Staff Forward Deployed Engineer

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Staff Forward Deployed Engineer based in India. As a Staff Forward Deployed Engineer, you will partner directly with customers to solve complex data, AI, and cloud challenges using modern big data technologies. You will act as a trusted technical advisor, helping organizations design, build, and deploy production-ready solutions across diverse cloud environments. The role combines deep engineering expertise with customer-facing architecture and consulting responsibilities. You will create scalable automation, reference architectures, and reusable technical solutions that can benefit multiple customers. You will also contribute to AI-focused implementations, including RAG, MCP, and context engineering, with appropriate security and governance guardrails. Working across engineering, support, and customer teams, you will help turn challenging business requirements into durable technical products and successful outcomes. Accountabilities - Lead complex customer engagements involving data engineering, data science, cloud platforms, and AI applications from architecture through production deployment. - Design reference architectures, technical solutions, how-to guides, and production-ready tools that are robust, scalable, and reusable across customer environments. - Advise strategic customers on transformational data initiatives, including migrations, platform adoption, and end-to-end design, development, and deployment. - Provide hands-on expertise in big data architecture, cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and AI implementation patterns. - Develop automation utilities and technical assets that can be adopted across multiple customers and use cases. - Apply AI-focused problem-solving approaches, including RAG, MCP, and context engineering, while incorporating appropriate security, governance, and operational guardrails.

- Manage multiple customer projects simultaneously, maintaining architectural quality, delivery standards, timelines, and risk mitigation. - Partner with engineering and customer support teams to resolve engagement-specific challenges, communicate customer feedback, and contribute to continuous product improvements. - Build strong relationships with technical and business stakeholders, translating complex requirements into practical and sustainable technical solutions. - Create technical documentation and lead whiteboarding and architecture discussions to communicate solutions clearly. Requirements - 15+ years of experience working with big data technologies such as Apache Spark, Kafka, cloud-native technologies, and data lakes, ideally in customer-facing post-sales, technical architecture, or consulting roles. - At least 6 years of experience independently designing and delivering big data architectures. - At least 2 years of experience implementing AI-based solutions, including areas such as RAG, MCP, and context engineering. - Strong experience with modern data and AI platform ecosystems and hands-on experience delivering customer solutions. - Proficiency in Python or Scala, with the ability to develop and adapt technical solutions as required. - Experience working across major cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure, and/or GCP. - Strong understanding of data engineering, distributed systems, cloud architecture, AI application patterns, and production deployment considerations. - Excellent problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, with the ability to translate business challenges into reliable technical products. - Strong technical documentation, presentation, and whiteboarding capabilities. - Excellent stakeholder-management and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with both technical specialists and domain experts.