Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) occupy an unusual position in software engineering.

They work close to customers, understand messy real world problems, build integrations, debug unfamiliar systems, and turn requirements into working software. Sometimes they need to do all of this before anyone has fully figured out what the problem actually is.

That makes hiring an FDE different from hiring a traditional software engineer.

A candidate might be excellent at solving algorithmic problems but struggle to investigate an unfamiliar codebase, communicate with a frustrated customer, or make sensible technical decisions under uncertainty.

So how should we evaluate someone for this role?

Let's break it down.

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