Hire forward deployed engineers from India
A forward deployed engineer (FDE) works on the customer's side of your product: inside their systems, data and workflows, turning a pilot into something that runs. HookStep puts forward India-based engineers for FDE roles, matched to your brief, and you interview them yourself.
What a forward deployed engineer does
The role started at enterprise software companies that placed engineers inside customer teams to deploy a platform against real data. It is now common at AI companies, where most of the work in a new account is integration: connecting a model or an agent to the customer's documents, APIs and permissions, and showing that it works on the customer's own cases.
- Integrations in the customer's environment: APIs, data pipelines, single sign-on and permissions.
- Building the first workflows or agents for an account, usually in Python or TypeScript on hosted LLMs.
- Evaluation: test sets built from the customer's own cases, so both sides can see whether the answers are right.
- Workshops, demos and working sessions with the customer's technical team.
- Taking what they learn back to your product team.
How we match FDE roles
We match on the work rather than the title: customer integrations, solutions engineering, or deploying AI features for real users. Tell us which of those matters most for your accounts, and we match against that.
What to put in the brief
FDE roles differ in how much of the week is with customers and how much is building. Tell us that split, your customers' industries and time zones, whether travel to customer sites is part of the job, and which parts of your stack the engineer must know on day one. For an AI product, name the models and frameworks you deploy and how you check answer quality today.
Because the engineer represents you to customers, communication matters as much as code. If you want a written or live customer exercise in the interview, say so and we will tell candidates up front.
What happens after you share a role
- You send the brief: stack, seniority, time zone overlap, budget and engagement type.
- We match it against engineers we already know and source for the gaps, instead of pretending someone is on the bench.
- You receive profiles against that specific requirement, with contact details masked until you shortlist.
- You interview the shortlist yourself. Nobody starts until you have said yes.
How you can engage
- Contract: the engineer works on your team for a fixed term, billed hourly or monthly against the rate agreed for that role.
- Contract-to-hire: start on contract and convert to a permanent hire once both sides are sure.
- Permanent placement in India: we source and shortlist, you employ the engineer directly.
- Remote from India, or on-site at your office in India.
Frequently asked questions
What is a forward deployed engineer?
An engineer who works with your customers to deploy your product in their environment: integrating it with their systems and data, building the first workflows, and reporting what they learn to your product team. The role mixes software engineering with customer-facing work.
How is an FDE different from a solutions engineer?
A solutions engineer usually works before the sale, on demos and technical questions. An FDE usually works after it, building and running the deployment. Many teams blend the two, so say in the brief which one you mean.
Can an India-based FDE work with US or European customers?
Yes, if the overlap hours are agreed. Put your customers' time zones and any travel in the brief, and we only put forward people who can commit to them.
How is pricing set?
Engineer rates are quoted per role, against the seniority, stack and engagement type in your brief. There is no fixed monthly rate card for engineers, so share the role and the budget you have in mind and we will tell you plainly whether we can fill it.
Do I interview the engineers myself?
Yes. You get profiles for your specific requirement, you run your own interviews, and nobody starts until you approve them.
Can the engineer work in my time zone?
Most of our engineers are in India (IST, UTC+5:30). For US or European teams we agree the required overlap hours in the brief and only put forward people who can commit to them.
Related
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