Position Title: Forward Deployment Engineer
Position Type: Regular - Full-Time
Requisition ID: 44875
About the role.The Forward Deployment Engineer is accountable for owning high-value AI use cases from problem discovery through delivery, adoption, and measured business value. This role embeds directly in the business, partners closely with technical teams, and ensures AI solutions are accurate, reliable, adopted by users, and aligned to McCain's Responsible AI, security, and governance standards.
The role is permanent and may be based in North America, including Toronto or Chicago, with India and Canada rotation opportunities available for pod-facing assignments.
What you'll be doing.- Own one Red or high-value Yellow AI use case end-to-end and be accountable for the realized business outcome.
- Embed in the business workflow to identify the highest-value problems and define success metrics with the business owner.
- Drive use cases from problem discovery through deployment, adoption, and measured value realization.
- Partner with a technical lead from the AI Engineering team to guide a small, dedicated cross-functional pod.
- Ensure AI solutions are accurate, reliable, and integrated with systems such as SAP, Salesforce, Databricks, and the Distyl agent harness.
- Solve ambiguous deployment and integration challenges in real time by engaging central functions as needed.
- Drive user onboarding, training, and change management to embed solutions into daily operating processes.
- Identify adoption risks early and lead corrective actions to support sustained business impact.
- Build trust with business sponsors and end users as a credible technical advisor.
- Support Responsible AI, security, and risk-classification requirements, including evaluation gates owned by Use Case Governance & Operations.
What you'll need to be successful.- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; an advanced degree is considered an asset.
- 5+ years of experience owning complex, client-facing, or business-facing technology projects.
- Ability to frame high-level business problems and connect solutions to ROI or strategic KPIs.
- Ability to reason about LLM and agent reliability constraints and credibly direct engineers, without necessarily coding production systems.
- Experience navigating noisy enterprise data, ambiguous environments, and complex stakeholder needs.
- Demonstrated record of driving measured financial impact and user adoption, not just delivery.
- Strong customer obsession, executive presence, and ability to earn trust from end users through functional senior leadership teams.
- Comfort with ambiguity, ownership, and travel to the point of work, including sales ride-alongs, plant visits, and grower sites.
- Nice to have: McCain commercial domain experience in Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, or Supply Chain; CPG or food-service experience; knowledge-engineering instincts; familiarity with the McCain AI stack; or change-management experience.
- Strong commitment to ethical and responsible AI practices.
About the team.The Forward Deployment Engineer works as the single accountable owner for an AI use case while partnering with a technical lead and a dedicated cross-functional pod. The pod may include AI engineers, a knowledge engineer, and platform resources seconded for the life of the use case, with support from a dotted-line architect from the central Architecture team.
This role is not a traditional project manager or product manager position. It is designed to sit close to the business, translate operational challenges into deployable technical solutions, and ensure adoption and measurable business outcomes. Depending on the assignment, the role may report to the FDE Practice Lead for the Yellow portfolio or to the VP, Artificial Intelligence when serving as pod owner for a flagship Red use case.
Compensation Package: $85,500.00 - $114,000.00 . CAD annually + Bonus Eligibility
The above reflects the target compensation range for the position at the time of posting. Hiring compensation will be determined based on experience, skill set, education and training, and other organizational needs. This posting is for an existing vacancy.
Benefits: At McCain, we're on a mission to create a winning culture that puts employee safety and well-being at the heart of what we do, every day. We understand and appreciate that each person's needs are unique and ensure our benefits & well-being programs reflect that. Employees are eligible for the following benefits: health coverage (medical, dental, vision, prescription drug), retirement savings benefits, and leave support including medical, family and bereavement. Well-being programs include vacation and holidays, company-supported volunteering time, and mental health resources. Coverages are aligned with applicable law and can vary by work level, location, and nature of the role. Additional benefit detail available during the application process.
Your well-being matters to us, and we're here to provide you with the necessary resources to support you in being your best self at work - and at home.
Job Family: Information Technology
Location(s): CA - Canada : Ontario : Toronto
Company: McCain Foods (Canada)
