Lead Forward Deployed Engineer (P4570)

Overview

84.51° is a retail data science, insights and media company. We help The Kroger Co., consumer packaged goods companies, agencies, publishers and affiliates create more personalized and valuable experiences for shoppers across the path to purchase.

Job Summary

We are seeking a Lead Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to join our AI Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) team and enable evolution of software development using AI tooling across Kroger and 84.51˚.

Responsibilities

• Exemplify best-practice for software delivery with Agentic Coding tools (such as Claude Code)
• Regularly document and present learnings gleaned from embedded work or experiments to the AI Enablement organization
• Ensure accurate observability of adoption and usage patterns of agentic Coding tools using Datadog, Dynatrace or other related observability tools
• Bridge the gap between Platform offerings and User adoption or usage patterns, discovering and documenting any gaps in capability and experience
• Closely monitor and maintain our internal Plugin Marketplaces or similar to enhance usability of offerings
• Ensure we hit SLAs and lead incident management procedures
• Engage with other technology, infrastructure, and product teams as necessary to complete tasks
• Participate routinely in team on-call rotation and customer support during business hours

Requirements

• 4-year degree in a technology related discipline (Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, etc.) or equivalent work experience
• 5+ years of experience producing high-quality software on Agile development teams. (Python and Java preferred)
• 5+ years of experience with public cloud technologies (Azure preferred)
• 3+ years of experience in Platform Engineering, DevEx, or related roles
• Demonstrable experience working with Coding Agent Harnesses and related tooling in an enterprise setting (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, etc.)
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with demonstrated experience leveraging these skills with technical teams and non-technical business units
• Desire to learn new technology and grow across different areas of technology
• Familiarity with AI-related concepts such as LLMs, Agents, Model Context Protocol (MCP)

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong technical writing, documentation, or functional research skills
• Experience developing AI-powered features or applications
• Experience developing CI/CD workflows or other similar automations contributing to code safety and reliability
• Experience working with IAC systems, eg. Terraform/Spacelift, Kubernetes, Helm, etc.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize own workload with multiple responsibilities and adaptability to changes in those priorities

Benefits

• Health: Medical: with competitive plan designs and support for self-care, wellness and mental health. Dental: with in-network and out-of-network benefit. Vision: with in-network and out-of-network benefit.
• Wealth: 401(k) with Roth option and matching contribution. Health Savings Account with matching contribution (requires participation in qualifying medical plan). AD&D and supplemental insurance options to help ensure additional protection for you.
• Happiness: Paid time off with flexibility to meet your life needs, including 5 weeks of vacation time, 7 health and wellness days, 3 floating holidays, as well as 6 company-paid holidays per year. Paid leave for maternity, paternity and family care instances.