Director- Forward Deployed Engineering (Remote)
About The Position
Lenovo Solutions & Services Group is undergoing an AI transformation, embedding engineering talent within business functions. Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) are central to this model. As an FDE Director, you will lead a team of FDEs embedded across business functions. Your role will involve identifying high-value AI opportunities, translating business needs into practical solutions, and delivering measurable impact through short sprint cycles. You will collaborate closely with Domain Leaders, senior stakeholders, and platform teams to guide execution, remove obstacles, and ensure successful transitions from discovery to adoption with clear business outcomes. This is a hands-on technical leadership role requiring strong engineering judgment, business partnership, people leadership, and the ability to establish repeatable practices for delivering scalable AI solutions.
Requirements
- 15 or more years in software engineering, solutions engineering, applied AI, or a closely related technical leadership role.
- Experience managing technical teams.
- Strong technical depth and willingness to be hands-on when needed, including reviewing designs, troubleshooting complex issues, validating prototypes, and helping the team make sound engineering decisions.
- Experience leading teams that build and deploy AI, automation, or intelligent workflow solutions in real business settings.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with Microsoft AI platforms: Copilot Studio, Azure OpenAI, M365, Power Platform.
- Clear communicator and people leader; able to explain technical decisions in plain language, coach FDEs through complex delivery situations, and build trust with business and leadership audiences.
- Proven ability to define operating models, delivery playbooks, technical standards, and talent development practices for a growing engineering function.
- Strong engineering judgment with enough hands-on depth to review solution approaches, challenge assumptions, and guide teams when off-the-shelf tooling is not sufficient.
- Background in technical consulting, solutions architecture, customer-facing engineering, or leadership of field engineering teams.
- Experience with change enablement, user adoption, or process redesign alongside technical delivery.
Responsibilities
- Lead a team of FDEs embedded in business functions to identify high-value AI opportunities by mapping workflows and surfacing pain points.
- Set standards for translating business problems into scoped, deliverable AI use cases, balancing ambition with practicality.
- Guide FDEs in designing and building AI solutions using appropriate tools, including Microsoft AI and productivity platforms, RAG pipelines, agent workflows, automation tooling, and custom development.
- Coach the team to prototype quickly, test with users, and iterate within short sprint cycles while maintaining engineering discipline.
- Define reusable FDE methods, playbooks, delivery standards, and quality expectations for scaling across squads and business functions.
- Ensure FDE teams deliver working solutions into users' hands at the end of each sprint, focusing on adoption and measurable business outcomes.
- Review feedback post-deployment, identify patterns, and use lessons learned to improve the FDE operating model.
- Shape the long-term FDE practice, including engagement models, role expectations, reusable assets, and impact measurement mechanisms.
- Serve as a senior bridge between business stakeholders, FDEs, data teams, and platform partners, ensuring clear understanding of priorities, constraints, and technical decisions.
- Provide executive-level updates on team progress, delivery risks, adoption outcomes, and tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Benefits
- Flexibility in where you work (Remote work eligible)
- Hybrid schedule option for Chicago, IL or Raleigh, NC offices (three days in office, two days remote)
- Opportunity to work remotely based on business needs if located outside of Chicago or Raleigh areas
- Bonuses and/or commissions
- Various benefits available at www.lenovobenefits.com
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
Education Level
No Education Listed
