Databricks Forward Deployed Engineer jobs
The largest FDE org outside Palantir — 1,900+ customers served in its first year.
The Forward Deployed Engineer role
Databricks FDEs embed with customer teams to ship production data and AI systems — lakehouse migrations through first-of-a-kind GenAI apps (RAG, multi-agent, Text2SQL) built on Mosaic AI. Engagements are outcome-based with shared customer OKRs, not billable hours.
Formal FDE org served 1,900+ customers in its first 12 months.
Databricks FDE salary
Base: official Federal AI FDE posting, July 2026 ($182k–$250k); varies by req. Total comp: levels.fyi Databricks Solution Architect proxy — median ≈ $363k.
The Databricks FDE interview process
- 1Recruiter screen
- 2Coding screen
- 3Spark / distributed-systems deep dive
- 4ML and platform round
- 5Behavioral + hiring manager final — 4–7 weeks
Practice the customer-facing rounds — they decide FDE offers more often than the coding does. Exponent’s FDE interview course covers decomposition rounds, client scenarios, and AI system design.
How Databricks scores
Index score: 78/100. How we rank →
Databricks FDE: common questions
Land the offer, not just the interview.
Practice FDE interview questions, mock interview with peers, and learn the frameworks hiring managers actually score you on.
