Forward Deployed Engineer Pay
What forward deployed engineers are paid, from filed H-1B wages, self-reported offers and live job posts. Every figure names its source. Gaps stay gaps.
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- Data checked 5 Oct 2026
FDE Pay Explorer
Every figure here names its source, sample size and date.
We use three kinds of data and never mix them: base wages employers filed with the US Department of Labor, pay people reported on Levels.fyi, and pay ranges in live job posts. Where there is no data, we say so.
Reported FDE pay, by source
186 sourced rows, checked on 5 Oct 2026.
- All employers
All FDE-titled engineering roles, filed 2025-2026
$77K – $300KFiled base wage · median $165K · n = 307
United StatesDOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2025–2026 - All employers
All FDE-titled engineering roles (54 title variants)
$77K – $300KFiled base wage · median $160K · n = 449
United StatesDOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2019–2026 - Palantir
Forward Deployed Engineer (158); Forward Deployed Software Engineer (5); Forward Deployed AI Engineer (5); Forward Deployed Data Engineer (2); Forward Deployed Operations Engineer (1); Forward Deployed Enginere (1); Privacy And Civil Liberties Engineering - Fde (1)
$85K – $289KFiled base wage · median $150K · n = 173
New York, NY and 11 moreDOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2019–2026 - OpenAI
Member Of Forward Deployed Staff (4); Member Of Go To Market Staff Forward Deployed Engineer (3); Member Of Forward Deployed Staff Forward Deployed Engineer (1)
$220K – $280KFiled base wage · median $226K · n = 8
San Francisco, CA and 1 moreDOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2025–2026 - Anthropic
Member Of Technical Staff Forward Deployed Engineer (2); Member Of Technical Staff Fwd Deployed Eng, Applied AI (1)
$162K – $265KFiled base wage · median $170K · n = 3
San Francisco, CA and 1 moreDOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2026 - Salesforce
Forward Deployed Engineer (14); Senior Forward Deployed Engineer (8); Forward Deployed Engineer Senior (2); Forward Deployed Engineer Director (2); Forward Deployed Engineer Senior Consultant (2); Forward Deployed Engineer, Senior (1); Forward Deployed Engineering Principal (1)
$103K – $295KFiled base wage · median $188K · n = 30
Indianapolis, IN and 24 moreDOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2025–2026 - All employers
All FDE-titled engineering roles
$90K – $300KFiled base wage · median $181K · n = 73
San Francisco, CADOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2024–2026 - All employers
All FDE-titled engineering roles
$85K – $289KFiled base wage · median $150K · n = 205
New York, NYDOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2019–2026 - All employers
Forward Deployed Engineer (Levels.fyi title, includes FDSE alias)
$130K – $363KTotal pay, self-reported · median $216K · n = 155
United StatesLevels.fyi (opens in a new tab) · checked 5 Oct 2026 - All employers
Forward Deployed Engineer (Levels.fyi title, includes FDSE alias)
$125K – $225KBase pay, self-reported · median $175K · n = 155
United StatesLevels.fyi (opens in a new tab) · checked 5 Oct 2026 - All employers
Forward Deployed Engineer (Levels.fyi title, includes FDSE alias)
£52K – £316KTotal pay, self-reported · median £142K · n = 29
United KingdomLevels.fyi (opens in a new tab) · checked 5 Oct 2026 - All employers
Forward Deployed Engineer (Levels.fyi title, includes FDSE alias)
£52K – £150KBase pay, self-reported · median £110K · n = 29
United KingdomLevels.fyi (opens in a new tab) · checked 5 Oct 2026 - Palantir
Forward Deployed Engineer
$201K – $620KTotal pay, self-reported · median $278K · n = 11
United StatesLevels.fyi (opens in a new tab) · checked 5 Oct 2026 - Palantir
Forward Deployed Engineer
$145K – $230KBase pay, self-reported · median $170K · n = 11
United StatesLevels.fyi (opens in a new tab) · checked 5 Oct 2026 - All employers except Palantir
All FDE-titled engineering roles
$77K – $300KFiled base wage · median $170K · n = 276
United StatesDOL LCA filings (opens in a new tab) · filed 2019–2026
Filed wages are the base pay an employer filed for a visa hire, without equity or bonus, and cover visa-sponsored hires only. Their range runs from the lowest to the highest filing; the median is computed by us from every certified case. Self-reported ranges run from the 10th to the 90th percentile. Posted ranges are as advertised. Small samples are shown as they are: check the n.
Posted pay ranges in live job ads
Ranges as posted on the companies’ own job boards, checked on 5 Oct 2026. One line per company and role type, lowest to highest posted figure. Several US states require a pay range in job ads, which is why most lines are US roles.
| Company | Role | Where | Posted range | Posts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Databricks | Engineer | United States | $153K – $250K | 61 |
| Palantir | Engineer | United States | $90K – $200K | 36 |
| OpenAI | Engineer | United States | $146K – $445K | 13 |
| Scale AI | Engineer | United States | $180K – $315K | 4 |
| Glean | Engineer | United States | $160K – $270K | 3 |
| Snorkel AI | Engineer | United States | $180K – $320K | 3 |
| Anduril | Engineer | United States | $113K – $253K | 2 |
| Baseten | Engineer | US and Canada, United States | $165K – $400K | 2 |
| Brex | Engineer | United States | $152K – $240K | 2 |
| Cohere | Engineer | US and Canada | $140K – $325K | 2 |
| Commure | Engineer | United States | $130K – $230K | 2 |
| Modal | Engineer | United States | $180K – $250K | 2 |
| Ramp | Engineer | United States | $189K – $330K | 2 |
| Cresta | Engineer | United States | $185K – $235K | 1 |
| Labelbox | Engineer | United States | $140K – $200K | 1 |
| Legora | Engineer | United States | $273K – $369K | 1 |
| Notion | Engineer | United States | $175K – $240K | 1 |
| Parloa | Engineer | United States | $140K – $160K | 1 |
| SierraTitle differs | Engineer | United States | $230K – $390K | 1 |
| Tennr | Engineer | United States | $160K – $180K | 1 |
| Vapi | Engineer | United States | $200K – $280K | 1 |
| Cohere | Engineer | Canada | CA$175K – CA$385K | 3 |
| Anthropic | Engineer | United Kingdom | £225K – £255K | 1 |
| Palantir | Engineer | European Union | €2.8K – €6K a month | 1 |
| SierraTitle differs | Engineer | United Kingdom | £190K – £285K | 1 |
| Harvey | Engineer (OTE) | United States | $255K – $382K | 3 |
| Databricks | Manager | United States | $130K – $320K | 11 |
| Snorkel AI | Manager | United States | $200K – $403K | 3 |
| Cohere | Manager | US and Canada | $265K – $325K | 2 |
| OpenAI | Manager | United States | $302K – $385K | 2 |
| Anthropic | Manager | United States | $320K – $405K | 1 |
| Labelbox | Manager | United States | $190K – $250K | 1 |
| Scale AI | Manager | United States | $285K – $357K | 1 |
| Anthropic | Manager | United Kingdom | £255K – £325K | 1 |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
- Databricks$153K – $250KEngineer · United States · 61 posts
- Palantir$90K – $200KEngineer · United States · 36 posts
- OpenAI$146K – $445KEngineer · United States · 13 posts
- Scale AI$180K – $315KEngineer · United States · 4 posts
- Glean$160K – $270KEngineer · United States · 3 posts
- Snorkel AI$180K – $320KEngineer · United States · 3 posts
- Anduril$113K – $253KEngineer · United States · 2 posts
- Baseten$165K – $400KEngineer · US and Canada, United States · 2 posts
- Brex$152K – $240KEngineer · United States · 2 posts
- Cohere$140K – $325KEngineer · US and Canada · 2 posts
- Commure$130K – $230KEngineer · United States · 2 posts
- Modal$180K – $250KEngineer · United States · 2 posts
- Ramp$189K – $330KEngineer · United States · 2 posts
- Cresta$185K – $235KEngineer · United States · 1 post
- Labelbox$140K – $200KEngineer · United States · 1 post
- Legora$273K – $369KEngineer · United States · 1 post
- Notion$175K – $240KEngineer · United States · 1 post
- Parloa$140K – $160KEngineer · United States · 1 post
- SierraTitle differs$230K – $390KEngineer · United States · 1 post
- Tennr$160K – $180KEngineer · United States · 1 post
- Vapi$200K – $280KEngineer · United States · 1 post
- CohereCA$175K – CA$385KEngineer · Canada · 3 posts
- Anthropic£225K – £255KEngineer · United Kingdom · 1 post
- Palantir€2.8K – €6K a monthEngineer · European Union · 1 post
- SierraTitle differs£190K – £285KEngineer · United Kingdom · 1 post
- Harvey$255K – $382KEngineer (OTE) · United States · 3 posts
- Databricks$130K – $320KManager · United States · 11 posts
- Snorkel AI$200K – $403KManager · United States · 3 posts
- Cohere$265K – $325KManager · US and Canada · 2 posts
- OpenAI$302K – $385KManager · United States · 2 posts
- Anthropic$320K – $405KManager · United States · 1 post
- Labelbox$190K – $250KManager · United States · 1 post
- Scale AI$285K – $357KManager · United States · 1 post
- Anthropic£255K – £325KManager · United Kingdom · 1 post
“Title differs”: the post is titled differently but describes the role as forward deployed. OTE ranges include variable pay. The table above links every post.
Range by experience
Experience is mapped to the Department of Labor’s four wage levels. No interpolation: each range is the 25th to 75th percentile of real filings at that level.
United States
Filings are split by wage level only for the US as a whole. The state and city rows in the table above are not.
99 certified filings at Department of Labor wage level III, which the DOL describes as experienced, filed 2020 to 2026. These are filed wages, not our estimate. Filed wages are base pay only: on Levels.fyi, US FDEs report a $216K median total pay against a $175K median base.
- Level I · entry$132K–$160K · median $145K · n 91
- Level II · mid$140K–$180K · median $155K · n 184
- Level III · senior$150K–$210K · median $181K · n 99
- Level IV · lead$161K–$225K · median $192K · n 68
Where the public data runs out
Sources we tried and what they did not give us, from the research behind this page.
- Glassdoorblocked
Glassdoor’s salary pages refused our requests, so this page uses no Glassdoor figures.
- Palantir blog (Medium) "Dev versus Delta"blocked
The post would not open without a browser check, so we took the role description from Palantir’s own job posts instead.
- IT Jobs Watch (UK advertised salaries)no data
It has no page for the Forward Deployed Engineer title, so there are no UK advertised-salary figures for the role.
- Levels.fyi company FDE pagesno data
These companies have no FDE pay reports on Levels.fyi: Anthropic, Ramp, Anduril Industries, Sierra, Decagon, Baseten, Harvey, Glean, Cohere, Mistral AI, Hebbia, Shield AI, Applied Intuition, MongoDB, Snowflake, Invisible Technologies, Vapi, Intercom, Writer and Mercor. C3 AI, Boston Consulting Group, Modal and Giga have no FDE page at all. Where Levels.fyi showed a modelled range with no reports behind it, as for Decagon and Vapi, we left it out.
- Levels.fyi location pagesno data
There are no FDE pay reports for Los Angeles, Boston, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Singapore, Japan or the United Arab Emirates. London has no page of its own, so the UK figures cover the whole country. Pages that combine a company and a city show general software engineer pay, so we did not use them.
- H-1B LCA datapartial
There are no FDE-titled filings for Anduril, Ramp, Sierra, Decagon, Harvey, Glean, Cohere or Mistral. OpenAI files the role as “Member of Forward Deployed Staff” or “Member of Go To Market Staff, Forward Deployed Engineer” (8 filings, all in 2025 and 2026), Anthropic as “Member of Technical Staff, Forward Deployed Engineer” (3 filings), and Databricks has 2. Filed wages are base pay only, with no equity, and cover visa-sponsored hires only. We read them through h1bdata.info, which republishes the Department of Labor’s files.
- H-1B LCA data: excluded casesnote
19 FDE-titled filings are left out because they were withdrawn, denied, or certified and then withdrawn.
- Job boards not reachedgap
We could not reach a public jobs board for these companies, so none of their posts are counted: Rippling, Hebbia, Retool, Applied Intuition, Shield AI, Giga, Hightouch, Basis, Hippocratic AI, Plaid, Mistral AI, Wayve, Cleo, Pigment, Hugging Face, Black Forest Labs and Salesforce. Salesforce’s own careers site was not checked.
- Job boards with no FDE-titled roles livenote
No FDE-titled roles were open at Sierra, Decagon, Writer, Mercor, Clay, Perplexity, Cognition, LangChain, Rillet, Unify, Vanta, Lovable, Synthesia, PolyAI, Tractable, Helsing, Granola, Dust or Photoroom. Sierra and Decagon use other titles: Sierra’s “Deployed Infrastructure Engineer” post describes the role as forward deployed, and Decagon’s “Agent Deployment Engineer” is shown as an adjacent role.
- Postings outside US/Canadamostly unpublished
Most FDE posts outside North America publish no pay. That includes Palantir in the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East; OpenAI in the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East; Anthropic in Europe; Scale AI in the UK and the Middle East; Databricks in the UK, Europe and Asia-Pacific; Cohere in the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East; Cresta in the UK, Europe and Asia-Pacific; ElevenLabs in the UK; Modal and H Company in Europe; Notion in Asia-Pacific; Faculty in the UK; and n8n in the UK and Europe. Only Anthropic and Sierra in London (in pounds) and Palantir in Vilnius (in euros a month) publish FDE pay outside North America, and Notion publishes euros for a Forward Deployed Architect role.
Why FDE pay varies this much
Seniority
Filed medians run from $145K at wage level I to $192K at level IV (91 and 68 filings).
Company
Palantir files a $150K median across 173 filings. OpenAI files $226K, from only 8.
Base vs total pay
Filed wages are base pay only. Self-reported total pay adds equity and bonus: a $216K median on Levels.fyi against $175K base (155 US reports).
Where the numbers come from
- US Department of Labor LCA disclosure data, via h1bdata.info checked 5 Oct 2026
- 449 certified FDE-titled filings from 113 employers, 2019 to 2026. Medians and percentiles computed by us.
- Base wage only, and only for visa-sponsored hires. h1bdata.info mirrors the DOL files.
- 19 FDE-titled filings are left out because they were withdrawn, denied, or certified and then withdrawn.
- Levels.fyi forward deployed engineer pages checked 5 Oct 2026
- Self-reported offers: total pay and base. Ranges are the 10th to 90th percentile; small samples are shown with their n.
- Company job boards (Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever and company sites)checked 5 Oct 2026
- 453 live FDE-titled or adjacent posts found; 275 published a pay range. The posted figures here are the 173 FDE engineering and engineering-manager posts among them. Every row links its post.
Three kinds of pay data
Each answers a different question. Read the label on a figure before you compare it with another.
Filed wages
Base pay employers filed with the US Department of Labor for H-1B hires. Legally filed, but base pay only and visa-sponsored hires only.
Self-reported pay
Offers people entered on Levels.fyi, as total pay (base, stock and bonus) and as base. Useful but unaudited, and some samples are small.
Posted ranges
Pay ranges in live job ads, as the employer wrote them. Current, but a posted range is not an offer.
Questions
FDE pay questions
What does a forward deployed engineer earn?
It depends on which number you ask for. Filed base wages for FDE-titled roles have a $160K median across 449 certified filings from 2019 to 2026. People reporting on Levels.fyi in the US give a $216K median total pay and a $175K median base.
Why is filed pay lower than self-reported pay?
Filed wages are the base salary an employer put on a visa filing, with no equity or bonus. Levels.fyi total pay adds stock and bonus. The two answer different questions, so this page never mixes them.
Why are there no Glassdoor figures?
Glassdoor blocked our requests, so none of its figures are used. If you see a Glassdoor number quoted elsewhere, check it on Glassdoor yourself.
Why is there so little data outside the US?
Levels.fyi has few FDE reports outside the US, and most FDE job posts outside North America publish no pay. The data gaps section lists what we looked for and did not find.
How current is the data?
Every source was checked on 5 Oct 2026. Filed wages cover filings from several years, and each row says which years. Posted ranges are from posts that were live that day.
How can I check a figure myself?
Every row links its source: the h1bdata.info search for the filings, the Levels.fyi page, or the job post itself.
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