Forward deployed engineering on the frontier of AI

This post introduces the concept and establishment of a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) function at Baseten. It details the strategic rationale for FDE, emphasizing its role in accelerating customer adoption of complex AI products by embedding engineers within customer organizations. The post outlines the unique characteristics of FDE, distinguishing it from consulting and solutions architecture, by highlighting its integration within the engineering organization and its direct contribution to product development and roadmap influence. It also discusses the challenges and strategies for recruiting, enabling, and scaling an FDE team, focusing on hiring for strong software engineering fundamentals and customer-facing skills. The FDE team's charter is to accelerate customer value and push the frontier of the Baseten product, particularly for mission-critical AI workloads and advanced model serving.