forward deployed engineer vs software engineer
Forward Deployed Engineer vs Software Engineer
SWE builds product at HQ. FDE builds last-mile on customer data, permissions, and politics.
| Dimension | Forward Deployed Engineer | Software Engineer |
|---|---|---|
| Lifecycle | FDE: post-sale until workflow runs | SE pre-sale / SA design / Consultant SOW |
| Writes prod code at customer | Yes - primary output | Rarely / demo / scoped only |
| Coding intensity | 75-80 | 35 (SA/SE), 45 (Impl) |
| Sales / quota / utilization | 15, no quota, no utilization | SE 75 quota 70/30, SA 65, Consultant 70-80% util |
| Owns prod outcome / paged | Yes - them | No - hands off |
| Scales by | Product - ships to customer #2 | Demos / reference arch / headcount |
| Reports to | Engineering / Product | Sales / Services P&L |