Lead Forward Deployed Engineer

About JetBrains: JetBrains is a premier, internationally recognized software engineering pioneer, developer tools innovator, and digital productivity leader on an absolute mission to make development teams more productive and bring true joy to software creation. For over two decades, JetBrains has manufactured state-of-the-art IDEs and team collaboration environments relied upon by more than 15 million professional programmers and over 300,000 companies globally—including an elite footprint encompassing 420 of the Fortune 500. Driven by an uncompromised commitment to craft, JetBrains is now architecting the future of software construction through JetBrains Central: our pioneering platform for agent-driven software development that connects developer tools, autonomous runtime environments, and shared semantic metadata layers securely and confidently at immense enterprise scale.

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly sophisticated, systems-minded Lead Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to join our core global Professional Services department in a full-time remote capacity within the United States. Functioning as a trusted advisor to elite customer engineering teams and consulting partners, this senior placement blends high-level technical consulting and platform architecture with deep, hands-on production systems engineering. You will claim absolute individual accountability for leading our most complex deployments of JetBrains Central, helping early adopters safely migrate from ad-hoc AI experimentation to governed, scalable, and highly optimized AI-native development workflows. This role demands a seasoned technology leader (such as a former Principal/Staff Engineer, Head of Engineering, or Solutions Architect) who possesses top-tier problem-solving skills, thrives within fast-evolving environments, and desires to actively build a new technical discipline from the ground up.

Key Responsibilities

• Enterprise Platform Architecture: Architect, install, and manage complex deployments of JetBrains Central natively into enterprise developer environments, distributed CI/CD pipelines, and internal developer platforms (IDPs).
• AI Governance Infrastructure Curation: Assist multi-tier corporate organizations to establish robust AI governance models, translating compliance guidelines into precise security policies, access management nodes, and data privacy controls.
• FDE Squad Mentorship: Act as the primary technical anchor for the Professional Services division, mentoring, supporting, and scaling deployment best practices for other Forward Deployed Engineers.
• Python and Java Systems Optimization: Read, debug, extend, and refactor complex customer code configurations and distributed backend services natively using Python or Java within production runtime environments.
• Observability Telemetry Integration: Configure advanced telemetry frameworks and logging registries to enable full observability into AI-driven code-generation patterns, helping clients track processing speed, cost attribution, and productivity impacts.
• Cloud Agent Execution Provisioning: Integrate and tune our cloud-based agent execution layers, guaranteeing that autonomous developer agents run securely and at scale across federated environments.
• Product Engineering Feedback Loops: Partner closely with core JetBrains product and development squads, shaping the long-term platform roadmap based on real-world customer friction points and field feedback.
• Delivery Framework Standardization: Author comprehensive delivery frameworks, technical solution blueprints, and scoping documentation to train external JetBrains consulting partners for reliable services execution.
• Domestic Customer Consultation: Travel up to 20% domestically to client sites across North America to lead architectural alignment workshops and unblock critical technical deployment hurdles.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 10+ years of verified professional history running native production software systems engineering, distributed platform development, backend microservices architecture, or cloud infrastructure orchestration.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in a customer-facing technical leadership capacity (such as a Solutions Architect, Forward Deployed Engineer, Principal Consultant, or equivalent).
• Expert-tier development and debugging capabilities writing scalable object-oriented code natively using Python or Java.
• Demonstrated experience navigating complex enterprise architecture reviews, security protocol assessments, and procurement technical vetting cycles.
• Deep operational familiarity with modern enterprise development workflows, covering containerized continuous integration (CI/CD) pipelines, developer tools, and internal developer platforms (IDPs).
• Outstanding verbal and written communication mechanics, with an absolute capability to converse as smoothly with low-level systems engineers as with C-suite technical executives.
• Location Context: Full-time remote parameters open exclusively to qualified technical leads based permanently anywhere within the United States, with complete readiness to support up to 20% domestic travel requirements.

Preferred Strategic Indicators (Nice to Have)

• Direct production history orchestrating Multi-Modal Large Language Models (LLMs), automated evaluation setups, prompt tuning at scale, or autonomous agent frameworks like LangGraph, AutoGen, or CrewAI.
• Prior experience deploying enterprise technology platforms into tightly regulated environments governed by SOC 2, FedRAMP, HIPAA, or adjacent data data compliance standards.
• Industry-specific technical exposure delivering software solutions tailored to specialized verticals such as FinTech, Telco, Retail, or Healthcare infrastructures.
• Existing familiarity or expert knowledge of the core JetBrains developer tools ecosystem and digital workspace applications.

What We Offer

• High-Value Salaried Compensation: An attractive, competitive annual base salary range calibrated transparently between $204,000 – $306,000 USD, supplemented by eligibility for an annual company performance bonus.
• The exceptional professional canvas to directly direct, code-shape, and deploy the agent-driven platform architectures redefining the global software development lifecycle.
• Profound work-from-home remote parameters offering total lifestyle flexibility, high execution trust, and comprehensive corporate travel coverage for customer on-sites.
• Immediate eligibility to access premium group medical, dental, and vision insurance benefit options alongside flexible spending accounts (FSA).
• Robust retirement planning security via company-supported 401(k) plans with structured matching tracks.
• Generous paid time off (PTO) allocations combined with comprehensive parental leave allowances to ensure a healthy work-life balance.
• Dedicated corporate allocations for continuous learning and development, tech training platforms, and professional growth certifications.