Forward Deployed Engineering manager: what the postings ask for
Published
Forward Deployed Engineering manager seats lead or run teams of Forward Deployed Engineers, and employers post them as Manager, Senior Manager, Engineering Manager, Director, Head or VP of Forward Deployed Engineering, plus FDE engagement and program manager titles. In FDE Dispatch's October 24, 2026 snapshot of public job boards, 71 of 725 FDE-family postings (9.8%) carry a management or program title, at 26 of 121 employers. Databricks (25) and Accenture (12) post 37 of the 71; the other 24 employers post 1 to 3 each. 35 of the 71 titles name the team Forward Deployed Engineering. 27 US-located postings list a USD range, with a median midpoint of $249,400, against $216,104 for US engineer-title postings; posted ranges are not offers. Postings that state travel put the median upper bound at 50%, against 25% for engineer titles. FDE Dispatch is not affiliated with any employer named on this page; the figures come from public job postings.
What the manager titles say
FDE management titles fall into four groups by title text. Manager, Senior Manager and Engineering Manager titles lead with 39 postings at 16 employers, for example Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering at Anthropic, OpenAI, Databricks, Parloa and Snorkel AI. Director, Head and VP titles add 11 at 10 employers. The other 21 are engagement, delivery, solutions and technical program manager titles, and Databricks posts 16 of those 21.
| Title type | Postings | Employers | Postings outside Databricks and Accenture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manager, Senior Manager or Engineering Manager | 39 | 16 | 19 |
| Director, Head or VP | 11 | 10 | 10 |
| Engagement, delivery or solutions manager | 12 | 3 | 3 |
| Technical program manager | 9 | 3 | 2 |
| Total | 71 | 26 | 34 |
Nearly half the titles name the team itself: 35 of the 71 say Forward Deployed Engineering, at 19 employers, as in Director, Forward Deployed Engineering or Forward Deployed Engineering Manager. 24 use the abbreviation FDE, and 19 of those 24 are Databricks or Accenture postings. Search for both spellings when you look for these seats.
| Title wording | Postings | Employers |
|---|---|---|
| Forward Deployed Engineering | 35 | 19 |
| FDE | 24 | 5 |
| Forward Deployed Engineer | 7 | 4 |
| Other wording (Forward Deployed, Forward Deployment, AI Deployment Engineering) | 5 | 5 |
The 5 other titles are Forward Deployed Manager, Engineering Manager - Forward Deployment (Defense), Engineering Manager, Forward Deployed (Privy), Manager, AI Deployment Engineering (Southeast Asia) and a Director, Solutions Engineer Forward Deployed role. How these titles sit next to engineer and deployment strategist titles is on Forward Deployed Engineer job titles, and short definitions are in the FDE glossary.
Who posts FDE management roles
26 of the 121 employers with FDE-family postings (21.5%) post at least one management or program title, and two of them post more than half. Databricks posts 25 and Accenture 12, together 37 of the 71 (52.1%). The other 24 employers post 1 to 3 each.
| Employer | Management postings | All FDE-family postings |
|---|---|---|
| Databricks | 25 | 122 |
| Accenture | 12 | 40 |
| OpenAI | 3 | 32 |
| Anthropic | 2 | 6 |
| Cohere | 2 | 11 |
| Cursor | 2 | 10 |
| NVIDIA | 2 | 3 |
| Parloa | 2 | 8 |
| PwC | 2 | 2 |
| Snorkel AI | 2 | 5 |
| Thomson Reuters | 2 | 7 |
| 15 employers with 1 each (Adobe, Adyen, Applied Intuition, Assort Health, Baseten, Chalk, Cisco, Cloudflare, Datadog, HackerRank, Intercom (Fin), Labelbox, Nebius, Notion, Stripe) | 15 | 69 |
Outside Databricks and Accenture, the mix shifts toward team leadership: 19 of the remaining 34 are Manager, Senior Manager or Engineering Manager titles and 10 are Director, Head or VP titles. Employer detail is on the Databricks, Accenture and OpenAI guides.
Where the roles are, and how many are remote
33 of the 71 management postings (46.5%) are US-located and 31 (43.7%) are outside the US on the published locations index; 7 are mixed or unclassified. Engineer titles run 53.5% US-located and 39.8% outside the US.
| Title family | Postings | US-located | Outside the US | Mixed or unclassified | Remote-listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineer titles | 568 | 304 (53.5%) | 226 (39.8%) | 38 | 161 (28.3%) |
| Deployment strategist titles | 86 | 49 (57.0%) | 34 (39.5%) | 3 | 20 (23.3%) |
| Management titles | 71 | 33 (46.5%) | 31 (43.7%) | 7 | 18 (25.4%) |
18 management postings (25.4%) list a remote location, close to the 27.4% across all 725. Databricks accounts for 13 of the 18. Across the other 25 employers, 5 of 46 management postings (10.9%) list remote: Cohere 2, Cisco 1, Cursor 1 and NVIDIA 1. The workplace field is blank on 54 of the 71; 10 say Hybrid, 4 Remote and 3 On-site. Full metro and remote figures are on Forward Deployed Engineer jobs by location.
26 employers post FDE management titles in this snapshot, from Manager to VP of Forward Deployed Engineering. Building or running one of those teams? FDE Dispatch trains the engineers you already have and provides what a learning-and-development approver asks for: a syllabus with outcomes, an itemized invoice, and a one-page manager summary.
How much FDE managers travel
Travel is mentioned in 32 of the 71 management postings, and 22 state a percentage. The median stated upper bound is 50%, against 25% for engineer titles (242 stated) and 75% for deployment strategist titles (49 stated), the same figures as how much forward deployed engineers travel.
7 of the 22 are Accenture postings that say "0 to 100%", a range that covers any amount of travel. Leaving those 7 out, the median of the other 15 is still 50%: 8 top out at 50%, 1 at 40%, 2 at 25% and 4 at 20%. Management postings state more travel than engineer postings, so ask how many customer sites the team covers and how many days a month the manager spends at them.
What FDE management postings list for pay
27 US-located management postings at 14 employers list a USD range. The median midpoint is $249,400, $33,296 above the $216,104 median across 255 US engineer-title postings on Forward Deployed Engineer salary. Posted ranges are not offers and exclude equity value.
| Title type | US postings with USD pay | Median midpoint | Lowest floor to highest top |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manager, Senior Manager or Engineering Manager | 13 | $249,400 | $94,400 to $405,000 |
| Director, Head or VP | 6 | $311,750 | $163,000 to $434,000 |
| Engagement, delivery or solutions manager | 5 | $212,325 | $130,300 to $302,150 |
| Technical program manager | 3 | $185,250 | $140,400 to $260,150 |
| All management titles | 27 | $249,400 | $94,400 to $434,000 |
| US engineer titles (salary page) | 255 | $216,104 | see salary page |
Databricks and Accenture post 14 of the 27 ranges, with a median midpoint of $212,325. The other 13, at 12 employers, have a median midpoint of $275,000. The table below lists every range as posted, highest midpoint first.
| Employer | Title | Title type | Posted range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering | Manager | $320,000 to $405,000 |
| OpenAI | Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering- NYC | Manager | $302,000 to $385,000 |
| Snorkel AI | VP, Head of Forward Deployed Engineering | Director, head or VP | $268,800 to $403,000 |
| Chalk | Director, Forward Deployed Engineering | Director, head or VP | $300,000 to $350,000 |
| HackerRank | Director, Forward Deployed Engineering | Director, head or VP | $300,000 to $350,000 |
| Accenture | Palantir Forward Deployed Engineer -Assoc Director | Director, head or VP | $163,000 to $434,000 |
| Nebius | Head of Forward Deployed Engineering - Ecosystem | Director, head or VP | $270,800 to $310,000 |
| Applied Intuition | Engineering Manager - Forward Deployment (Defense) | Manager | $250,000 to $300,000 |
| Intercom (Fin) | Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering | Manager | $252,000 to $280,000 |
| Databricks | Lead Engagement Manager, FDE - Communications, Media, Entertainment & Gaming | Engagement or delivery | $219,800 to $302,150 |
| Snorkel AI | Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering | Manager | $200,000 to $320,000 |
| Assort Health | Head of Forward Deployed Engineering | Director, head or VP | $210,000 to $300,000 |
| Databricks | Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering - CMEG | Manager | $211,800 to $291,300 |
| Accenture | AI - Cybersecurity Forward Deployed Engineer - FDE Senior Manager | Manager | $132,500 to $366,300 |
| Datadog | Forward Deployed Engineering Manager - Datadog for Startups | Manager | $200,000 to $250,000 |
| Databricks | Lead Field Technical Program Manager, FDE - Retail, Consumer Goods, Travel, Transportation & Hospitality | Program manager | $189,200 to $260,150 |
| Adobe | Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering, Creative AI | Manager | $147,900 to $293,250 |
| Labelbox | Forward Deployed Engineering Manager | Manager | $190,000 to $250,000 |
| Accenture | AI Engineer - FDE Software Engineering Sr. Manager | Manager | $132,500 to $302,400 |
| Databricks | Lead Engagement Manager, FDE - DNB | Engagement or delivery | $178,800 to $245,850 |
| Databricks | Lead Engagement Manager, FDE - Healthcare & Life Sciences | Engagement or delivery | $178,800 to $245,850 |
| Accenture | Cybersecurity AI Forward Deployed Engineer - FDE - Manager | Manager | $94,400 to $316,300 |
| Accenture | Full Stack Engineer Manager (FDE) | Manager | $94,400 to $316,300 |
| Databricks | Sr. Delivery Partner Manager, FDE | Engagement or delivery | $156,000 to $214,500 |
| Databricks | Sr. Field Technical Program Manager, FDE | Program manager | $156,000 to $214,500 |
| Databricks | Sr. Field Technical Program Manager, FDE - Public Sector | Program manager | $140,400 to $193,050 |
| Databricks | Sr. Engagement Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering - Public Sector | Engagement or delivery | $130,300 to $179,200 |
7 more postings with a range list a non-US or mixed location and stay out of these tables, among them Anthropic's London manager seat (GBP 255,000 to 325,000) and two Cohere engineering manager seats in Canada (CAD 320,000 to 385,000). Equity is mentioned in 32 of the 71 management postings (45.1%); outside Databricks and Accenture it is 22 of 34 (64.7%), against 55.3% of engineer-title postings.
Method and data
Population: the 71 postings with role_family = management among the 725 FDE-family postings from 121 employers counted on the salary, job titles, locations and travel pages. Snapshot pulled October 24, 2026 from public Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby and Workday boards. Recruiting agencies and duplicates removed.
Title type and wording: keyword match on the posting title. Title type is the first match in order: program manager; engagement manager, delivery partner manager, solutions manager or delivery & operations; head of, VP or director; every other management title counts as Manager, Senior Manager or Engineering Manager. US-located and remote-listed use the published locations-index definitions: a posting is US-located when every listed location is in the US, and remote-listed when any listed location contains Remote.
Travel: upper bound = largest number in the stated percentage string, the rule on the travel page. US pay: US-only location, USD range posted, first range on the posting. These 71 listings were live on the October 24, 2026 snapshot; counts are open postings on one day and do not measure headcount.
Downloads: FDE management JSON, field notes, and the per-posting postings JSON. All published datasets are listed on FDE Dispatch job-posting data. Built by scripts/build-management-aggregate.py.
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Related guides
- What is a Forward Deployed Engineer?
- How to become a Forward Deployed Engineer
- Entry-level Forward Deployed Engineer jobs
- The FDE interview loop, explained
- FDE interview loop field guide
- FDE interview practice questions
- Forward Deployed Engineer job titles
- Forward Deployed Engineer jobs by location
- Forward Deployed Engineer skills
- Forward Deployed Engineer resume
- Forward Deployed Engineer salary
- How much do forward deployed engineers travel?
- Deployment strategist vs forward deployed engineer
- Palantir Forward Deployed Engineer
- OpenAI Forward Deployed Engineer
- Databricks Forward Deployed Engineer
- Salesforce Forward Deployed Engineer
- Accenture Forward Deployed Engineer
- Forward Deployed Engineering manager
- How to hire a Forward Deployed Engineer
- How to evaluate a Forward Deployed Engineer training program
- FDE vs. solutions engineer
- Forward Deployed Engineer vs. software engineer
- FDE glossary: short definitions of Forward Deployed Engineer terms
- FDE Dispatch job-posting data
Questions people ask
What job titles do Forward Deployed Engineering managers have?
In the October 24, 2026 snapshot, 71 FDE-family postings carry a management or program title. By title text: 39 are Manager, Senior Manager or Engineering Manager titles at 16 employers (for example Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering), 11 are Director, Head or VP titles at 10 employers, 12 are engagement, delivery or solutions manager titles at 3 employers, and 9 are technical program manager titles at 3 employers. 35 titles name the team Forward Deployed Engineering, 24 use the abbreviation FDE, and 7 say Forward Deployed Engineer.
How much do Forward Deployed Engineering managers make?
27 US-located FDE management postings at 14 employers list a USD range. The median midpoint is $249,400, against $216,104 across 255 US engineer-title postings. Manager, Senior Manager and Engineering Manager titles post a median midpoint of $249,400 (13 postings) and Director, Head or VP titles $311,750 (6). The highest manager-title ranges are Anthropic at $320,000 to $405,000 and OpenAI at $302,000 to $385,000, both for Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering in New York. Posted ranges are not offers and exclude equity value.
Which companies hire Forward Deployed Engineering managers?
26 of the 121 employers with FDE-family postings post at least one management or program title. Databricks posts 25 and Accenture 12, together 37 of the 71. OpenAI posts 3, and Anthropic, Cohere, Cursor, NVIDIA, Parloa, PwC, Snorkel AI and Thomson Reuters post 2 each. 15 more employers post 1 each, including Adobe, Cloudflare, Datadog, Notion and Stripe.
Do Forward Deployed Engineering managers travel?
Travel is mentioned in 32 of the 71 management postings, and 22 state a percentage. The median stated upper bound is 50%, against 25% for engineer titles and 75% for deployment strategist titles. 7 of the 22 are Accenture postings that say 0 to 100%; leaving them out, the median of the other 15 is still 50%, and 8 of those 15 top out at 50%.
Are Forward Deployed Engineering manager roles remote?
18 of the 71 management postings (25.4%) list a remote location on the locations index, against 199 of 725 (27.4%) across the full snapshot. Databricks accounts for 13 of the 18. Across the other 25 employers, 5 of 46 management postings (10.9%) list remote: Cohere 2, Cisco 1, Cursor 1 and NVIDIA 1.
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