Forward Deployed Engineer

The Forward Deployed Engineer role sits at the intersection of solution architecture, technical consulting, and hands-on engineering. You will be embedded with Adobe’s most strategic customers , working directly with their teams to solve complex platform challenges, design scalable architectures, and build what’s needed to unblock adoption and expansion.

You operate inside cross-functional Customer Pods , small, autonomous teams with end-to-end ownership , translating customer problems into working platform solutions. You lead with architecture, prototype rapidly, and close the gap between what customers need and what the platform delivers.

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with strategic customers to understand their architecture, workflows, security requirements, and business objectives.
• Translate complex customer problems into scalable solution designs, reference architectures, and working prototypes.
• Investigate and troubleshoot production-level platform issues , from data ingestion and identity resolution to journey orchestration and audience activation.
• Design and validate end-to-end enterprise solutions spanning AEP, RTCDP, AJO, and adjacent Adobe systems.
• Lead architecture workshops, health checks, and technical deep-dives that earn customer trust before any commercial motion.
• Rapidly prototype, experiment, and iterate on new capabilities , using AI-assisted tools as a standard part of execution.
• Bridge the gap between customer needs, product direction, and engineering implementation , feeding field patterns back into the product roadmap.
• Own the technical relationship with assigned accounts , from initial discovery through implementation, go-live, and expansion.

What Success Looks Like

• Software Development Acumen , You write code, build prototypes, and ship working software.
• Customer Empathy , You connect with customers on their terms , understanding their pressures, constraints, and definitions of success.
• Collaborative Engagement , You engage cross-functionally with ease, aligning engineers, architects, product managers, and executive stakeholders around shared outcomes.
• Communication , You communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Business Acumen , You translate business goals into solution design.
• Cross-Product Architecture , You design end-to-end solutions across multiple products and systems.
• Data Modeling , You understand how data is structured, modeled, and moved.
• Growth Mindset & AI Fluency , You actively build toward agentic capabilities and adopt AI-assisted development tools.
• Bias Toward Action , You identify problems before they are assigned and drive them to resolution.

Your Domain

• AEP / RTCDP / AJO , Adobe’s core platform: data ingestion, segmentation, journey orchestration, audience activation.
• Enterprise Architecture , Multi-system integration, data flows, identity resolution, API design across complex landscapes.
• Security & Compliance , Regulated industries (FSI, Healthcare), data sovereignty, privacy-preserving architectures, GDPR.
• Cloud Platforms , AWS, Azure: infrastructure patterns, managed services, networking.
• Data Platforms , Event-driven architectures, streaming pipelines, batch processing, data lakes.
• Observability , Platform health, SLO definition, performance governance, production monitoring.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Adobe Experience Cloud products (AEP, AJO, RTCDP, CJA, Target).
• Background in similar platforms , CDP, MDM, martech, or data platforms.
• Experience in regulated industries (Financial Services, Healthcare, Government) and familiarity with their compliance and security constraints.
• Experience with data governance, privacy-preserving computation, or secure data collaboration patterns.
• Familiarity with identity resolution or customer data unification systems.
• Experience with workflow orchestration (Temporal, Step Functions, or similar).
• Track record of driving architecture decisions or technical strategy at team or org level.

How You’ll Work , Pod-Based Execution

You operate within small, cross-functional Customer Pods , outcome-oriented teams embedded with specific strategic accounts.

Each Pod has:

• Customer Representative , feedback and validation
• Product Manager , prioritization and decision-making
• Engineers / Builders , implementation and experimentation
• Account Team + Enterprise Architects , enterprise alignment and strategy

The Forward Deployed Engineer acts as the technical execution backbone of the Pod: customer-facing, highly technical, hands-on, enterprise-aware, and focused on rapid end-to-end delivery.

Why This Team

• Work on complex enterprise problems with direct customer impact , your solutions go live in production, not in slide decks.
• Operate inside autonomous, cross-functional Pods embedded with Adobe’s most strategic accounts.
• Combine architecture, strategy, engineering, and customer engagement in a single role , no two weeks look the same.
• Shape a new engineering engagement model centered around rapid experimentation and AI-assisted execution.
• Collaborate with experienced engineers across Adobe’s global platform teams.
• Build engineering credibility that earns expansion rights , from workshops to FDE to renewals.