Lead Forward Deployed Engineer

Quanta Services Management Partnership•Houston, TX

About The Position

The Lead Forward Deployed Engineer is a hands-on technical team lead who guides a small pod of Forward Deployed Engineers in delivering high-impact solutions for Quanta’s operating companies, from discovery through production. The Lead FDE owns day-to-day execution on one active project at a time, sets technical direction, coordinates the work of 2–4 engineers, contributes directly to the codebase, and serves as the primary technical contact for stakeholders. This working lead role spends most of its time building production software, prototyping with AI-assisted tools, and pairing with engineers, alongside planning, reviewing, mentoring, and communicating with business partners. The Lead FDE translates ambiguous business needs into shipped software, unblocks the team, and is accountable for the quality, velocity, and coherence of the pod’s work. The role partners with business leaders, domain experts, and operating-unit stakeholders; makes day-to-day technical decisions; deploys applications to production; and coordinates post-deployment support and iteration. It also documents reusable knowledge and represents the pod in stakeholder and leadership reviews. This position provides technical leadership but has no direct reports or hiring and termination authority.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field.
8–12 years of experience in software development, systems integration, or technical consulting, with recent hands-on delivery experience.
At least 2 years in a technical lead, tech lead, or senior engineer capacity guiding other engineers on a shared project.
Advanced proficiency in at least one modern programming language, such as Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Go, or Java.
Solid grounding in software architecture patterns, API design, data modeling, and full-stack or backend delivery.
Fluency in at least one major cloud environment (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and modern development practices, including CI/CD, containers, version control workflows, and testing.
Demonstrated experience applying AI tooling in real delivery workflows, such as Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, vector search, prompt engineering, or RAG patterns.
Track record of shipping production software on tight timelines in a consultative or embedded setting.
Experience mentoring engineers and running effective code reviews.
Excellent communication skills, including the ability to translate between business stakeholders and engineers and clearly represent technical tradeoffs.

Nice To Haves

Experience delivering AI, automation, or data-intensive applications in enterprise environments.
Experience working within large, decentralized organizations or multi-site enterprise environments.
Background in utility, energy, renewables, construction, or specialty contracting industries.
Prior experience in a Forward Deployed Engineer, solutions engineer, or delivery consultant role.
Cloud architecture or AI/ML certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP, or equivalent).

Responsibilities

Lead a pod of Forward Deployed Engineers through end-to-end delivery of a single project, from problem framing to production hand-off.
Partner with business leaders, domain experts, and operating-unit stakeholders to understand needs and shape scope.
Translate ambiguous requirements into a concrete delivery plan with clear, testable milestones.
Write production-ready code as a hands-on project contributor.
Make day-to-day technical decisions about frameworks, integrations, data models, and deployment targets, escalating architectural decisions to the Forward Deployed Engineering Manager when needed.
Run code reviews, pairing sessions, and working sessions to raise the team’s technical bar.
Use AI-assisted development tools to accelerate delivery and share best practices with the broader FDE team.
Identify risks, dependencies, and blockers early and drive the team through them.
Deploy applications to production and coordinate post-deployment support, monitoring, and iteration with subject matter experts.
Mentor Forward Deployed Engineers through pairing, feedback, and targeted coaching on technical craft and consulting skills.
Document design decisions, reusable components, and lessons learned to support scaling and knowledge-sharing across the FDE practice.
Represent the pod in status reviews, demonstrations, and retrospectives with stakeholders and Data & AI leadership.
Stay current with emerging AI tools and development practices and pilot their adoption within the project.
Perform other duties as assigned.