Artificial intelligence may be creating a new job category: tech companies are embedding engineers into clients’ workspaces. And these new recruits could be booking your favourite hotdesk for months to come.

OpenAI’s recent push to hire embedded developers, or forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), has opened the floodgates in Canada. Multinationals including Google, Warner Music and Fujitsu, alongside Canadian firms like Thomson Reuters, Cohere and Hopper, have recently advertised similar roles (with some language tweaks, since Canada restricts the title of engineer).

Hiring managers say forward-deployed engineering work is distinct from both IT vendors, who configure systems or host training sessions, and tech consultants, who advise on business issues like procurement. Instead, FDEs spend extended periods working alongside clients to build custom AI products. 

Krish Banerjee, managing director for Accenture Canada’s AI team, likens traditional consultants to contractors that take measurements in your home and return with a kitchen design. An FDE brings lumber and tools to your garage and saws alongside you, he says.

Interest in the field has surged since OpenAI acquired consulting and engineering firm Tomoro in May, creating a US$4-billion deployment company with the help of Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, SoftBank, McKinsey and 15 other partners. Brookfield’s private-equity arm, which invests in businesses ranging from battery manufacturing to mortgage insurance to lottery equipment, plans to send OpenAI engineers into portfolio companies.

If forward-deployed engineering takes off, it could validate AI boosters’ promises that the technology will create new jobs. But others see the trend as evidence that companies are retreating from the idea that AI agents will replace workers. Namaan Mian, chief operating officer for Management Consulted, a firm that helps train aspiring consultants, said it’s a signal that human relationships cannot be replaced by AI alone. Companies won’t see benefits from ad-hoc AI agents without cohesive plans behind them, Mian said. With AI costs rising, strategic thinkers are in demand. 

Manik Sharma, chief of agentic solutions at Ottawa-based supply chain technology firm Kinaxis, was first exposed to FDE at Palantir, which is famous for using the model as its “secret sauce.” Now, he’s preparing Kinaxis to build its own forward-deployed teams.

AI differs from older products because it can’t yet be set up by flipping a switch and walking away, he said. Senior developers who build long-term client relationships help them embrace systemic change, he added. 

Daniel Hoadley, senior product director at B.C. legaltech firm Clio, began building a deployment team after realizing AI could accelerate custom-feature development. Finding the right candidate is like hunting for a “unicorn”: a sociable yet authoritative technical expert who “isn’t afraid to walk into a boardroom” at a high-powered New York City law firm. Clio is selective with where it places FDE teams too, he said, assigning them only to law firms with strong internal tech teams and high-impact projects.

Because FDE roles require such a unique skill set, many companies deploy them in “pods” that also include product managers, consultants or other subject-matter experts. Consulting firm PwC Canada, for example, is hiring FDE teams while cross-training finance experts in tech skills, and tech experts in finance skills. Rival Boston Consulting Group is also hiring for the role in Canada, while EY announced an FDE collaboration with Microsoft in May.

Yatharth Sejpal, a former Mercer analyst, now runs his own Toronto software firm KnowIdea, which offers FDE and consulting, and understands why the model is catching on in the consulting world. He, too, pairs tech experts with consultants, where the engineering role includes preparing a client’s data and connecting their systems, while the consultant role focuses on interpreting the resulting mass of data.

Still, Sejpal said it is better for AI companies to do their own consulting and let consulting firms preserve their independence, warning that getting too involved with one tech vendor could cloud the neutrality that clients expect from consultants.

“This is something that troubles me,” Sejpal said. Consultants “are an unbiased middle party… I’m not sure how FDE supports that.”

Mian predicts that most consultants won’t compete directly with FDEs on risk or strategy jobs, but consulting firms that have built their businesses around tech implementation may struggle. For the most part, Mian sees it as a new revenue opportunity for consultants that will push the industry toward outcome-based billing practices. 

FDE is “definitely the trend,” said Annie Veillet, who leads PwC Canada’s AI offerings, ”and the path that we feel is going to have the biggest impact both for our clients and for our own transformation.”

Editor’s note: This story has been amended to clarify context around comments by Yatharth Sejpal.