Senior Engineering Manager - Forward Deployed Engineering
First seen by Alion on Oct 22, 2026.
About The Role :
We are seeking a Hands-on Senior Engineering Manager to lead our Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) function. This role sits at the intersection of AI architecture, customer solution delivery, and technical execution. We are looking for a deeply technical leader who can switch seamlessly between executive client meetings, system architecture design, code reviews, and production debugging.
Key Responsibilities :
Technical Leadership & Delivery :
- Lead and mentor a high-performing engineering team building custom AI workflows, voice AI systems, and automated agents for enterprise clients.
Customer Solution Architecture :
- Engage directly with customer CTOs and engineering leaders to translate complex business workflows into scalable, production-grade AI solution designs.
Hands-on System Engineering :
- Conduct architecture reviews, inspect code, lead production debugging, and prototype solutions when necessary.
Execution & Operational Excellence :
- Oversee multiple simultaneous enterprise deployments, manage delivery risks, optimize CI/CD/MLOps pipelines, and ensure high system reliability.
- Manage and mentor a team of Forward Deployed Engineers.
- Establish a high-performance engineering culture.
- Drive execution across multiple customer deployments.
- Help engineers navigate ambiguity and technical complexity.
- Participate in hiring and team building.
- Create an environment of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement.
Own Customer Success Through Engineering :
- Work directly with enterprise customers to identify automation opportunities, translate requirements into technical solutions, design AI-powered workflows, and lead customer deployments from design to production.
Requirements & Qualifications :
- Experience : 8+ years of core software engineering experience with 2+ years leading engineering teams or complex projects.
- Hands-on Technical Depth : Proven track record in designing, building, and debugging scalable, distributed production systems.
- AI & Automation Domain Expertise : Background in AI Agents, LLM Applications, Voice/Conversational AI, MLOps, Knowledge Retrieval (RAG), or Enterprise Workflow Automation.
- Enterprise Client Facing : Experience working directly with enterprise clients, solutions engineering, or forward-deployed technology setups.
- Communication : Exceptional ability to explain technical trade-offs to business executives and lead technical alignment with engineers.
Skills
Engineering Management, Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, LLM, Conversational AI, Agentic AI, MLOps, Solution Architect, AI Integration, Forward Deployment Engineering