Palantir Forward Deployed Engineer jobs
The original. Twenty years of FDEs embedded everywhere from factory floors to fighter programs.
The Forward Deployed Software Engineer role
Palantir invented the FDE model. FDSEs embed at customer sites building on Foundry, Gotham, and AIP for defense, intelligence, hospitals, manufacturers, and banks — with the paired Deployment Strategist track handling the operational side of the same deployments.
Two decades old and still the core of Palantir’s delivery model — the largest dedicated FDE org anywhere.
Palantir FDE salary
Base: official postings, July 2026 (NY/DC band; new grads $135k–$145k). Total comp: levels.fyi FDSE range, median ≈ $211k. Deployment Strategists band $110k–$170k base.
The Palantir FDE interview process
- 1Recruiter screen — motivation and fit are filtered hard
- 2HackerRank assessment: implementation-heavy coding plus SQL
- 3The signature “decomp” round: decompose a vague real-world system
- 4Further rounds: coding, system design, re-engineering
- 5Hiring manager final
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 Palantir scores
Index score: 87/100. How we rank →
Palantir 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.
