APX Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)

At Accenture Federal Services, nothing matters more than helping the US federal government make the nation stronger and safer and life better for people. Our 13,000+ people are united in a shared purpose to pursue the limitless potential of technology and ingenuity for clients across defense, national security, public safety, civilian, and military health organizations.

Join Accenture Federal Services, a technology company within global Accenture. Recognized as a Glassdoor Top 100 Best Place to Work, we offer a collaborative and caring community where you feel like you belong and are empowered to grow, learn and thrive through hands-on experience, certifications, industry training and more.

About the APX Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) Program:

APX (Advanced Partnership Accelerator) is a Center of Excellence under AFS’ Data & AI capability. The APX Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) Program represents a strategic initiative to position Accenture Federal Services at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation in government. This program embeds top technical talent directly with federal clients to fast track the adoption and implementation of advanced technologies from Palantir, Databricks, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and cutting edge AI partners.As an FDE, you will serve as the critical bridge between breakthrough AI technology and mission-critical federal requirements. You'll work hands-on with the most advanced AI models available, translating their transformative potential into tangible value for defense, intelligence, civilian, and public health missions. This is not a traditional consulting role; FDEs are technical practitioners, innovators, and trusted advisors who operate at the cutting edge of what's possible with AI in highly regulated, high-security federal environments.

What You Will Do:

The APX FDE program exists because federal missions cannot wait for slow, siloed development cycles. They need embedded engineers who move with urgency, autonomy, and precision while being able to reach back to broader support across AFS. As a Junior FDE, you will work at the intersection of engineering, product thinking and client delivery, helping technical teams move from ambiguous client problems, to working proof-of-concept, to production-grade deployment in a matter of weeks. In this role you will:

• Embed within client environments as part of a forward deployed engineering (FDE) team to build rapid prototypes using AI tools, coding assistants, and modern frameworks
• Use AI tools (LLMs, coding assistants, agentic frameworks) as part of daily development work

• Support integration of solutions into complex client environments, including legacy systems and regulated data contexts

• Work across the tech stack (frontend, backend, APIs, simple data pipelines) and help develop applications and workflows that use structured and unstructured enterprise data

• Assist in evaluating model outputs, testing workflows, and applying responsible AI guardrails

• Implement AI solutions such as RAG workflows, semantic search, prompt engineering patterns, and simple agent behaviors

• Work with senior FDEs to clarify problem statements and translate them into technical plans

• Participate in rapid experimentation cycles and incorporate user feedback into updates, documenting solution decisions and contributing to internal learning assets

• Leverage technical expertise to help clients navigate the rapidly evolving technological landscape, serving as a trusted advisor on emerging AI capabilities, increasing user adoption and scaling mission impact

• Share observations, user friction points, reusable assets and field intelligence back to APX teams to improve delivery approaches

What You Bring:

• Mission-first Mindset & Relentless Problem Solving: You move fast because the mission can’t wait. You make smart bets in ambiguous terrain, taking ownership early and giving every challenge your full drive before ever considering stepping back. You push through ambiguity, communicate risks and trade-offs, investigate solutions independently to forge the future, and maintain momentum even when the path forward is unclear.

• Grit & Tenacity to Engineer at the Edge: You remain steady when projects get messy and keep pushing forward through rapid experimentation cycles. You show up confidently in client working sessions, support senior FDEs at the mission edge, adapt in real time, and help teams operate decisively even in uncertainty.

• Bias for Building: You iterate quickly, communicate plainly across technical and non-technical teammates, ask sharp questions, and summarize decisions in a way that moves teams forward with confidence and alignment. You build work that adds value for our clients, making bold ideas happen fast.

• Limitless Curiosity & Frontier Learning: You learn rapidly across a wide, rapidly changing technical frontier, from LLMs and agent frameworks to cloud platforms and enterprise AI ecosystems. You approach new tools with curiosity, adaptability, and velocity, and you prefer building and testing over long specification cycles.

Here’s What You Need:

• Bachelor’s Degree or demonstrated hands-on coding experience building and shipping software projects

• Proficiency in at least one modern programming language (e.g., Python, R, Rust) with knowledge of building production services

• Familiarity with Generative AI (LLMs, chatbots, or AI-powered apps) and eagerness to learn how model outputs influence product workflows

• Exposure working with APIs and simple data flows, managing structured and unstructured data and ensure data quality.

• Ability to travel, dependent on client and team

• Must be a U.S. Citizen and ability to obtain a federal security clearance

Bonus Points if You Have:

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, Statistics, or a related technical field

• Experience with Palantir, Databricks, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or other emerging technology platforms

• Prior client experience or collaborative technical work (consulting internships, hackathons, customer success engineering, or team-based builds)

• Exposure to cloud services (AWS, Azure, GCP) from coursework, certificates, internships, or individual projects

• Experience integrating or deploying code in environments with constraints (legacy systems, governance, access controls)

• Demonstrated ability to take a small idea from zero-to-prototype independently

• Curiosity about how different frontier labs operate and eagerness to learn their platforms: Vertex AI, Azure OpenAI, Claude, etc.

• Relevant Google, Anthropic, or OpenAI certifications or training courses

• Ability to travel (up to 50%) depending on business need and client requirements

• Active federal security clearance