The tech industry is scrambling to hire forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), one of the latest roles to gain a newfound popularity in the AI era.

An FDE is a software engineer who works alongside customers to understand their specific business needs and to help customize or build software solutions to address those needs. Deepak Anchala, CEO of Adopt AI, told IT Brew that Palantir Technologies was the company that “kicked off” the role and made it mainstream: “You’d have to go and customize Palantir’s solutions to meet [customer] needs because that’s what large customers want. They want customization.”

Lightcast data provided to IT Brew shows Palantir was the top company behind job listings for FDEs between 2010 and 2025, followed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Salesforce.

Aaron Zelinger, co-founder and CEO of software company Closure and a former Palantir FDE, told IT Brew that FDEs act as a technical bridge between customers, users, and the “mothership,” and can eliminate a “bureaucratic layer” of sales and account managers by having engineers on the frontlines with clients.

Layer cake.—BM

The Trump administration spent 2025 considering the AI of the deal, but at least one think-thank pro thinks there needs to be more clarity around how the government feeds sensitive data to its tech vendors.

Multiple federal agencies announced partnerships with tech vendors offering generative AI tools: 

• Google introduced its “Gemini for Government” AI platform in August.
• USAi, a General Services Administration (GSA) suite of chat-based AI, code generation, and document summarization tools—supported by models from Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon, Anthropic, and Gemini for Government—was also introduced in August.
• An Amazon data-center investment worth $50 billion to expand AI capabilities for Amazon Web Services (AWS) government customers was announced in November.
• The GSA announced discounted government rates for Microsoft services, including AI assistant Copilot in September.

List ’em.—BH

In IT Brew’s latest e-book, you’ll learn how AI is impacting everything from software development and cybersecurity to IT workflow automation. With rapid AI change, IT professionals find themselves playing catch up in terms of knowledge and skill. These articles offer a comprehensive look at the complicated intersection of AI and IT—along with some advice for IT professionals on how to navigate it successfully.

How AI will impact everything IT.—MB

CollabWORK connects you to the hidden job market through IT Brew and other trusted channels. Browse roles curated specifically for this community by clicking through to the job board.

• Director, Data Engineering at American Tower
• Tactical Systems ISSO at COLSA Corporation
• Lead Software Engineer, CoCounsel AI Drafting at Thomson Reuters
• Assistant Vice President, AI Security Architecture & Cloud Security-Azure Focus at Moody’s
• Data Modeling Developer at Coolsoft