Forward Deployed Engineer

About this job

As a Forward Deployed Engineer at Databricks in India, you will help customers build and productionize solutions to their data and AI challenges using the company platform. Your normal day involves working hands-on in a customer-facing capacity, owning architecture, leading design decisions, and implementing end-to-end systems that span data engineering, AI, and application development. You will collaborate cross-currently with product, engineering, and developer relations teams to shape strategic initiatives. Databricks provides a unified Data and AI platform utilized by thousands of organizations worldwide to scale data and AI applications, analytics, and agents. In this role, you will integrate with client systems, deliver production-grade systems, provide technical training, and ensure clients successfully adopt and extract maximum value from their data architectures.

Responsibilities

• Deliver production-grade customer technical projects by building reference architectures and custom applications.
• Guide strategic customers through the design and deployment of big data and AI applications.
• Help customers understand and adopt Databricks by implementing project bootstraps and offering architectural advice.
• Take ownership of architecture and design decisions to ensure scalable, secure solutions.
• Coordinate with technical teams, project managers, and customers to meet delivery requirements.
• Collaborate with internal engineering and support to resolve engagement-specific issues and provide product feedback.
• Embed with customer teams ranging from technical individual contributors to executives.
• Create reusable accelerators, frameworks, and best practices to scale account impact and guide product roadmaps.

Requirements

• 6+ years of experience in data engineering, software engineering, or data platforms and analytics.
• Proficiency in writing code using Python, Scala, JavaScript/TypeScript, and modern frameworks.
• Working knowledge of at least two major cloud ecosystems with deep expertise in one.
• Extensive experience with distributed computing using Apache Spark and its runtime internals.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices for production deployments.
• Working knowledge of MLOps, AI APIs, and ML/AI models.
• Experience in technical project delivery, managing scope, timelines, and translating concepts into solutions.
• Ability to travel to customer locations up to 20 percent of the time.

Good to have

• Documentation and white-boarding skills
• Experience working with enterprise clients and managing stakeholder conflicts
• Databricks Certification

Who should apply

This role suits experienced technical builders with a strong background in software or data engineering who thrive at the intersection of business and technology. Ideal candidates bring extensive experience working with enterprise clients, deep cloud and distributed computing knowledge, and exceptional customer empathy. Freshers should not apply, as the position specifically mandates six or more years of relevant professional experience.

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