[Hiring] Forward Deployed Engineer @CData Software

Role Description

CData is the data layer behind enterprise AI in production. As organizations move from experimentation to mission-critical agentic workflows, they need a partner who can connect AI to live, governed data across hundreds of systems and engineers who can ship that connection inside the customer's environment.

We're hiring Forward Deployed Engineers to be the hands-on delivery force on our most strategic enterprise engagements. You'll embed with customer teams to deploy CData Connect AI, our managed MCP platform, and the broader CData stack, configuring MCP servers, building agent integrations, writing the production code that connects customer systems to AI, and validating that it works end-to-end. You'll work alongside an FDE Architect on engagement design and report into the Director of Forward Deployed Engineering.

This is a builder role. The bar is building and shipping production-grade AI integrations on a multi sprint cadence and the field signal you generate flows straight into the Connect AI roadmap.

The Forward Deployed Engineer is the hands-on force that turns CData’s Connect AI platform into real, working solutions inside customer environments. The FDE works directly with enterprise teams, and builds and ships production-grade integrations, connecting complex data systems, enabling governed access, and ensuring agent workflows perform reliably at scale. This role is critical to delivering tangible customer outcomes. FDEs ensure customers move from AI experimentation to real business impact. At the same time, the patterns, code, and insights the FDE generates in the field feeds directly back into the product, improving the platform and accelerating future deployments.

Qualifications

• 3–6 years in software engineering, data engineering, or technical consulting with hands-on delivery experience
• Track record of shipping production code in customer-facing or customer-impacting roles
• Has explained technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and held the room
• AI-literate — understands how LLMs consume data, what MCP does, and how agents use tools and context to reason over enterprise sources
• Proficient in Python, Java, or C# with experience building API integrations, data pipelines, or connector-based workflows
• Comfortable with data plumbing: SQL, REST APIs, ODBC/JDBC, JSON/XML parsing, and multi-source data mapping
• Able to configure governed access for AI agents — RBAC, OAuth 2.1, and semantic scoping
• Builder mentality — ships working solutions in ambiguous customer environments within tight iteration cycles
• Strong communicator who can explain technical AI concepts to non-technical customer stakeholders clearly and confidently
• High agency; comfortable as the primary engineering presence on a customer engagement

Requirements

• Hands-on experience with the MCP protocol and AI agent frameworks (LangChain, CrewAI, Copilot Studio)
• Prior FDE, professional services, or solutions-engineering experience at a data, analytics, or AI platform company
• Exposure to modern data stacks (Snowflake, Databricks, Salesforce) and cloud-native deployment patterns
• Travel Required: Up to 50%

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision plans with company-paid insurance premiums
• Health Saving Account offering with company contribution to help mitigate increasing health costs
• Flexible Savings Account and Dependent Care FSA
• Generous 20-day PTO and 11 paid holidays
• 401k with 100% company match up to 6% of contribution
• A remote-friendly, high-trust culture that empowers collaboration, celebrates curiosity, and encourages innovation
• Work closely with your manager to define professional development and learning opportunities that match your career goals