Definition
The model was made famous by Palantir, whose forward-deployed engineers sit with clients to configure and extend its software. AI labs, cloud platforms and AI-native firms have adopted it: Anthropic, OpenAI, AWS, Google Cloud, Databricks and Salesforce all run forward-deployed teams, and demand for the role grew sharply in 2025 and 2026.
Forward deployment bridges the gap between a capable model and a working business process: understanding the workflow, connecting systems, handling messy data and iterating with users. It is expensive to staff, which is why it is often reserved for strategic customers or bundled with a platform.