Forward Deployed Engineering for Enterprise AI

Xebia’s approach to Forward Deployed Engineering puts a domain, delivery, and AI FDEs into one pod to take complex enterprise AI challenges from discovery through production to adoption.

Getting AI into production takes more than technical skill

Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) is an approach in which engineers work directly with business stakeholders to turn complex business problems into working solutions.

FDEs combine business context, enterprise delivery, and AI expertise, staying with the problem through production and outcomes.

At Xebia, these capabilities come together in specialized FDE pods.

Domain FDE Knows the business Delivery FDE Gets it to production AI FDE Makes it intelligent
Brings
  • Industry and functional depth
  • Business process and data understanding
  • Regulatory and risk context
  • Consulting and discovery skills
  • Software engineering and architecture
  • Cloud, integration and security
  • Quality, DevOps and platform practices
  • Experience in complex enterprise estates
  • AI/ML and generative AI
  • Agentic systems and data engineering
  • Model routing, agent orchestration, guardrails and evaluation
  • AI-assisted development practices
Owns
  • Framing the right problem
  • Defining what success looks like
  • Mapping domain workflows and data
  • Validating fit with how the business works
  • Measuring business impact
  • Solution architecture and engineering decisions
  • Integration with existing systems
  • Enterprise standards and non-functionals
  • Productionization and operational readiness
  • Handover and run
  • AI solution design
  • Rapid experimentation and prototyping
  • Model and agent selection and evaluation
  • Responsible AI practices
  • AI-accelerated engineering across the pod

All three FDEs share the same mindset

The pod arrives ready: roles, tools, and ways of working already set, owning discovery, build, deployment, and the business outcome together.

  • Customer orientation
  • Ownership of outcomes
  • Rapid iteration
  • Clear communication

AI delivery breaks down when the problem changes hands

With Xebia’s FDE pod model, the problem never changes hands. Every pod engagement starts with a defined problem and an agreed outcome measure. This isn’t generic staff augmentation.

  1. Phase 1

    Discover

    • Domain FDE leads

    They map the real problem, the stakeholders, the data, and the measure of success.

  2. Phase 2

    Design

    • All three FDEs

    They shape the solution approach, the AI opportunity, the integration path, and the risks.

  3. Phase 3

    Develop

    • AI and Delivery FDEs build
    • Domain FDE validates

    They build and harden the solution. The Domain FDE validates it against the business needs throughout the process.

  4. Phase 4

    Deploy

    • Delivery FDE leads

    They lead the solution into production and into your operating model.

  5. Phase 5

    Deliver

    • Domain FDE leads

    They measure impact against the agreed outcome and define what comes next.

Context doesn’t get lost in a handoff, because there isn’t one.

Instead of handing over work from strategy to engineering to deployment, the FDE team sticks with the problem throughout the delivery cycle.

Some AI challenges need more than a traditional delivery model

Xebia’s FDE pod model is designed for enterprise challenges in which the business problem, technology, and outcome must be solved together.

  1. Move an AI pilot toward production
  2. Build AI into an existing product or business process
  3. Solve complex problems where requirements are still ambiguous
  4. Integrate AI into existing enterprise systems and architecture
  5. Connect technical delivery to measurable business outcomes
  6. Scale and add more members or pods under one engagement lead

Why Xebia: Forward Deployed Engineering requires more than AI expertise

Those capabilities already exist within our practices. Forward Deployed Engineering brings them together around a defined customer problem and shared business outcome.

  • 25 years experience

    Xebia brings 25 years of engineering and enterprise delivery across industry domain consulting, software engineering, cloud, data and AI.

  • 200+ FDE professionals trained

    Professionals have moved through Xebia’s FDE capability journey.

  • Live FDE engagements

    Forward Deployed Engineers are putting these capabilities to work across client projects today.

  • Built from delivery experience

    FDE teams are formed from professionals with demonstrated expertise and experience working on real enterprise challenges.

  • Governance from day one

    Security, architecture and responsible AI are part of the build from day one. When the pod rolls off, your teams own the system.

  • Frontier AI & hyperscaler ecosystem

    Xebia has deep, longstanding partnerships with AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft, complemented by strategic partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic.

Our Partners

Xebia Academy

Accelerate your FDE capabilities

Develop Forward Deployed Engineering capabilities within your existing workforce through Xebia's FDE Training Program, featuring learning paths tailored to different experience levels.

Frequently Asked Questions 

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