompt engineering, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), and agentic workflow patterns
- Ability to work independently in ambiguous, fast-moving client environments
- Strong communication skills - you can explain a vector database to a CFO without losing them
- Willingness to travel regularly to client sites in the Tampa area (estimated up to 50%)
Preferred
- Experience with workflow automation platforms (Zapier, Make, n8n, or similar)
- Familiarity with vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma) and embedding pipelines
- Exposure to low-code/no-code tools alongside custom-code solutions
- Prior client-facing, consulting, or forward-deployed engineering experience
- Experience working with SMB clients
- Experience in construction, professional services, nonprofits and/or healthcare is a plus
Who Thrives in This RoleYou're a builder who gets energy from solving real problems for real people. You're not waiting for perfect requirements - you ask good questions, form a hypothesis, and get something in front of stakeholders fast. You're comfortable being the most technical person in the room for one hour and a junior learner the next. You care about the outcome, not just the code.
The targeted base salary for this role is $120,000 - $150,000 depending on experience and will operate out of the Atlas office(s) on a hybrid basis.
