AI Forward Deployed Engineer

Summary

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at Avanade, you will embed directly with clients to understand their business, processes and priorities, uncover high-value opportunities for AI, and rapidly turn ideas into working solutions. You will combine business acumen, deep technical expertise and a pragmatic consulting approach to help clients move from ambition to measurable outcomes at speed.

This is a hands-on, client-facing role at the intersection of AI strategy, solution architecture and engineering. You will lead discovery, create and prioritise AI opportunity backlogs, establish the governance and structures needed to support responsible adoption, educate client teams, and architect, build and demonstrate production-minded prototypes using the latest Microsoft technologies.

Role Responsibilities

Client Discovery and Opportunity Shaping

• Embed with client teams to understand their organisation, business processes, technology landscape and strategic priorities.
• Lead discovery, ideation and design workshops with business and technology stakeholders.
• Identify and assess opportunities where AI, agents and automation can deliver meaningful business value.
• Translate ambiguous business challenges into clear use cases, solution hypotheses and actionable technical requirements.
• Create, structure and prioritise AI opportunity backlogs, balancing value, feasibility, risk and time to impact.
• Develop pragmatic roadmaps, estimates and recommendations that help clients move from experimentation into scaled delivery.

High-Velocity Solution Engineering

• Architect, build and rapidly iterate AI agents, prototypes and proofs of value using Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Copilot Studio and Power Platform.
• Own solutions from initial concept through technical design, build, demonstration, evaluation and transition into production delivery.
• Apply high-velocity engineering approaches to test assumptions quickly, learn from users and evidence value early.
• Integrate AI solutions with enterprise systems, data sources, APIs and workflows using Microsoft and Azure services.
• Apply strong engineering practices across source control, testing, evaluation, deployment, monitoring, security and operational readiness.
• Ensure solutions are scalable, maintainable and aligned with enterprise architecture, security, responsible AI and governance requirements.

Client Enablement, Governance and Adoption

• Help clients establish practical AI governance, delivery structures and ways of working that support responsible experimentation and scale.
• Educate client stakeholders and delivery teams on agentic AI capabilities, limitations, patterns and good engineering practices.
• Facilitate solution demonstrations and playback sessions, using feedback to refine priorities and accelerate adoption.
• Coach client teams so that knowledge and capability are transferred throughout the engagement.
• Build trusted relationships across business and technology teams, communicating technical concepts, trade-offs and value in clear language.

Avanade Capability and Growth

• Support pre-sales activities through discovery, solution shaping, estimation, demonstrations and proof-of-concept development.
• Contribute reusable assets, patterns, accelerators and lessons learned to Avanade's Data & AI communities.
• Stay current with Microsoft's AI roadmap and emerging engineering approaches, translating developments into practical client applications.
• Collaborate with architects, engineers, industry specialists and alliance teams to bring the best of Avanade and Microsoft to clients.
• Mentor colleagues and promote a culture of curiosity, pace, quality and accountable delivery.

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Required Skills and Experience

• Hands-on experience architecting and delivering AI-powered solutions using Azure AI Foundry and Azure OpenAI.
• Strong experience building agents and conversational or workflow-based solutions using Microsoft Copilot Studio.
• Experience with Microsoft Power Platform, including integration and automation capabilities relevant to enterprise AI solutions.
• Proven ability to understand business processes, identify opportunities and turn loosely defined problems into working technical solutions.
• Strong software engineering and rapid prototyping capability, with the confidence to architect and build solutions independently.
• Experience leading client workshops, technical discovery sessions, demonstrations and stakeholder playbacks.
• Ability to create and prioritise use-case backlogs, develop estimates and shape pragmatic delivery roadmaps.
• Understanding of agentic AI concepts, LLM solution patterns, prompt engineering, evaluation, grounding and responsible AI controls.
• Experience integrating solutions with enterprise systems, data sources, APIs and workflows.
• Strong client-facing communication skills, with the ability to work across business and technical audiences.
• A self-starting, adaptable and commercially aware mindset, comfortable operating at pace in ambiguous environments.
• Experience working in consulting, professional services, customer engineering or a similarly client-facing technology role.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience with Microsoft Fabric and modern data platform capabilities.
• Experience with Databricks and data engineering or AI workloads.
• Experience with Azure services commonly used in AI solutions, such as Functions, Logic Apps, API Management, AI Search and application hosting services.
• Knowledge of cloud-native engineering, APIs, CI/CD, observability and production support practices.
• Experience establishing AI governance, operating models, delivery structures or Centres of Excellence.
• Experience creating reusable frameworks, accelerators and solution patterns.
• Microsoft Frontier Transformation Engineer (FTE) badge or equivalent recognised credential.
• Completion of Microsoft High Velocity Engineering training or equivalent experience applying high-velocity engineering practices.
• Microsoft certifications in AI, Azure or Power Platform are desirable.

Enjoy your career

• Some of the best things about working at Avanade:
• Opportunity to work for Microsoft's Global Alliance Partner of the Year (20 times)
• A minimum of 80 hours per year dedicated to learning, certifications, and professional development
• Access to global Data & AI communities, accelerators, and subject matter experts
• The chance to work on complex, high-impact initiatives across AI, data platforms, analytics and automation
• Clear and supported career progression across Consultant, Associate Manager and Manager levels

A great place to work

At Avanade, you will gain distinctive experiences, limitless learning, and ambitious growth in return for your skills and ideas. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone feels a strong sense of belonging and is empowered to do their best work

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