Principal - Forward Deployed Engineer

GSK • Cambridge, MA

2d • $205,425 - $342,375

About The Position

GSK's Enterprise AI team builds AI solutions that demonstrate value quickly and scale to production. Forward Deployed Engineering develops and validates solutions through proofs of concept, proofs of value, MVPs, and, when appropriate, initial production releases, before handing proven solutions to Solutions Engineering for scale-up.

The Principal - Forward Deployed Engineer is the most senior technical authority in the FDE function, with enterprise-wide responsibility for setting standards for AI-native development and owning delivery outcomes for a portfolio of strategic business units. The role establishes standards for architecture, agentic delivery-automation workflows, delivery bot meshes, evaluation, and governance, and applies those standards through real engagements.

This is a hands-on technical leadership position. The Principal leads complex engagements and multi-FDE teams, advises senior business leaders, resolves the most difficult architecture, machine learning, and agentic-engineering questions, and mentors senior engineers. The role also works across enterprise technology functions and reports on standards adoption, business-unit outcomes, and technical risk to Enterprise AI leadership.

Requirements

• 15 or more years of experience in software engineering and AI/ML engineering, including principal-level technical leadership across multiple teams or an enterprise.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated experience setting engineering standards, reference architectures, or platforms adopted at organizational or enterprise scale.
• Proven ability to take AI ideas from initial concept to working software and production quickly in customer-facing or embedded engineering roles, and to lead delivery across a portfolio of business stakeholders.
• Hands-on expertise with generative AI patterns, including agents, multi-agent orchestration, RAG, prompt engineering, evaluation, fine-tuning, and MCP integrations.
• Enterprise-level expertise in AI, machine learning, and data science—including classical ML, deep learning, LLMs and foundation models, statistical and causal inference, and MLOps at scale—sufficient to set organizational modeling and evaluation standards.
• Daily use of AI coding agents, such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or Databricks AI Assistant, as the primary development mode, with experience architecting agentic delivery-automation workflows and delivery bot meshes and defining enterprise standards for their use.
• Experience influencing and partnering with Director- and VP-level business and technology leaders.
• Prior responsibility for mentoring Staff- and Senior-level engineers and shaping senior technical career paths.

Nice To Haves

• Principal-, Distinguished-, or Head of Forward Deployed Engineering-level experience at an AI-native company such as Anthropic, Palantir, or OpenAI, or at a hyperscaler.
• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related quantitative field.

Responsibilities

• Define and own enterprise development standards for AI solutions, including reference architectures, agentic delivery-automation workflows, delivery bot meshes, evaluation frameworks, and handoff practices.
• Set enterprise technical direction for AI-native engineering, including the design, security, monitoring, and reuse of agentic workflows and delivery bot meshes.
• Own the enterprise pattern library and reference platform, including reusable agents, prompt templates, MCP integrations, and reference architectures.
• Chair FDE technical design reviews and contribute to Enterprise AI architecture governance by approving, challenging, or redirecting high-impact technical decisions.
• Own FDE delivery for an assigned portfolio of strategic business units, including engagement pipeline, prioritization, quality, and outcomes from intake through handoff.
• Personally lead complex, precedent-setting engagements, remaining hands-on in problem framing, architecture, and prototype delivery.
• Lead multi-FDE engagement teams across concurrent engagements, directing Staff-, Senior-, and Engineer-level FDEs.
• Partner with Director- and VP-level business-unit leaders to shape AI roadmaps, qualify high-value use cases, and make and defend decisions to continue or stop initiatives.
• Serve as the FDE function's technical authority and escalation point for architecture, machine learning, data science, and agentic engineering.
• Mentor and develop Staff and Senior FDEs, shape the technical career path toward Principal, and raise the function's technical standards.
• Lead senior technical interviews and calibrate the technical hiring bar for senior FDE hires.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Data Platforms, Cyber Security, and technology functions to align FDE standards with enterprise platforms and prepare prototypes to scale.
• Influence vendor strategy and tooling choices, evaluating and shaping enterprise adoption of AI models, agent frameworks, and developer tools.
• Represent GSK's AI engineering practice externally through industry forums, partner relationships, and technical publications where appropriate.
• Embed Code Orange, Responsible AI, and Accountability Report requirements into development standards and engagements.
• Report to Enterprise AI leadership on standards adoption, business-unit delivery outcomes, and technical risk across the portfolio.

Benefits

• Annual bonus.
• Eligibility to participate in a share-based long-term incentive program, depending on role level.
• Health care and other insurance benefits for employees and family.
• Retirement benefits.
• Paid holidays.
• Vacation.
• Paid caregiver, parental, and medical leave.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal