Forward Deployed AI Engineer

Cloudera is looking for a seasoned hands-on AI engineer who can embed with customers, shape technical direction, and ship elegant, scalable, enterprise-quality AI applications. As a Forward Deployed AI Engineer you will:

• Build & Prototype AI Apps - Develop full-stack AI applications on Cloudera to demonstrate how AI and agentic systems solve real enterprise use cases
• Partner with Strategic Customers - Work directly with customer teams to drive AI and agentic use cases from early prototype toward production readiness
• Shape Enterprise AI Strategy - Advise customer leaders on AI roadmaps, use case prioritization, deployment considerations, and align AI initiatives with business goals
• Codify Solution Patterns - Standardize successful patterns into repeatable reference architectures, productized solutions, starter kits, and internal playbooks
• Multiply impact - Mentor Cloudera teams, and contribute to resources that grow our AI capability. Channel field and customer signal back to Product teams to improve our AI platform and products

• 5+ years of experience building and deploying production-grade systems, including 2-3 years experience building Generative AI or agentic applications
• Strong hands-on software engineering, data engineering, and applied AI/ML skills, with experience building full-stack AI applications or agentic systems using modern AI frameworks and tooling
• Experience with foundation models, context engineering, fine-tuning, semantic search, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and agentic workflows
• Deep understanding of LLMOps/MLOps practices including evaluation, observability, serving, monitoring, and lifecycle management
• Experience designing and implementing scalable AI solution architectures aligned to enterprise standards (security, governance, compliance, etc.)
• The ability to engage directly with customers, both technical and executive audiences - to translate needs into actionable technical strategy
• High agency with the ability to operate autonomously and thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving customer environments
• A collaborative mindset and passion for enabling others through mentorship, internal enablement, or reusable tooling

You may also have:

• Experience with cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Experience using the Cloudera platform
• Experience with open source big data technologies like Spark, Iceberg, NiFi, etc
• Experience with AI infrastructure and runtime technologies including NVIDIA GPUs, inference optimization, model serving, or distributed AI workloads

• Generous PTO Policy
• Support work life balance with Unplugged Days
• Flexible WFH Policy
• Mental & Physical Wellness programs
• Phone and Internet Reimbursement program
• Access to Continued Career Development
• Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages
• Paid Volunteer Time
• Employee Resource Groups

About Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) at Cloudera

Cloudera’s Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) function sits within the Applied AI org, and is a specialized AI engineering team focused on accelerating AI adoption within our most strategic enterprise customers. We embed directly with customers to rapidly pilot AI use cases, solve real-world business challenges, and help operationalize advanced AI capabilities within enterprise environments. Cloudera FDEs operate at the intersection of customer engineering, AI innovation, and enterprise deployment - driving high-impact AI outcomes for customers and codifying solution patterns for repeatable delivery at scale.