Forward Deployed Engineering Manager

• 06 Jul 2026
• Permanent / Full Time
• Email: Darragh Gannon

Forward Deployed Engineering Manager (AI)

MAP Talent are partnering with a leading Financial Services company building a dedicated AI and technology capability that puts artificial intelligence to work inside the business rather than alongside it.

The operating model is deliberately proactive rather than reactive. Small, cross-functional squads embed directly within business teams, gaining a deep understanding of how each area creates value and identifying high-impact AI opportunities before they are requested.

As the Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, you will lead the engineering capability that makes this possible. You'll manage a team of Forward Deployed Engineers embedded across multiple squads, establish engineering standards, and oversee the delivery of secure, high-quality AI solutions that drive measurable business outcomes.

Reporting to the Head of AI, you'll work closely with the AI Business Manager to ensure engineering capacity is aligned to the highest-value opportunities across the organisation.

Purpose Lead the applied AI engineering capability by building and developing a high-performing team of Forward Deployed Engineers, establishing engineering best practice, and ensuring solutions are technically robust, secure by design, and successfully adopted by the business.

Key ResponsibilitiesLeadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor and grow a team of Forward Deployed Engineers embedded across multiple business squads.
• Foster a culture where engineers are equally comfortable partnering with business stakeholders as they are building technical solutions.
• Define engineering standards, development practices and code quality expectations across the capability.
• Allocate engineering resources across squads as priorities evolve, ensuring the right skills are focused on the highest-value initiatives.
• Coach engineers to proactively identify opportunities, partner closely with stakeholders, and take ownership of business outcomes rather than simply delivering technology.

Delivery Excellence

• Own engineering delivery across all squads, ensuring a consistent cadence from opportunity identification through to production deployment and business adoption.
• Be accountable for the quality, reliability and scalability of all AI solutions delivered.
• Balance delivery speed with maintainability, security, reuse and long-term sustainability.
• Partner with business stakeholders to ensure delivered solutions achieve measurable adoption and business value.

Platform & Engineering Capability

• Own the engineering foundations and shared AI platform that underpin delivery across all squads.
• Ensure security, governance, observability and compliance are embedded within the platform rather than relying on individual development teams.
• Drive reuse by establishing common components, frameworks and engineering patterns that can be leveraged across multiple squads.
• Continuously assess emerging AI technologies and tooling, making informed decisions on where new capabilities can add value.

Governance & Value Delivery

• Ensure engineering practices align with enterprise AI governance, security policies and data management standards.
• Partner closely with architecture, security and governance teams to enable safe and effective delivery.
• Collaborate with solution, data and application architects to deliver technically sound solutions while maintaining delivery momentum.
• Support measurement of business outcomes and demonstrate the value delivered through the AI engineering capability.

What You'll Bring We're looking for a hands-on engineering leader who combines strong technical depth with proven leadership experience and a passion for building high-performing engineering teams.

You'll bring:

• Proven experience leading software engineering, AI engineering or data engineering teams.
• A strong background in modern software engineering and hands-on technical leadership.
• Experience designing, building and deploying AI or machine learning solutions, including exposure to modern generative AI and agentic AI approaches.
• A delivery-focused mindset, with the ability to remove blockers, establish delivery rhythm and consistently ship high-quality software.
• Strong judgement when balancing speed, technical quality, maintainability and long-term platform strategy.
• Demonstrated experience hiring, mentoring and developing engineering talent.
• A collaborative approach, with experience working closely alongside business stakeholders to deliver measurable outcomes.

Desirable Experience

• Experience delivering AI, software or data products within a regulated industry.
• Exposure to embedded engineering or squad-based operating models.
• Experience building or managing shared AI or developer platforms.
• Previous experience within financial services or another highly regulated industry.

What Success Looks Like Within your first six months, you'll have established a clear understanding of the engineering capability and platform, implemented consistent engineering standards, and created a predictable delivery rhythm across all squads.

Within twelve months, you'll have built a high-performing team of Forward Deployed Engineers, increased reuse across squads, reduced duplicated effort, delivered AI solutions that are actively adopted by the business, and demonstrated measurable value that supports continued investment in the organisation's AI capability.

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