[Hiring] Senior Forward Deployed Engineer @IDC Research Inc.

Role Description

AI, Enterprise Optimization & Automation is building the AI layer of IDC's future. We're transforming IDC from a document-centric research organization to an AI-native, component-based one. The research chain is Plan, Collect, Analyze, Author, Publish, Advise. Right now, analysts own every step. We're automating the parts where AI earns its place, letting analysts apply judgment where it matters most.

If you thrive at the intersection of engineering, product, problem-solving, and real business impact, this role puts you at the forefront of one of the most consequential AI transformations at IDC. You will sit with researchers, editors, and senior stakeholders to understand how the research chain actually works, then build the AI systems that automate it. This requires a highly motivated practitioner who moves with speed and precision: writing working software, engaging confidently with both executives and engineers, and delivering measurable impact from day one.

What You’ll Do

• Build AI Workers using AWS Strands, autonomous agents that handle discrete steps in the research chain.
• Design and build content pipelines that ingest raw research inputs and transform them into structured, reusable components.
• Automate steps in the research workflow (Plan, Collect, Analyze, Author, Publish, Advise) without breaking the sequencing logic that makes automation safe.
• Build and maintain dynamic work management automations that route, prioritize, and track research tasks.
• Own prompt design and evaluation for production AI systems operating on research content.
• Integrate research tools, content repositories, and publishing systems via APIs and middleware.
• Translate research workflow requirements from analysts and editors into working technical specifications, then ship them.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on software engineering. You build and ship real systems.
• Genuine curiosity about agentic AI and knowledge work automation. You think about how reasoning systems handle ambiguous tasks and have strong opinions about where AI earns its place in a workflow.
• Practical experience building with AWS Strands or comparable agentic frameworks in production.
• Experience building content or document processing pipelines, ingestion, transformation, structuring, and delivery of unstructured or semi-structured content.
• Solid automation engineering fundamentals. You know when to reach for an LLM and when a rule-based system or a well-structured script is the right call.
• Practical experience with Amazon Bedrock, AgentCore, and MCP server integration.
• Proficiency in Python and REST APIs, comfortable with webhooks and middleware.
• Ability to work directly with domain experts (analysts, editors, researchers) and translate their process requirements into technical systems.
• Comfort operating with significant autonomy in a complex, dependency-heavy environment.

Benefits

• 15 vacation days (prorated based on start date)
• 12 company-paid holidays
• 6 paid sick days (prorated based on start date; may vary by state)
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 2 floating holidays (prorated based on start date)
• 1 volunteer day
• 401(k) company match (IDC matches 3% on the first 6% of employee contributions)
• Company-paid short-term disability
• Company-paid life insurance
• Company-paid parental leave

Compensation Transparency

At IDC, we are committed to fair and equitable pay practices. Employees are compensated equitably for their work, aligned with their skills and experience. Salary and incentive structures are determined through a rigorous process that considers experience, education, certifications, role-specific requirements, internal equity, and verified U.S. market data from an independent third-party partner.

The expected total annual compensation, depending on location and experience, is between $150,000 – $215,000, inclusive of base salary and variable compensation.

If this role relocates to a different country, the salary range will be updated to reflect that country's range, rather than a currency conversion of the original range.

Equal Opportunity Employer

IDC is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified persons. Employment eligibility verification required. We participate in E-Verify.

IDC is currently able to employ remote workers in the following states: Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Colorado (CO), Connecticut (CT), Washington D.C. (DC), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Kansas (KS), Massachusetts (MA), Maryland (MD), Maine (ME), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), Mississippi (MS), North Carolina (NC), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NY), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), Pennsylvania (PA), Rhode Island (RI), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), Utah (UT), Virginia (VA), Vermont (VT), Washington (WA), and Wisconsin (WI).