Verdigris Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) sit at the point where the platform meets the customer's electrical environment, and own turning that intersection into working technical outcomes — from first technical conversation through deployment, commissioning, and long-term account success. This is a dual-hat, principal-level role: an engineer who embeds directly with strategic accounts, builds and adapts solutions in the field, and carries the authority and accountability to drive those solutions to completion.
This is a technical delivery leadership role, not the account's strategic or commercial leadership — that ownership sits with Sales/Client Success. The FDE partners closely with the account's strategic owner, but owns getting the technical solution live, adopted, and delivering value.
Technical depth is only half of what makes this role work. Equally important is how you show up with people: this is a dynamic, communicative, trust-building presence in front of customers — someone who earns confidence with stakeholders ranging from field electricians to executive sponsors through clear communication and relationship-building, not technical correctness alone. The strongest Verdigris FDEs are remembered as much for the trust they built as for the systems they commissioned.
At this level, the role extends beyond a single account or project. A Principal FDE is expected to raise the bar for the whole Solutions Engineering function — setting the technical standard other engineers are measured against, mentoring less-experienced engineers, and negotiating the most ambitious account and departmental objectives. You are the connective tissue between Sales, Product/Engineering, and Education, Support & Services (ESS) — and between Verdigris and the electricians, installers, integrators, and customer engineering teams who put our hardware in the field — and increasingly, you are also the person other engineers and other teams come to when a problem doesn't have an obvious owner.