Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

The Product Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) team is Salesforces zero-to-one engine for new agentic product innovation. We embed directly with our most strategic customers to validate emerging AI capabilities, harden the platform under real-world conditions, and transform every field insight into repeatable patterns that shape the product roadmap. As a Senior Manager of Forward Deployed Engineers, you will lead high-performing teams delivering enterprise-scale Agentforce and AI transformations. You will combine people leadership, architectural governance, operational excellence, and strategic growth ownership. Manage and mentor a team of Forward Deployed Engineers , providing technical guidance and career development. Most technical roles ask you to implement what already exists. This role asks you to define what comes next. Youll work with AI features before theyre named, solve problems before there are playbooks, and build the artifacts that the rest of the field will use for years. Your work doesnt just help one customer it hardens the agentic platform for every customer that comes after. The ideal candidate brings high agency and self-motivation to ambiguous, high-stakes environments. You thrive when theres no established answer, move fast without losing rigor, and treat every customer engagement as a learning opportunity that makes the platform better for everyone. Youre endlessly curious, quick to adapt, and energized by problems that havent been solved yet. Your Impact Research & Field Validation Deploy and stress-test pilot features with customers, identifying platform gaps and feeding structured findings back to Technology & Product Conduct feasibility research on novel use cases determining whats possible, whats not, and what needs to change in the product to get there Co-develop hypotheses with Technology & Product and design experiments to validate them in the field Document and escalate critical engineering issues with detailed evidence packages to accelerate resolution Customer Engagement Lead technical engagement of new products and features Embed directly with customer teams to deeply understand their operational environment and architect solutions that solve real problems at scale Run rapid prototyping and POC cycles to validate technical feasibility Serve as the primary technical advisor and escalation point for your customer portfolio Product Acceleration & Feedback Build reusable accelerators, playbooks, and reference architectures that address critical product gaps and directly shape the agentic platform roadmap Partner directly with Product Managers and Engineers to influence roadmap priorities based on evidence captured directly from customers Represent the voice of the customer in internal product discussions and planning cycles Analyze competitive landscape to identify and validate Salesforces key differentiators informing both field engagements and product feedback loops Produce thought leadership, best practices, and enablement content that raises the bar for new product releases across the Salesforce community Required Qualifications 12 + years of hands-on engagement in enterprise software or SaaS environments, with a strong foundation in Salesforce development. At least 5 years of experience in people Management roles. Demonstrated experience deploying AI/LLM-based solutions including agentic frameworks, prompt engineering, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) Advanced proficiency in Apex, Lightning Web Components, Lightning Flows , JavaScript. Deep understanding of Salesforce platform architecture including data modeling, security, and sharing frameworks. Experience designing scalable enterprise solutions and applications Translate business requirements into scalable technical architecture, solution blueprints, and phased implementation roadmaps. Architect multi-cloud Salesforce implementations spanning Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and industry solutions. Design and govern enterprise integration architectures using REST/SOAP, middleware, and event-driven patterns; integrate Salesforce with ERP/Finance/CPQ/Marketing Automation/data platforms. Establish enterprise data governance: data quality, enrichment, privacy, retention, and compliance. Establish DevOps and release frameworks using Salesforce DX, CI/CD pipelines, Git/version control, environment strategy, and release governance. Lead architecture risk assessments, performance impact analysis, and serve as escalation authority for complex issues. Agentforce delivery: Experience in at least 2 end-to-end Agentforce projects/AI Projects with involvement in discovery, solution design, implementation, rollout, and defining the customer roadmap for enhancements. Hands-on working knowledge across Agentforce capabilities including: Agent development, Agent security / access controls, guardrails ,Deployment & environment strategy, testing approach Expertise supporting agent deployment, testing, and release management, including functional testing, grounding validation, and regression testing across environments. Experience with monitoring agent performance, refining prompts, and optimizing response quality based on user feedback and usage analytics. Strong diagnostic and problem decomposition instincts able to pinpoint whether a failure is a product bug, a configuration error, or a data issue, even in low-documentation environments Exceptional written communication skills: able to document builds, failures, and field observations in structured form that Product & Engineering can act on without a follow-up call Certifications : Salesforce certified Agentforce Specialist, Data 360 Consultant & Platform developer I ,Platform developer II Preferred Qualifications Prior experience in an forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, or embedded technical advisory role Experience with Salesforce Data 360, Agentforce platform Deep expertise in enterprise data architecture, security, and integrations, including REST/GraphQL APIs, SaaS platform architecture, and common data integration patterns Proficiency in one or more programming languages (Python, JavaScript, Apex, or Java) Experience with product telemetry and observability analysis to identify platform patterns and surface actionable insights High agency, self-motivation, and agility quotient you thrive in ambiguous, high-stakes environments, operate without a playbook, and default to experimentation and fast iteration over certainty, treating every challenge as an opportunity to learn and evolve Experience with CCaaS platforms such as Genesys, NICE CXone, Amazon Connect, or Cisco Webex Contact Center Certifications: Salesforce System or Application Architect