Forward Deployed Engineer (Senior)
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 17, 2026. First seen by Alion on Aug 3, 2026. Scrums.com scores A on the Alion truth index.
The Role
We are looking for a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to lead customer-facing applied AI deployments through the Scrums.com talent network. You will work with business and technical leaders to identify high-value problems, design the solution, build the critical software and take it safely into production. You will use the Scrums.com AI agent harness to control context, tools, permissions, evaluations and model behaviour, and our Software Engineering Orchestration Platform to coordinate delivery across people, agents, infrastructure and software workflows.
What You Will Work On
- Lead technical discovery with customer stakeholders and convert ambiguous business problems into sequenced, measurable deployment plans.
- Design and build production applied AI systems, agent workflows, data pipelines, integrations and supporting services.
- Own the configuration of context, tools, permissions, evaluations, observability and guardrails in the Scrums.com AI agent harness.
- Orchestrate releases, telemetry, engineering work and operational handover through the Scrums.com Software Engineering Orchestration Platform.
- Make architecture decisions across models, retrieval, APIs, data stores, cloud services and customer systems.
- Establish evaluation suites and production metrics for quality, reliability, security, latency, adoption and cost.
- Diagnose complex production issues and lead incident response for the customer workflows you own.
- Mentor engineers, review code and raise the technical standard of the deployment team.
- Communicate trade-offs, progress and risk to both engineering teams and executive stakeholders.
What We Look For
- 6+ years of professional software engineering experience, including ownership of production systems.
- Advanced Python skills and strong experience with TypeScript, JavaScript or another production language.
- Hands-on experience delivering AI, machine learning, data-intensive or automation products into production.
- Strong systems design skills across APIs, SQL and NoSQL data stores, cloud infrastructure, security and observability.
- Practical knowledge of LLM application patterns such as retrieval-augmented generation, tool use, structured outputs, evaluations and agent orchestration.
- Experience leading technical discovery and working directly with senior customer stakeholders.
- Ability to operate independently in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and leave behind stable, maintainable systems.
Why Scrums.com
- Work on applied AI deployments tied to real customer operations, not isolated demonstrations.
- Use the Scrums.com AI agent harness to govern context, tools, permissions, evaluations and model behaviour in production.
- Deliver through a Software Engineering Orchestration Platform that connects engineers, AI agents, infrastructure and software workflows.
- Join a global expert network of 10,000+ engineers and work with customers across the UK, Europe, Africa and the United States.
- Take on long-term, high-trust engagements with support from Scrums.com talent, delivery and technical teams.
- Apply once and be considered for relevant customer deployments across the Scrums.com network, with no fees or subscription for engineers.
Working Model
This is a location-based remote role. You must be based in, or willing to relocate to, the named metro area. Most delivery is remote, with working hours aligned to the customer and occasional travel to customer or Scrums.com offices when a deployment requires it. You will collaborate primarily during UK, European and South African business hours.
Engineering in Cape Town
Cape Town is one of Africa's strongest product engineering hubs, with a dense community of software companies, startups and international delivery teams. Its timezone overlap with Europe makes it a natural base for engineers deploying applied AI with UK, European and African clients.
Application Process
Apply through Scrums.com with your CV or engineering profile. Shortlisted candidates will complete an initial talent review, a practical technical assessment and role-specific interviews. For customer engagements, a final customer conversation may be required before matching and onboarding.
AI Interviewing
Scrums.com may use AI-assisted tools to help organise application information and support an efficient recruitment process. Hiring decisions include human review. Candidates may use AI tools for preparation, but submitted work must accurately represent their own skills, experience and judgement.
Equal Opportunity
Scrums.com is an equal opportunity employer and talent network. We consider qualified applicants without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other status protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodation is available during the application and interview process.