FDE Collective
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Runner crossing the finish line — be among the first forward-deployed engineers

There will be 1M forward-deployed engineers in the next 5 years.

Be among the first ones.

Take the assessment

Built from 200+ enterprise deployments at

Why we built FDE Collective

A million roles are coming.Almost nobody is ready.

Take the assessment

The gap

Everyone sees the demo.

It's the part that takes a weekend.

Below the surface

A rugged glacier iceberg with a massive submerged body beneath its small visible peak.

  1. Retrieval on messy real data

    Your PDFs are scanned, outdated and contradict each other.

  2. Tools and system integrations

    It has to work with Salesforce, SAP and a 2009 API.

  3. Evals that prove it works

    "It looked fine when I tried it" isn't an answer.

  4. Security and guardrails

    Who can it act as? What happens when someone tries to break it?

  5. Governance and audit

    Legal wants to know where every byte went.

  6. Deployment and monitoring

    It has to run at 3am, and you need to know when it doesn't.

  7. Ownership and handover

    Someone has to own it after launch.

All of this is one job. It's called a forward-deployed engineer.

It can be yours.

THE GAP

Everyone sees the demo.

It's the part that takes a weekend.

A complete iceberg with a small peak above the waterline and a massive submerged body.

BELOW THE SURFACE

  1. Retrieval on messy real data

    Your PDFs are scanned, outdated and contradict each other.

  2. Tools and system integrations

    It has to work with Salesforce, SAP and a 2009 API.

  3. Evals that prove it works

    "It looked fine when I tried it" isn't an answer.

  4. Security and guardrails

    Who can it act as? What happens when someone tries to break it?

  5. Governance and audit

    Legal wants to know where every byte went.

  6. Deployment and monitoring

    It has to run at 3am, and you need to know when it doesn't.

  7. Ownership and handover

    Someone has to own it after launch.

All of this is one job. It's called a forward-deployed engineer.

It can be yours.

Full-stack engineer vs Forward-deployed engineer

The job starts where your current stack ends.

Core engineeringThe gapWhat an FDE adds

Full-stack engineer

A strong base. The delivery gaps stay open.

Forward-deployed engineer

Backend depth, plus the production agent layer.
Discovery and scopingDiscoveryand scopingAPIs and RESTAPIsand RESTUse-case qualificationUse-casequalificationModel behaviourModelbehaviourDatabasesDatabasesContext engineeringContextengineeringPrompt architecturePromptarchitectureData modellingDatamodellingRetrieval designRetrievaldesignKnowledge graphsKnowledgegraphsCloud infraCloud infraMemory designMemorydesignAgent orchestrationAgentorchestrationContainersContainersMulti-agent systemsMulti-agentsystemsTool and MCPTool andMCPCI/CDCI/CDEvals & gradingEvals &gradingGuardrailsGuardrailsTestingTestingRed teamingRed teamingIdentity and permissionsIdentity andpermissionsAuth basicsAuth basicsGovernance and auditGovernanceand auditData residencyDataresidencyCachingCachingAgent observabilityAgentobservabilityCost and token controlCost andtoken controlQueuesQueuesHuman-in-the-loopHuman-in-the-loopEnterprise integrationEnterpriseintegrationFrontendFrontendRisk reviewRisk reviewROI proofROI proofGit and reviewGit andreviewHandover and enablementHandover andenablementAccount expansionAccountexpansion

6 of 25 FDE skills revealed

The path

One climb.

Take the assessment
  1. Take the assessment

    A free test across the FDE skill map, built after talking to 100+ FDEs.

  2. See where you stand

    Your score shows what you already know and exactly what to learn next.

  3. Pick your lane

    Free, Platform, Certified or the Job Track. Start where your score says you should.

  4. Move up any time

    Your score and progress come with you. Get certified, then matched to paid projects.

See the full curriculum

Who teaches you

Taught by people who ship.

Who's hiring

Look who's hiring for this exact role.

100+
FDEs deployed by Lyzr
$5B
valuation for Wonderful, an FDE-led company
Palantir
built its business on forward-deployed delivery
OpenAIForward Deployed EngineerSan Francisco · New YorkAnthropicForward Deployed EngineerSan Francisco · LondonPalantirForward Deployed Software EngineerDenver · Washington DCLyzrForward Deployed EngineerBengaluru · New YorkScale AIForward Deployed Engineer, GenAISan FranciscoSierraAgent EngineerSan Francisco · London
DatabricksAI Engineer, FieldRemote · BengaluruCohereForward Deployed EngineerToronto · New YorkDecagonAgent Product EngineerSan FranciscoHarveyForward Deployed EngineerNew York · LondonGleanForward Deployed EngineerPalo Alto · BengaluruRampApplied AI EngineerNew York

What you walk away with

Walk out with proof, offers and paid work.

Paid work

Paid projects, matched to you.

New project match

Claims triage agent

US insurer · Paid

View project

New project match

Invoice reconciliation agent

Logistics

View project

New project match

Support triage agent

SaaS

View project

Interview fast-track

Skip the queue.

THU14

FDE interview · Lyzr

4:00 PM IST

FRI15

FDE interview · Partner company

2:00 PM IST

MON18

Final round · Partner company

11:00 AM IST

Certification

One exam. Certified by the companies that build the stack.

The Production FDE Certification is co-signed by the tools enterprises run in production. Earn it once and every partner on it vouches for you.

$199 One time

Take the Assessment

ID · FDE-2026-0001
Verify online

Production FDE Certification

Your Name

Retrieval, agents, evals, guardrails, governance and deployment, proven end to end.

Co-signed by

LyzrQdrantElasticLangfuseArizeTemporal

How you get certified

From assessment to FDE Collective verified.

01Take the assessmentFree, for everyone.
02Cross the benchmarkYour score unlocks the exam.
03Sit the certification examPay $199 when you are eligible.
04Pass itProve it end to end.
05Get FDE Collective verifiedCo-signed by every partner.

Questions

Before you apply.

100 enterprise competencies, simulation-based engagements, 1:1 code reviews, Production FDE Certification, a portfolio of 10 reviewed builds, Lyzr FDE Marketplace access, interview fast-tracks, lifetime community access, Demo Day and graduation in Bengaluru, plus cloud and AI tool credits.

A million of these roles are coming. Be one of the first.

Take the assessment
Or come say hi on Discord ↗
Event participants gathered in front of the Lyzr screen
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