Software Engineer - Forward Deployed Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 6, 2026. First seen by Alion on Sep 21, 2026. Microsoft scores B on the Alion truth index.
We're entering a new era defined by the power of AI to transform how organizations operate and innovate. At Microsoft, we're building the next generation of AI-powered platforms and production-grade solutions that help customers solve complex challenges and create meaningful business impact.
As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you'll work at the intersection of advanced technology and real-world customer outcomes. Embedded directly with customers, you'll partner closely with stakeholders to understand their most critical challenges and rapidly design, build, and deploy solutions that move from concept to production.
Working in small, cross-functional teams alongside engineers, data scientists, product managers, and domain experts, you'll own the end-to-end delivery of AI-powered production-grade applications, data solutions, and software systems. You'll apply modern engineering practices and the AI-enabled engineering practices across the development lifecycle to help customers accelerate decision making, improve operations, and unlock new opportunities.
Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees, we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.
Responsibilities
- Partner directly with customers and stakeholders to understand business challenges, define success criteria, and translate needs into technical solutions.
- Design, build, test, deploy, and operate secure, reliable, and scalable production-grade software systems and services that apply AI and data capabilities where appropriate.
- Rapidly move from concept to prototype to production, iterating alongside customers to deliver measurable business outcomes.
- Build production-quality software that connects customer systems, data, and AI capabilities into reliable end-to-end solutions.
- Apply engineering best practices including code reviews, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, documentation, and security-first development.
- Drive end-to-end ownership of customer solutions, monitoring performance, reliability, quality, and maintainability, and continuously improving deployed systems after release.
- Collaborate across engineering, data science, product management, design, and customer teams to solve complex technical problems.
- Contribute reusable components, reference implementations, and best practices that can be leveraged across customer engagements.
- Share insights and learnings from customer deployments to help improve Microsoft products, platforms, and engineering practices.
- Foster a culture of learning, inclusion, innovation, and continuous improvement while contributing to the growth of the broader FDE community.
- Embody our culture and values.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
- OR equivalent experience.
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor's Degree (or currently pursuing) in Computer Science or related technical field AND 1+ year(s) technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR Master's Degree (or currently pursuing) in Computer Science or related technical field with proven experience coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
- Experience through coursework, projects, internships, or employment building software, data, cloud, or AI-enabled solutions.
- Interest in working directly with customers and supporting solutions from early concept through deployment and ongoing improvement.
- Familiarity with AI or machine learning concepts, cloud platforms, data pipelines, application development, or deploying technical solutions.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate with technical and non-technical stakeholders, learn in ambiguous environments, and communicate clearly.
Software Engineering IC2 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $85,400 - $168,100 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $111,100 - $183,700 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.