Applied AI
Mid-market companies do not fail at AI because they picked the wrong model. They fail in the gap between a plan and production. Forward deployed engineering exists to close that gap.
August 17, 2026 · 5 min read
Three client-facing technical roles, three completely different accountabilities. Hiring the wrong one is the most common and most expensive staffing mistake in AI delivery.
A forward deployed engineer is an engineer who works inside the customer's environment instead of behind a roadmap. In AI work the model is rarely the hard part, so the person closest to the messy reality is the one who makes it pay off.
August 17, 2026 · 6 min read
