Forward deployed engineers
Forward deployed engineers who put your first AI agent in production in 6 weeks
A forward deployed engineer (FDE) writes production code inside your own systems and owns a business result, not a timesheet. HabileLabs FDEs hold current AWS, Microsoft or Salesforce certifications and work in your AWS account, Azure tenant or Salesforce org.
Every engagement starts with an exit plan, so your team can run what we build.
- First AI agent in production in six weeks
- Exit plan written in the first week
- You own the code, prompts, evals and data
One team, three platforms
Forward deployed engineers on AWS, Microsoft Azure and Salesforce
Vendor FDE teams usually work on their own platform only. Ours work across the three your business is most likely to run.
On AWS
AI agents and assistants on Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, connected to your data, APIs and AWS accounts.
AWS AI servicesOn Microsoft Azure
Agents in Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio, connected to Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and your Azure data.
Azure AI servicesOn Salesforce
Agentforce agents grounded in your CRM data, flows and service processes, deployed in your own org.
Agentforce services
Not staff augmentation
What makes an engineer forward deployed
Staff augmentation adds capacity to your backlog. A forward deployed engineer ships one agreed business result into production and leaves you able to run it.
Staff augmentation
- Extra hands on your existing backlog
- Billed for time
- You direct the work day to day
- Knowledge can leave with the engineer
Same skills, different job
Forward deployed engineer
- Production code in your own systems
- Owns an agreed business result
- Brings the AI and platform know-how
- Leaves runbooks, evals and an exit plan
Need extra engineers for your own roadmap instead? See IT staff augmentation.
How an engagement runs
From one use case to a running agent
Three stages. You can stop after any of them.
01
Use-case sprint
Two weeks. We measure today's baseline, get access to the data and systems, write the evaluation plan and agree go or no-go with you.
02
First agent in production
Six weeks. One agent or workflow built in your environment, tested with evals and guardrails, monitored, and run by two of your people we have trained.
03
Embedded engineers
Monthly. Forward deployed engineers stay on your AI roadmap, with a monthly outcome review and handover milestones every quarter.
You pay the final milestone of the first agent when it is live. After a first success, part of the fee can be tied to the KPI we agreed.
Your exit plan, on paper
Built to be handed over
Lock-in is the most common worry about outside AI engineers, so every HabileLabs FDE engagement is written to avoid it.
You own the code, prompts, evaluation sets and data from day one
A runbook and an evaluation report for every agent we ship
At least two of your people trained to run and change it
A written exit plan agreed in the first week
Credentials
Engineers certified across AWS, Microsoft and Salesforce
- 50+AWS certifications
- 3Azure partner designations
- 40+Salesforce certifications
Forward deployed engineer FAQs
Forward deployed engineers: common questions
What teams ask before bringing in FDEs.
A forward deployed engineer (FDE) is a software engineer who works inside a customer's own systems, writes production code and owns a business result. The role started at Palantir and is now how AI companies and cloud providers move AI agents from pilot into production.
Staff augmentation adds engineers to your backlog and bills for their time. An FDE ships an agreed result, such as one AI agent in production, and leaves documentation, evals and an exit plan behind.
No. They are HabileLabs engineers who hold AWS, Microsoft or Salesforce certifications. HabileLabs is an independent partner: an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner, a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Azure and a Salesforce consulting partner.
One agent or workflow for one agreed use case, such as triaging support tickets, drafting quotes from CRM data or answering questions over your documents, tested, monitored and running in production.
You do: the code, prompts, evaluation sets and data, written into the contract from the start.
Our engineers work from India and keep at least four hours a day of overlap with your working day. Onsite discovery weeks are available.
Each stage has a fixed scope and price agreed before it starts. You pay the final milestone of the first agent when it is live, and after a first success part of the fee can be tied to the KPI.