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Forward Deployed Engineering

Engineers embedded with your team, in your real environment

Our engineers work closely with your product and operations teams to understand the problem in its real environment, build the appropriate solution, integrate it with existing systems and support adoption.

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What it is

A delivery model, not a technology

Engineers work close to the problem, with your product and operations teams, inside the real environment, rather than at a distance from a written specification. It does not mean sending engineers on-site by default.

  • Time spent watching the process before proposing what to build
  • Direct contact with the people who will use the system, not only their manager
  • Accountability that continues through integration and adoption
Two engineers reviewing code together at a desktop monitor
Engineers following a process on screen at their desks
A team working at desks and a whiteboard in a bright studio
Colleagues gathered around a laptop, talking through the work

How it differs from outsourcing and staff augmentation

Who defines the problem
Shared. We take responsibility for the definition as well as the build.
What you get
Understanding the problem, shaping the solution, integrating it and supporting adoption.
Engineers and operations staff working side by side over drawings, screens and a tablet
  • Understand
  • Design
  • Build
  • Deploy
  • Improve
  • Understanding the problem
  • Shaping the solution
  • Integrating it
  • Supporting adoption
  • Code review
  • Documented handover

Is it right for you

Is forward-deployed engineering right for you?

It is valuable when the problem is not yet fully understood, and unnecessary when it is.

An operations team around a meeting table reviewing charts on a large screen

A good fit when

The work has to be understood before it is built

  • An AI prototype impressed everyone and then stalled
  • A team member spends hours each week moving data between tools
  • Several tools each hold part of the truth, and reconciliation is manual

The wrong fit when

The specification is already precise

  • You have a precise specification, an internal architect and a stable scope
  • Your team cannot make time for access, context and decisions

The model depends on proximity, and proximity requires participation.

See the Sprint

Discovery process

What the first two weeks actually look like

What it asks of your team

  • Access to the people who do the work, not only the person who owns the budget
  • A named decision-maker who can settle scope questions within a day or two
  • Credentials and environment access scoped and agreed in the first week
Overhead view of a small team taking notes around laptops on a wooden table

  1. Week one: watching

    Sitting with the people who run the process, reading the tickets and messages the work generates, and listing every system it touches, including the spreadsheets nobody calls a system. No code is written.

    Deliverable: a description of the problem the operations team agrees with

  2. Week two: a shortlist worth building

    The findings become a shortlist of things worth building, each with a stated outcome and an estimate. Some recommendations will be process changes rather than software.

    Deliverable: a shortlist with outcomes and estimates

After week two, the work follows five stages: Understand, Design, Build, Deploy, Improve. How we work

An engineer sketching a system on a whiteboard while two colleagues watch

Benefits

What changes when engineers stay close to the work

The real problem gets examined

We follow the process as it actually runs, write down where it breaks and what that costs, then choose the technology.

Works with your existing team

We work alongside internal engineers, product managers and operations teams. Ownership, code review and access are agreed at the start.

Humans stay accountable

Where an automated decision carries financial, legal or customer impact, the design keeps a named person accountable for approving it.

Documented handover

Architecture notes, runbooks, environment details and known limitations are written down so your team can operate the system without us.

Industries

Industries we support

Example workflows. Not client claims.

Intake documents, referral routing, scheduling and records that live in too many places.

Learn more

Questions

Before you get in touch

Anything else, ask us directly. Enquiries are usually answered within one working day.

Does forward-deployed mean on-site?

No. Engineers work close to your operational context and take part in defining the solution, not only implementing tickets. It does not mean sending engineers on-site by default.

How is this different from staff augmentation?

Staff augmentation adds capacity to a backlog you already own. Forward-deployed engineering shares responsibility for understanding the problem, shaping the solution, integrating it and supporting adoption.

What do you need from our team?

Access to the people who do the work, a named decision-maker for scope questions, scoped credentials in the first week, and willingness to hear that part of the problem may be organisational rather than technical.

How do we start?

Usually with the AI Workflow Opportunity Sprint: one workflow examined in 5-7 working days, with a written answer on whether it is worth building.

Ask how the problem will be examined

Ask how the problem will be examined before a solution is proposed, who will be available to your team and when, how scope changes are handled, and what handover includes.

Discuss your project Usually answered within one working day.