You're getting this because you switched on Careers in The AI Hatchery. Not for you anymore? Unsubscribe in one click or update your email preferences.

Hi there,

This is the first Careers issue. Every other Thursday I'll cover the customer-facing AI roles: what the work is, how people get hired, and which jobs are hiring right now.

If we haven't met: I'm Yujian Tang. I was a software engineer at Amazon, then worked at startups, then was a developer advocate at Zilliz. Now I run OSS4AI, an open-source AI developer community in Seattle.

Three titles come up in almost every "how do I get into AI" post I read: forward deployed engineer (FDE), AI engineer, and AI developer relations (DevRel). From the outside they blur together. Day to day, they're different jobs.

Palantir, which made the title famous, put it this way in 2019: its regular engineers focus on "one capability, many customers," its FDEs on "one customer, many capabilities."

What the week looks like: - You build inside the customer's systems. OpenAI's posting: "coding side-by-side to drive projects to completion on their infrastructure." - You own the scope, not only the code. Anthropic wants FDEs who "anticipate security and procurement gates" and deliver systems "the customer can operate." - You travel. Posted travel runs from "once every 4-8 weeks" at Databricks to "up to 50%" at OpenAI.

The good news for switchers: Anthropic's FDE posting says "Side projects and prototypes count."

One warning. When Bloomberry analyzed 1,000 FDE postings (Nov 2025), about 30% were sales or solutions roles with a new name. The markers: "30-40% coding, <20% travel, $120-200K + commission, quota-carrying." Read the posting before you apply.

Titles vary: Applied AI Engineer, Solutions Architect, agent engineer. You take several customers from the first technical call to a working pilot.

What the week looks like: - You build to win. Anthropic's applied AI engineers build "customized pilots, prototypes, and evaluation suites." - You work with the account team. OpenAI: "Partner with the Sales team across startup accounts." Some ranges include commission. - You teach and report back. Workshops and code reviews with customer engineers, then feedback to your own product and research teams.

The interview tends to be build, demo, defend. Databricks prints its loop in the posting, and one round is literally called "Build, Demo, Pitch!"

Titles: developer advocate, DevRel engineer, developer experience engineer. Your customer is the whole developer community.

What the week looks like: - You build before launch. Vercel: build on products "before they ship, then turn what you learn into demos, templates, and open source projects developers actually clone and run." - You teach in public. Tutorials, sample apps, video, talks, meetups. - You run the community. Pinecone's posting includes the Discord and "recurring office hours." - You carry feedback home. "Hit the rough edges first and make sure they get fixed before launch" (Vercel again).

It's still an engineering job. The postings we read all ask for real code, and the interview usually centers on a 15-20 minute talk teaching a technical topic to a mixed panel.

DevRel is a dynamic role that includes speaking at live events, creating webinars, and writing tutorials In any given week, you may find yourself creating a new tutorial as well as giving a demonstration of something you built three months ago and have demo'd more than 10 times. The most surprising part is that there's always people new to what you're talking about.

Mostly A: FDE. Mostly B: applied AI engineer. Mostly C: DevRel. A mix of A and B: look at agent-builder roles, like Sierra's agent engineers, who own customer agents "from initial pilot through deployment and continuous iteration."

DevRel is a great role for people with some software engineering experience who like to be among people. It's really a personality game.

The free careers map goes deeper on all three: pay, what each interview tests, and a 30-day plan. Get the careers map.

These eight links were rechecked on November 11, 2026. Listings can change or close without notice. Pay below is the employer's posted range, not take-home pay; compensation terms vary by role.

FDE - Databricks, Associate Forward Deployed Engineer (Mountain View-based; the posting also lists NYC/Mountain View hub cities, hybrid office expectations and up to 20% customer travel). Asks for 2+ years. Databricks calls it "an early-career role" where you learn "alongside senior FDEs." An explicitly early-career option on this list. Posting - OpenAI, Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Seattle (Seattle, hybrid, travel up to 50%). $185K to $300K annual base pay, plus equity. Asks for 5+ years including customer-facing work, plus systems built on LLMs. Posting

Applied AI engineer - Anthropic, Applied AI Engineer, Enterprise (San Francisco or NYC). $200K to $320K posted annual compensation. Asks for 4+ years as an FDE, product engineer, software engineer or technical PM; "Former technical founders are also encouraged to apply." Rolling, no deadline. Posting

AI DevRel - Pinecone, Staff Developer Advocate (remote listing, with a strong San Francisco/Bay Area community focus). $140K to $240K cash compensation, plus equity. The requirements list 2+ years in a technical role, but the description calls this a senior role and asks for demonstrated community ownership and in-person event experience. Posting - Vercel, DevRel Engineer, Agentic Infrastructure (listing header: hybrid, SF/NYC/Austin; the body says location may vary, so confirm arrangements with the recruiter). $168K to $252K San Francisco base pay. Asks for 5+ years. Applications without a link to "something you made that taught developers something" won't be considered. Posting

A program (DevRel work before the title) - Claude Community Ambassadors (Anthropic). Host meetups and workshops in your city, with event funding and monthly API credits. "No developer title required." This is not a paid job: the program explicitly does not include direct payment. Community experience is still required. Apply

Calls for talks (a first talk is the best DevRel proof) - Global AI Community Seattle. Free, volunteer-run meetups rotating between Seattle and Bellevue. A rolling call; agents and MCP are on its topic list. The page lists planned dates including November 18, 2026, and January 20, 2027. The rolling call closes June 30, 2027, at 11:59 PM Pacific. Submit - NODES AI 2027 (Neo4j). Free online conference on April 15, 2027, on graphs, memory and agents. Submissions close December 19, 2026, at 11:59 PM Pacific. Submit

Sources for every quote are on the web version.

Yujian

P.S. Which of the three are you aiming for? Hit reply with A, B or C and one line on where you are now. Your answers shape the next issue.