At a glance

Hire a forward deployed engineer without a six month search

Hire a forward deployed engineer

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Free 30-min call. No pitch, no slides.

Your code. Your infrastructure. Production guardrails. Built around your workflow. One accountable engineering team.

How hiring a forward deployed engineer works

What it is

A forward deployed engineer works inside your team, close to your systems and your users, and ships production AI work rather than advice. The full description of the role is on our forward deployed engineers page. Here we cover the process of getting one.

You start with what needs to ship, not a job description. We match on the actual work: your stack, your data access, the seniority the problem needs and the timezone overlap you need. Most requests move from discovery to a shortlist within days, and placement takes two to four weeks from request to start.

The commercial model is simple. A single embedded engineer starts from $60,000/year, at the same nearshore rate as our engineer placement offer. Shorter or narrower work, such as one agent or one workflow, is scoped after a call. If the fit is wrong, the engineer is replaced at no extra cost inside the first 90 days.

Is this the right fit?

Fit check

Where this wins

Teams with a defined AI build and no one to own it

The use case is chosen. What is missing is a senior engineer who ships it and stays to maintain it.

Companies that tried freelancers and lost continuity

Full-time and embedded means the knowledge stays in the team.

Leadership that needs a reference implementation

One engineer proves the pattern in a live team, and other teams follow it.

Teams with a defined AI build and no one to own it The use case is chosen. What is missing is a senior engineer who ships it and stays to maintain it.
Companies that tried freelancers and lost continuity Full-time and embedded means the knowledge stays in the team.
Leadership that needs a reference implementation One engineer proves the pattern in a live team, and other teams follow it.

When NOT to use this

You cannot give the engineer access to systems and people. An embedded role without access produces slides, not software.
You need a whole department. Talk to us about a small team instead, see the hire AI developers page.
The problem is undefined. Start with an audit call or a strategy engagement, then hire.

The hiring process, step by step

How it works

Five steps, most of them fast, because the slow part of hiring is usually the search and not the decision.

Typical timeline

Two to four weeks from request to start

Stack we build with

TypeScript · Python · Claude · OpenAI · n8n · PostgreSQL · Your existing stack

// 01

Scope the work

Describe what needs to ship, the stack and the access the engineer will have.

// 02

Shortlist

We match on the work and share profiles you can interview.

// 03

Interview and select

You meet the candidates and pick. We flag risks we see honestly.

// 04

Onboard

Access, context and a first task agreed before day one.

// 05

Review at day 30

Check delivery against the brief and adjust scope. The 90-day replacement guarantee still applies.

01 Scope the work Day 1 to 3 Describe what needs to ship, the stack and the access the engineer will have. Deliverable One-page role brief
02 Shortlist Week 1 We match on the work and share profiles you can interview. Deliverable Shortlist with rationale
03 Interview and select Week 1 to 2 You meet the candidates and pick. We flag risks we see honestly. Deliverable Selected engineer
04 Onboard Week 2 to 4 Access, context and a first task agreed before day one. Deliverable Onboarding checklist
05 Review at day 30 Check delivery against the brief and adjust scope. The 90-day replacement guarantee still applies. Deliverable Day 30 review

Ready to scope the role?

Bring a rough description of the work. We tell you honestly whether an embedded engineer is the right fit and what the shortlist would look like.

What hired forward deployed engineers work on

Use cases

Customer Support Automation

Legal & Compliance Automation

Saved €10K in Fines

Marketing Operations Automation

Reference AI implementation

One engineer proves a rollout pattern inside a live team for others to follow.

Support and operations automation

An engineer runs support and ops automation full-time so the core team stays on product.

Backlog across maintenance, features and AI

One engineer covering everything on the founder's list.

What the first 30 days look like

First 30 days

A shipped first task and a clear backlog, not an orientation tour.

Access and context

Week 1

Repo, tools and people access, plus a walkthrough of the systems the work touches.

First small ship

Week 2

A narrow task delivered to production or staging, to test the working relationship early.

Backlog agreed

Week 3

The next piece of work ranked with you, with the trade-offs written down.

Review

Day 30

What shipped, what is blocked and whether the scope still matches the need.

Scope and exclusions

Scope

In scope

Role scoping against the work that needs to ship
Matching, shortlist and introductions
Onboarding support and first 30 day plan
Replacement at no extra cost in the first 90 days if the fit is wrong

Not in scope

Guaranteed delivery dates before the scope is known
Delivery of work outside the scope agreed in the role brief
Ongoing management of your engineer's daily tasks, which stays with you
Non-engineering roles

Placements we have made

Results

Achieved results only. Clients that have not agreed to be named are described instead.

Leadership was advised on the AI rollout approach, and one embedded engineer proved the pattern in a live team, which became the reference other teams followed.

A full-time embedded engineer was placed inside the team and has run GTM and internal automation work day to day since.

A full-time embedded engineer was placed inside the team, signed and running since July 2026.

How this is priced

Pricing

Priced per project and scoped after a short discovery call, not sold as a fixed package. Cost follows the number of systems, the access model and the security requirements.

Scoped build

Scoped after a discovery call

Most engagements start with one narrow, high-value piece so you see it running in production before anything expands.

Embedded engineer

From $60,000/year

A dedicated engineer building and maintaining the work inside your team, instead of a scoped project.

Start the hiring conversation

Next step

Book a free call. You get a role brief and a clear next step within the week.

Describe what needs to ship

A 30 minute call. Tell us the work, the stack and the timeline, and we tell you whether a forward deployed engineer fits.

In this call, we'll walk through your project scope, timeline, and goals - so we can both check if we're a fit. No obligation, no slide deck, just a working session.

Consultation

This call is for teams ready to move. If that's you, pick a time.

Hiring a forward deployed engineer

FAQ

Most requests reach a shortlist within days and start within two to four weeks. A typical in-house search for a comparable senior hire takes months.

A single embedded engineer starts from $60,000/year. Narrower engagements are scoped after a call. Use the FDE salary explorer and the AI team cost calculator to compare against a local hire.

We replace them at no extra cost inside the first 90 days. We also check in during onboarding so problems surface early.

What needs to ship, which systems it touches, who the engineer reports to and what access you can grant. A rough idea is enough, the call sharpens it.

Yes. That page explains the role and what it delivers. This one covers the hiring process, cost and first 30 days for someone who has already decided to hire.

Book a Call

Talk to an AI engineer

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Book a 30min Free Strategy Call

In this call, we?ll walk through your project scope, timeline, and goals?so we can both check if we?re a fit. No obligation, no slide deck, just a working session.

Don?t want a call? Email info@manasflow.com

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Before we build

At a glance questions

Practical answers about scope, delivery, ownership, and working with ManasFlow.

How long does it take to hire a forward deployed engineer through you?