The hottest new AI job: Forward deployed engineers are in demand in Singapore

SINGAPORE – Singapore’s drive to put artificial intelligence to work is creating a surge in vacancies for forward deployed engineers – tech professionals who combine software skills with the ability to explain technology to clients to solve everyday problems.

Checks by The Straits Times on June 12 revealed at least 35 openings in Singapore for this new role on major job portals and corporate career pages. These job portals include MyCareersFuture, LinkedIn and Indeed, and the corporations include tech giants Google and Bytedance, telco Singtel, and AI start-ups Mistral AI and Cognition.

The openings add to the 200 forward deployed engineers that OpenAI, the American firm behind the popular ChatGPT, plans to hire or train in Singapore in the next few years. OpenAI announced its talent pipeline for the position in May, when it set up here its first Applied AI Lab outside the United States.

American cloud company Databricks, which already employs about 30 forward deployed engineers here, also told ST that it plans to add over 30 positions this year.

The surge in demand for forward deployed engineers is a phenomenon in the last two years as companies move out of AI experimentations to deploy the technology in real-world operational settings.

“Singapore is the regional headquarters for many banks, insurers, logistics companies, healthcare groups and public-sector-linked enterprises,” said Dr David Leong, chairman of manpower consultancy PeopleWorldwide Consulting.

“These organisations do not just want AI tools; they want AI tools embedded safely into workflows, compliance systems and customer operations.” Leong noted that traditional tech deployment models are too slow for the AI era. While the old structure separated business analysts, engineers and consultants, AI deployment requires a forward deployed engineer who can perform all three functions – akin to a “3-in-1 coffee pack”.

The role also commands a premium as finding candidates who possess both technical AI literacy and top-tier communication skills is challenging.

David Blasco, country director at Randstad Singapore, said that the recruitment agency saw over 400 active job listings for FDEs on local job portals in 2025, a jump from the 80 listings in 2024.

Blasco also said the annual pay for a mid-career forward deployed engineer is at least $120,000.

Comparatively, the starting annual salary for a traditional business analyst is $80,000, while a traditional software engineer draws at least $90,000, he said.

Databricks is among the most generous pay masters, offering a monthly pay of at least $20,700 for an advertised forward deployed engineer role on MyCareersFuture.

“We view our forward deployed engineers as a highly strategic role. They are not just maintaining systems; they are directly driving high priority business outcomes for our enterprise customers,” said Jason Martin, vice-president of the forward deployed engineering team at Databricks.

Singtel, on the other hand, is paying at least $5,000 a month for the position, according to its June 9 listing on MyCareersFuture. Singtel’s forward deployed engineers have so far developed automation tools for human resources and marketing for its own use. But the telco said it sees the opportunities to support its enterprise customers.

Forward deployed engineers typically embed themselves directly in banks, hospitals, ports or factories to build custom AI solutions. They first get a crash course to understand a client’s business, and technology, operational and compliance requirements.

Sharan Thangavel, 29, a forward deployed engineer at OpenAI now and previously at American AI firm Palantir, said: “You start almost like a student.” His advice for those interested in entering the space is to also develop practical street smarts. “Empathy and relationship-building help lay a stable foundation,” he said.

Google forward deployed engineer Yap Wei Yih, 43, said: “I work hand-in-hand with the customer’s internal engineering teams who know their business inside out.”

Yap Wei Yih has been a forward deployed engineer at Google Singapore for about two years.

PHOTO: GOOGLE SINGAPORE

Beyond coding, a major part of their job involves familiarising sceptical corporate teams with the new technology, which is typically applied for productivity gains, cost savings or revenue generation. Depending on complexity, projects can take from six weeks to six months.

Thangavel said what took him six weeks was a sports content platform with an AI-powered conversational interface for users to ask questions like “When’s the next football match” and receive tailored recommendations.

Yap has worked on safety guardrails for a commercial bank’s AI-powered financial products and AI customer service agents.

Sharan Thangavel, is a forward deployed engineer at OpenAI and was previously at American AI firm Palanti.

ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

Experts and recruiters believe that the role will become increasingly common as AI becomes more capable of carrying out more complex tasks and as more businesses use AI.

Google Cloud’s regional managing director for solutions and technology Mitesh Agarwal said: “Their expertise will increasingly focus on governing vast networks of interacting agents, ensuring these interconnected systems operate securely, efficiently and cohesively.”

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