A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) is a customer-facing software engineer embedded directly inside a client's organization to build, customize, and implement technical products—particularly AI and data platforms—within real-world production environments.

Popularized by Palantir Technologies and experiencing a massive surge across modern AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, this role bridges the gap between core product development and client success.

I answer the question... What is an FDE for Salesforce?