Databricks
20 open Forward Deployed Engineer roles at Databricks across 66 listings, plus 17 closed. Curated with comp bands.
Comp on the board (by role): $182K–$250K · $153K–$210K.
On the board since Jul 2025 · latest role Aug 2026 · still hiring
Our take
Why Databricks
The lakehouse FDE — one of the largest, most geographically spread benches anywhere, with a distinct clearance-gated federal track.
- FDE type
- True forward-deployed
- Travel
- Medium
- Comp
- Competitive
- Stage
- Late-stage
A good fit if you're…
- Data-engineering-heavy engineers who want to ship production GenAI, not just research it
- Candidates who value a huge open-req pipeline and wide geographic mobility
- US citizens with (or eligible for) a clearance eyeing the federal track
- People comfortable with a Spark / distributed-systems interview bar
What the lakehouse FDE builds
Databricks' AI Forward Deployed Engineering team is a customer-facing group that builds and productionizes GenAI on the Databricks platform — RAG over lakehouse data, multi-agent systems, Text2SQL, fine-tuning and MLflow evals — inside the customer's own environment. It's as much serious data engineering as it is model work, which is exactly what makes the role different from a pure applied-AI seat.
The federal & national-security track
Distinct from the commercial org, Databricks runs a clearance-gated US Federal / Public Sector FDE track that helps government customers stand up first-of-its-kind AI applications. These roles require US citizenship and eligibility for a Secret (or higher) clearance, and active clearances are strongly preferred — the gate is what concentrates the least-transparent, highest-stability deployment work here.
Comp & equity reality
Federal FDE roles post a base band of roughly $182K–$250K, with estimated total comp including equity landing around $216K–$522K. Databricks is still private, so that equity is pre-IPO — upside if the valuation keeps climbing, but liquidity comes via secondaries rather than a public ticker, unlike Palantir.
The widest geographic spread on the board
Databricks carries one of the largest FDE pipelines anywhere — on the order of ~98 open reqs worldwide (around 62 in the US) — spanning Amsterdam, Munich, Seoul, Sydney and Bengaluru alongside a long list of US metros. For a candidate, that breadth means real location flexibility and strong internal mobility once you're in.
The interview loop
Expect five stages over roughly four to seven weeks: a recruiter screen, a coding screen, a Spark / distributed-systems deep dive, an ML-and-platform round, and a behavioral plus hiring-manager final. The Spark/distributed round is the distinctive filter — it's where data-engineering depth, not just LLM familiarity, gets tested.
Who thrives, and who bounces
Thrives: engineers with real data-platform depth who want to put GenAI into production, and those comfortable with government work. Bounces: candidates chasing frontier-model research or a pure product-engineering seat — this role lives at the customer's data layer, on-site or close to it.
Questions candidates ask
Does the Databricks FDE require a clearance?
The commercial roles don't. The US Federal / Public Sector track does — US citizenship plus eligibility for a Secret or higher clearance, with active clearances preferred.
Is this more data engineering than AI?
It's genuinely both: lakehouse and Spark data work plus production GenAI (RAG, agents, Text2SQL, fine-tuning). The Spark/distributed-systems interview round reflects that data-first bar.
Is Databricks equity liquid?
No — Databricks is still private, so equity is pre-IPO. Liquidity comes through periodic secondaries, unlike Palantir's publicly-traded stock.
How long is the interview process?
Roughly four to seven weeks across five rounds, including a Spark / distributed-systems deep dive that trips up candidates who prepped only for LLM questions.
Analysis updated 2026-09-17
Open roles at Databricks
Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer - National Security
Senior FDE on Databricks' national security deployment team in Boston, Massachusetts; Delaware; Maryland; remote in California; remote in New York; remote in Washington DC; Virginia; West Virginia at a transparent $182K–$250K. A clearance-track national-security FDE seat — the highest-margin, least salary-transparent corner of deployment work, and Databricks is now openly staffing it.
Forward Deployed Engineer
Mid/Senior FDE on Databricks' deployment team in Berlin, Germany; Munich, Germany (comp not disclosed for this geo). Part of the largest forward-deployed engineering org outside Palantir — Databricks now runs FDE across dozens of geos and verticals simultaneously.
Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer
Senior FDE on Databricks' deployment team in Austin, Texas at a transparent $182K–$250K. Part of the largest forward-deployed engineering org outside Palantir — Databricks now runs FDE across dozens of geos and verticals simultaneously.
Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Public Sector
Senior FDE on Databricks' public sector deployment team remote in Virginia; Remote - Washington DC at a transparent $182K–$250K. Public-sector FDE work is the federal/gov land-grab — Databricks is carving out a dedicated, often clearance-gated track alongside AWS, Scale, and Cognition.
Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Retail
Senior FDE on Databricks' retail deployment team in the Central US at a transparent $182K–$250K. Retail FDE seats target demand-forecasting and personalization workloads — Databricks is building a named retail deployment bench.
Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Financial Services
Senior FDE on Databricks' financial services deployment team in the Central US at a transparent $182K–$250K. Financial-services FDE work is where Databricks' lakehouse plus governance story sells hardest — regulated data, high scrutiny, big budgets.
AI Engineer - FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer)
Mid/Senior FDE on Databricks' deployment team in Seoul, South Korea (comp not disclosed for this geo). Part of the largest forward-deployed engineering org outside Palantir — Databricks now runs FDE across dozens of geos and verticals simultaneously.
Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Healthcare & Life Sciences
Senior FDE on Databricks' healthcare deployment team in Boston, Massachusetts at a transparent $182K–$250K. Healthcare & life-sciences FDE seats mean HIPAA-grade deployments and clinical/biopharma data — a vertical few FDE orgs staff this deliberately.
Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Communications, Media, Entertainment & Games
Senior FDE on Databricks' media deployment team in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at a transparent $182K–$250K. Databricks is one of the only shops staffing dedicated FDEs against media, entertainment & gaming accounts — data-heavy customers with real GenAI appetite.
Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Manufacturing
Senior FDE on Databricks' manufacturing deployment team in Boston, Massachusetts at a transparent $182K–$250K. Manufacturing FDE roles push GenAI into industrial and supply-chain data — an underserved vertical Databricks is now naming explicitly.
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