Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer - National Security

Role Overview

As a Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) at Databricks Federal, LLC, you will work with federal government customers to build and productionize solutions to their data and AI challenges using the Databricks platform. You will own the architecture, lead design decisions, and implement end-to-end systems spanning data engineering, AI, and application development. FDEs work cross-functionally alongside engineering, product, and developer relations to shape strategic priorities.

*Note: This role is hybrid and requires 20–25% travel to customer locations. U.S. citizenship and eligibility for a U.S. government Secret clearance are required.*

Impact & Responsibilities

• Production Solution Delivery: Lead technical customer projects by delivering production-grade systems, designing reference architectures, building custom applications, and integrating data ingestion and ML/AI models.
• Transformational Impact: Guide strategic federal customers through end-to-end big data and AI implementation, working with engagement managers to scope technical delivery.
• Empower Customers: Guide customers on architecture and design to ensure successful understanding, evaluation, and adoption of Databricks.
• Own the Architecture: Lead architectural decisions to guarantee secure, scalable solutions aligned with customer needs and Databricks best practices.
• Technical Delivery: Partner with Databricks technical teams, project managers, and customer stakeholders to deliver on technical requirements.
• Cross-Collaboration: Provide product and implementation feedback to engineering and support teams to drive rapid resolution of issues.
• Customer Immersion: Embed directly with customer teams, engaging technical contributors and executives to solve complex mission challenges.
• Reusable Assets: Contribute reusable accelerators, frameworks, and best practices that scale impact and shape the Databricks product roadmap.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in data engineering, data platforms and analytics, or software engineering
• Fluency in writing code in Python, Scala, JavaScript/TypeScript, and modern frameworks
• Working knowledge of two or more common cloud ecosystems (AWS, Azure, GCP) with deep expertise in at least one
• Deep experience with distributed computing with Apache Spark and knowledge of Spark runtime internals
• Familiarity with CI/CD for production deployments
• Working knowledge of MLOps, ML/AI models, and AI APIs
• Experience designing and deploying performant production end-to-end data architectures combining data pipelines, ML/AI models, and user-facing interfaces
• Experience with technical project delivery, technical documentation, white-boarding, and managing stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced expertise in MLOps, ML/AI models, and AI APIs
• Databricks Certification
• Active Secret or higher U.S. security clearance