Forward Deployed Engineer
Job Summary
Function
ServicesOur Company
Were Hitachi Vantara the data foundation trusted by the worlds innovators. Our resilient high-performance data infrastructure means that customers from banks to theme parks can focus on achieving the incredible with data.
If youve seen the Las Vegas Sphere youve seen just one example of how we empower businesses to automate optimize innovate and wow their customers. Right now were laying the foundation for our next wave of looking for people who love being part of a diverse global team and who get excited about making a real-world impact with data.
Job description
This role is open to candidates who are local and authorized to work in Toronto or New York.
Our Company
Were Hitachi Vantara the data foundation trusted by the worlds innovators. Our resilient high-performance data infrastructure means that customers from banks to theme parks - can focus on achieving the incredible with data.
If youve seen the Las Vegas Sphere youve seen just one example of how we empower businesses to automate optimize innovate and wow their customers. Right now were laying the foundation for our next wave of growth. Were looking for people who love being part of a diverse global team and who get excited about making a real-world impact with data.
What You Will be Doing
Position Overview
We areseekinga highly skilled Forward-Deployed Engineer (FDE) with deepexpertisein data virtualization hybrid cloud architectures and AI-driven solution validation. This role partners directly with customers to design and prototype composable data and AI solutions thatvalidatetechnical feasibility performance assumptions and measurable business value across distributed data ecosystems.
The FDE role blends hands-on engineering limited-scopeeconomic modeling and customer-facing technical storytelling. The ideal candidate thrives in the field integrating partner technologies building working prototypes and demonstrating GenAI and agentic AI outcomes using customer and industry datasets.
Role Boundaries & Ownership
This role focuses on proving technical feasibility and business value through hands-on prototyping and customer facing engagements.
This role is not:
- A Professional Services delivery role responsible for production implementation
- A standard Pre-Sales or Solution Architecture role focused on product configuration
- An operational or run-state ownership role
This role partners closely with:
- Sales and Solution Architecture for opportunity shaping and technical validation
- Professional Services and Managed Services for delivery and operational handoff
- Product and Engineering teams for field feedback validation and learning transfer
Key Responsibilities
Data Architecture & Engineering
- Design and prototype data virtualization architectures enabling unified near real-time access to distributed data sources for validating feasibility performance and integration assumptions.
- Build prototype-level API-based extraction streaming ETL and ELT pipelines.
- Integrate distributed query and transformation engines such as Spark Presto and SQL-based platforms in POV environments.
- Create reference architectures and working prototypes across AWS Azure GCP private cloud and on-premises environments.
- Perform workload and performance evaluations forcompute networking storage and GPU-accelerated environments.
AI GenAI & Agentic AI Enablement
- Execute proof-of-value engagements using customer and industry datasets.
- Build AI-driven prototypesshowcasingRAG automation and agentic workflows.
- DemonstrateAI feasibility using hybrid and GPU-accelerated environments.
- Translate prototype outcomes into technical and business value narratives.
Financial & Efficiency Modeling
- Build lightweight ROI TCO and cost comparison models to support POV outcomes.
- Evaluate architectural trade-offs within bounded validation efforts.
- Estimatefinancial impactof GenAI and agentic AI use cases.
Customer Engagement & Presales
- Translate business requirements into prototype-level architectures.
- Lead discovery sessions technical workshops and POV execution.
- Collaborate across sales solution architecture product and delivery teams for handoff.
What You Will Bring to the Team
Technical Skills & Experience
- Strong experience with data virtualization platforms such as Zetaris Starburst Dremio or equivalent technologies.
- Handson exposure to modern data platforms including Databricks Snowflake Teradata and cloudnative data warehouses.
- Proficiency with Spark Presto SQL distributed query engines and performance optimization concepts.
- Experience building prototypelevel ETL/ELT pipelines and integration workflows.
- Knowledge of APIbased data integration patterns.
- Experience working in hybrid multicloud and onprem environments.
- Familiarity with enterprise infrastructure and accelerated compute platforms from vendors such as Hitachi Cisco Supermicro HPE Dell Pure and NVIDIA.
- Understanding of data governance security and access control principles.
- Comfort operating within largescale enterprise data ecosystems.
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior experience in forwarddeployed engineering field engineering or customerfacing technical roles.
- Experience supporting consultative prototypedriven or POVled selling motions.
- Handson exposure to GenAI or agentic AI solutions in validation or demonstration contexts.
- Experience leveraging industry datasets or benchmarking frameworks.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to simplify complex technical concepts.
Why This Role
This role is ideal for engineers who thrive at the intersection of deep technical engineering customer engagement and value validation.
As a ForwardDeployed Engineer you will help customers prove what is possible accelerating confidence and decisionmakingwhile enabling clean handoff to delivery and operational teams once value and feasibility are established.
As required by the equal pay and transparency acts the expected base salary for this position is: $125K to $270K Expected on-target earnings: $170K to $330K
The expected pay is determined based on a variety of factors including but not limited to depth of experience in the practice area. Employees are eligible to participate in Hitachi Vantaras bonus/variable/commission pay programs where applicable and are subject to the programs conditions and restrictions.
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About us
Were a global team of innovators. Together we harness engineering excellence and passion for insight to co-create meaningful solutions to complex challenges. We turn organizations into data-driven leaders that can a make positive impact on their industries and society. If you believe that innovation can inspire the future this is the place to fulfil your purpose and achieve your potential.
Fostering innovation through diverse perspectives
Hitachi is a global company operating across a wide range of industries and regions. One of the things that sets Hitachi apart is the diversity of our business and people which drives our innovation and growth.
We are committed to building an inclusive culture based on mutual respect and merit-based systems. We believe that when people feel valued heard and safe to express themselves they do their best work.
How we look after you
We help take care of your today and tomorrow with industry-leading benefits support and services that look after your holistic health and wellbeing. Were also champions of life balance and offer flexible arrangements that work for you (role and location dependent). Were always looking for new ways of working that bring out our best which leads to unexpected ideas. So here youll experience a sense of belonging and discover autonomy freedom and ownership as you work alongside talented people you enjoy sharing knowledge with.
Were proud to say were an equal opportunity employer and welcome all applicants for employment without attention to race colour religion sex sexual orientation gender identity national origin veteran age disability status or any other protected characteristic. Should you need reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process please let us know so that we can do our best to set you up for success.
Required Experience:
IC
About Company
Discover how Hitachi Rail is connecting the future of mobility through integrated rail solutions, across rolling stock, signalling, digital technology and more.