Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) are customer-facing software engineers — technologists who work directly with customers to help them get the most out of the platform and solve their most challenging problems.
When the stakes are high, when processes are messy, and when building the right solution matters, the FDE steps in — translating between business needs and product capabilities to deliver business outcomes.
Every company runs their business differently. The FDE's job is to make the platform fit seamlessly into that reality — not the other way around.
The Three Hats of an FDE
What makes an FDE unique is that three roles — consultant, product manager, and software engineer — all live in the same person.
Instead of handing off between departments, the FDE carries a problem from discovery all the way to delivery. That's what allows us to move quickly, think holistically, and build exactly what customers need.
🎯 1. Consultant: Turning Understanding Into Trust
The first job of an FDE is to listen.
FDEs partner with individual contributors, managers, directors, VPs, and C-level leaders to deeply understand how their business runs — what's working, what's breaking, and what "great" looks like.
FDEs earn trust through clarity and insight, not jargon. We identify the root problem behind the symptoms and align everyone around a shared goal.
🧭 2. Product Manager: Finding the Goldilocks Zone
Once trust is built, discovery begins.
FDEs roll up their sleeves and talk with the people who live the workflows every day — understanding their pain points, their processes, and what would make their lives easier.
The goal: to find the "Goldilocks zone" — the problem that's most valuable to solve and most straightforward to achieve with the platform.
There are very few things we can't build — if the APIs are there, we can make it happen.
FDEs bring product thinking to every customer conversation, helping identify the fastest path to measurable impact.
💻 3. Software Engineer: Delivering the Solution
Then, we build.
FDEs are full-stack software engineers who deliver working software — not slide decks or demos.
We build using the platform's coding and no-code tools to design and deploy Custom Apps, Functions, Data Models, Workflows, Reports, and Integrations that make the platform work exactly the way each customer needs.
Our role is to extend the platform and solve whatever problem is top of mind for the customer.
The goal is to free smart people to focus on hard problems, not manual ones.
And when the solution is live, we stay close — ensuring teams adopt it, see value, and expand on it.
What We Build With
FDEs build using the platform, the same technology stack that powers the core product.
That means every solution we deliver is secure, scalable, and fully integrated into the existing environment — no bolted-on code, no fragile middleware.
Here are some of the core building blocks we use every day:
- ⚙️ Databridge: Connect systems together — syncing data automatically between platforms.
- 🔄 Transformations: Clean, map, and merge data between systems so teams can operate from a single source of truth.
- 🧠 Functions: Custom logic written in TypeScript that extends capabilities — enabling everything from data validation to advanced calculations.
- 📊 Reports & Dashboards: Turn raw data into actionable insights across HR, finance, and operations.
- 🧱 Custom Objects & Fields: Model unique business entities directly in the platform — from commission plans to project codes.
- 💡 Custom Apps: Build fully tailored applications that live inside the platform, complete with UI, workflows, and permissions.
- 🔔 Workflows: Automate onboarding, offboarding, compliance tasks, or multi-step approvals — all without leaving the platform.
Each solution we build feels custom — but because it's built natively within the platform, it scales, updates, and evolves seamlessly as the business grows.
Why It Matters
Modern businesses don't fit neatly into templates. They're dynamic, interconnected, and constantly evolving.
FDEs bridge the gap between a company's goals and the platform — ensuring that the technology works the way the business does, not the other way around.
Whether it's syncing data across systems, automating complex approval logic, or creating entirely new applications, FDEs help customers turn their ideas into real, working software — faster than ever before.
In Short
The FDE is the bridge between the potential of the platform and the goals of the customer.
We're here to solve any problem that stands in the way of running a business — quickly, creatively, and at scale.
The FDE's mission is simple:
Make the platform work your way — and turn possibilities into outcomes that matter.