Technology professionals top every list of jobs threatened by AI, but, ironically, these are the people needed to conceive, build, and run the AI systems the business wants.

The information technology unemployment rate is still higher than the average for all other jobs – 5.1%versus 4.2% . AI may be quashing some tech opportunities, especially at the entry level, but we still need skilled people Emphasis on what the business wants, not just to implement the latest and coolest technologies.

Accordingly, forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) are seen as the hot new role with a strong future in an AI world. Some industry observers see potential in FDEs, others in more broadly specialized AI engineers. Either way, the role that matters most is the one that can move the business and its users forward.

AWS threw its weight behind the idea of FDEs helping to lead the AI charge, announcing a dedicated forward deployed engineering organization backed by a $1 billion investment intended to embed thousands of engineers into customer environments. The idea is to bring AI closer to the ground and actually deliver for customers.

AI is shifting “from model experimentation to real-world adoption. ”FDE sits right at that fault line,” said Faruk Muratovic , US AI and engineering strategy and services leader at Deloitte. “FDEs help transform AI from concept to reality by serving as strategic collaborators who quickly identify the right solutions and turn them into effective operations.”

Their advantage is “combining deep technical expertise with direct embedding in client teams,” said Muratovic. “The need to bridge business, technology, and governance will remain constant. The ability to translate across these disciplines as an FDE is, and will continue to be, in demand.”

Will resources and billions of dollars may be rolling toward FDE development, top industry thinker and doer Andrew Ng recently created quite a stir a recent post when he declared that FDEs have a more limited scope than AI engineers.

"The AI engineer path offers more long-term optionality for most professionals," said Greg Fuller , vice president of Skillsoft Codecademy Enterprise. “Forward deployed engineers do valuable work, sitting inside a client's environment and solving real problems with real constraints. That builds strong business acumen and communication skills. But it also ties your growth to one vendor's ecosystem and a narrower set of use cases. If that vendor's market position shifts, so does yours.”

Across the AI and business realm, debate has erupted as to which roles better serve businesses seeking to advance with AI. Perhaps both roles are essential to AI success. “The debate between forward-deployed engineers and AI engineers isn’t an either-or question,” said Kartik Khosa , a software engineer at Microsoft who works on the company’s core AI team. “Both roles are valuable, but forward deployed engineering is becoming increasingly important as AI capabilities become more accessible.”

While many assume the hard part is building the AI system itself, “increasingly, the bigger challenge is understanding the customer’s workflow, identifying the real pain points, and adapting AI solutions to fit specific business needs,” Khosa, continued. “Success isn't about creating a single AI agent. It's about building a platform that can be customized for different teams, technology stacks, and requirements. That requires extensive collaboration, feedback gathering, and problem discovery.”

FDEs help organizations “translate AI capabilities into measurable business value,” said Khosa. “As AI models become more commoditized, the ability to determine what should be built and how it should be integrated into a customer’s environment becomes a major differentiator. AI engineers will continue to develop the underlying systems, while forward deployed engineers will play a critical role in driving adoption, implementation, and customer success."

Both roles look beyond technical skills. “The professionals who advance fastest are the ones who can validate AI outputs, not just generate them, and who bring critical thinking and business context to the table,” said Fuller. “Too many professionals are building on a surface-level understanding of AI that looks productive but breaks under pressure.”