Deployment Associate, Fast Forward

Moder•Conshohocken, PA

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

Moder is building its first cohort of Forward Deployment Engineers and we are doing it intentionally, carefully, and with you at the center of the design. The Deployment Associate, Fast Forward Program is a full-time, structured launch pad for recent graduates who want to do more than start a career. We are looking for people who want to help build one. Associates in this Cohort will be the first people to go through “Foundry Academy”, the first to deploy on live client engagements, the first to stress-test our training curriculum, and the first to tell us what works and what doesn't. Your feedback will directly shape how Moder trains, develops, and grows FDEs for years to come. That is not a responsibility we take lightly and it is not an opportunity that comes around often. This program is for engineers who are technically sharp and genuinely curious about how AI gets deployed in the real world, not in demos, but inside financial institutions with messy data, legacy systems, and high stakes. If you want to understand how AI changes how a business operates, this is where that learning happens. Associates are not observers. They are contributors. From week one, you will be working on real problems, inside real platforms, alongside experienced engineers who are counting on your thinking — not just your output.

Requirements

Recent graduate (undergraduate or graduate) with a degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Mathematics, or a related technical field.
Programming ability in Python — you write it independently, not just read it. Data manipulation, API calls, scripting, and a working understanding of how data moves between systems.
Working SQL proficiency for querying and exploring datasets; comfort working with structured data at meaningful scale.
A highly analytical mindset: you break problems down, find the data that matters, and build a structured case for what to do — rather than waiting for direction.
High degree of intellectual curiosity and inquisitiveness — you ask questions others skip past, investigate the edges of problems, and are never fully satisfied with 'it works.'
Clear communication in writing and in conversation, to both technical and non-technical audiences. We will assess this directly in the interview process.
Comfort with ambiguity and open-ended environments where what you need to do is discovered through engagement, not handed down in a spec.
Ability to commute to and work from Philadelphia at least three days per week.

Nice To Haves

Coursework, projects, or research involving data engineering, machine learning, enterprise data platforms, or applied AI. Foundry experience is rare at this level — curiosity and technical aptitude matter far more.
Any exposure to AI/ML concepts including LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, or agentic systems — enough to understand why they matter in an enterprise context.
Prior experience in a client-facing, consulting, or applied research capacity — you have translated between technical work and a non-technical audience before.
Background or coursework in financial services, mortgage, insurance, or a regulated industry. You do not need to be an expert — an informed curiosity is enough.
Familiarity with cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP) at any level.

Responsibilities

Work on active Palantir Foundry deployments alongside senior FDEs, owning defined scopes within real client engagements — not sandbox projects.
Build data pipelines, ontology structures, and workflow automations in Foundry's Pipeline Builder and Workshop — moving from supported execution to independent delivery as your confidence builds.
Wrangle real, complex financial services datasets: cleaning, transforming, integrating, and making them usable inside Palantir's ontology layer. The data will not be clean. That is the point.
Develop hands-on proficiency in Foundry's core tools: Pipeline Builder, Workshop, Ontology Manager, Code Repositories, and AIP.
Contribute to architecture and technical design discussions — your perspective as someone newer to the platform is genuinely valuable, not just tolerated.
Build working familiarity with AI and LLM-driven workflows through Palantir AIP, understanding where AI adds real operational value and where it doesn’t.
Participate in client-facing sessions — discovery meetings, technical reviews, status updates — alongside senior FDEs, learning and contributing from the first month.
Support training and handoff sessions for client teams, helping communicate what has been built and why it works the way it does.
Develop the ability to translate technical realities into business language across a range of audiences, from data analysts to C-suite executives.
Represent Moder in-person at client locations when travel is required, carrying the kind of credibility that comes from actually knowing the work.
Participate actively in Moder Academy — our structured onboarding covering the mortgage lifecycle, insurance operations, Palantir Foundry, and client engagement frameworks — and tell us honestly what is missing or unclear.
Maintain a structured learning log throughout the program, capturing client patterns, platform observations, and deployment insights that feed directly back to Moder's product and training teams.
Complete a capstone project — a client-facing workflow or internal accelerator that you own end-to-end — and present it to Moder leadership at the close of your program period.
Provide formal feedback at structured checkpoints that will be used to improve the program for Cohort 2. Your candor is valued, not just encouraged.
Performs other related duties as assigned.
Comply with all company policies and procedures.
Maintain regular and punctual attendance.

Benefits

Ownership from Day One
Moder Academy is a comprehensive onboarding program covering the mortgage and insurance lifecycle, Palantir Foundry platform certification, and Moder's client engagement framework.
A Mentor Who Is Actually Invested
Weekly 1:1s, structured feedback, and real mentorship
The hybrid model is not a compromise — it is a feature.
Three days in the office means you are in the same room as the team, learning through proximity, building relationships that remote work cannot replicate.
The Program is the explicit entry point to the FDE track.
Strong performance converts directly to an Associate FDE offer.
The path after that is written down, not implied: Associate FDE → FDE → Senior FDE → Principal FDE.
The playbooks you help build, the feedback you provide, and the standards you set will define what Moder looks for and how it develops engineers for years.