Forward Deployed Engineer (Senior/Staff), AI Foundry Team

At West Monroe, we believe the next generation of consulting will be built by small, highly capable teams that ship real software, solve hard problems, and create measurable value quickly. We are hiring a Forward Deployed Engineer to build and deploy Operational Intelligence solutions for clients. This is a role for engineers who want to be close to the work: writing code, deploying systems, integrating messy source data, building applications people use, and helping turn new ideas into durable software assets.

You will work directly with clients and cross-functional teammates to build production-ready systems that improve how businesses operate. One project might involve integrating fragmented operational systems into a single platform. Another might involve building a workflow automation layer, an internal application, or an AI-enabled interface that helps users act on live business data. The work is varied, fast-moving, and centered on shipping.

This role is best suited for someone who wants to build maintainable software, who likes solving new problems, and who wants to help shape both client solutions and the future of West Monroe’s platform capabilities.

About the role

You will play a leading role in designing, building, and deploying software in client environments. You will work across infrastructure, integrations, data, workflows, and applications. You will move from problem definition to prototype to production, often in close partnership with users and stakeholders.

You will also contribute to the development of repeatable platform capabilities and reusable technical assets that can be applied across engagements.

By the time you have completed a few projects, you will have shipped software across a wide range of environments, business problems, and technical contexts, with more variety and end-to-end ownership than many traditional engineering roles offer.

What you will do

• Build and deploy leading-edge operational intelligence platforms and products that turn fragmented data and workflows into practical, usable systems that improve client operations and drive measurable business outcomes
• Partner with world-class engineers and product leaders to shape technical solutions, improve delivery approaches, and strengthen what we build over time
• Develop full-stack solutions, including services, APIs, applications, dashboards, and intelligent features that help users understand and act on business data
• Integrate client systems and build the data pipelines required to unify information across operational and analytical environments
• Design and implement workflow automations that coordinate actions across people, systems, and processes
• Work directly with users and client stakeholders to understand needs, test ideas, and refine solutions based on feedback
• Support systems in production by monitoring performance, resolving issues across the stack, and continuously improving reliability
• Help create reusable engineering patterns, deployment approaches, and software assets that strengthen future client delivery
• Document architectures, operational procedures, and handoff materials so client teams can own and extend what has been built

What we are looking for

We are looking for engineers who care deeply about building.

You are likely a strong fit if:

• You write clean, production-ready code and care about the craft of software engineering
• You like building from zero, not just maintaining existing systems
• You are energized by hard, unfamiliar problems and can learn quickly when needed
• You are comfortable working across different architectures, codebases, and business contexts
• You can balance speed and quality without becoming rigid about either
• You want to work closely with users and understand whether what you are building is actually useful
• You are comfortable operating with ownership, ambiguity, and a high degree of trust
• You want to help shape not just project outcomes, but how a team builds and delivers over time

Qualifications

Required:

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or a related technical role with significant hands-on building.
• Know how to work as a team, write kind and maintainable code, and are excited about the end user, not just engineering for the sake of engineering
• Production experience with some or all of GraphQL, neo4j, PostgreSQL, Python, TypeScript/React, Erlang, Golang
• Experience integrating multiple third-party systems via REST APIs, webhooks, event-driven patterns, custom connectors, and batch processes
• Ability to operate autonomously in fast-paced, ambiguous client environments with minimal supervision
• Ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. We want engineers who are excited to share (e.g., write, make videos) about their work to one another and non-engineers.
• Experience building and deploying production software in cloud environments such as AWS, Azure, or GCP
• Willingness to travel and embed on-site with clients (25-50%)

Preferred:

• Familiarity with AI/ML tooling: Data warehousing and analysis (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake), LLM integration, RAG pipelines, or similar frameworks
• Background in workflow orchestration (e.g., Temporal, Inngest, Airflow)
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker)
• Exposure to field services, logistics, construction, utilities, or similar operationally complex industries
• Prior consulting or client-facing engineering experience
• Experience in forward deployed, client-embedded, startup, or product-oriented engineering roles

How you will work

You will spend most of your time building. Some weeks that will mean designing a system and writing code heads down. Other weeks it will mean deploying into a client environment, debugging an integration, refining an application based on user feedback, or partnering with stakeholders to make tradeoffs in real time.

You will work on small teams with high ownership. You will be expected to move between technical depth and practical execution. You will likely touch multiple layers of the stack in the same week.

This role is not built for someone who wants to stay narrowly scoped, avoid ambiguity, or sit far from users. It is built for someone who wants to ship.

Why this role is compelling

• You will build real systems that operate in real business environments
• You will work on meaningful problems, not internal abstractions disconnected from outcomes
• You will ship software across a wide range of use cases, industries, and client contexts
• You will have end-to-end ownership, from understanding the problem to deploying the solution
• You will help shape how West Monroe builds and deploys operational intelligence solutions
• You will contribute to both immediate client delivery and longer-term platform innovation

Who should be excited about this role

This role is a strong fit for engineers who want:

• More building, less bureaucracy
• More ownership, less narrow specialization
• More real-world deployment, less theoretical architecture
• More exposure to users and outcomes, less distance from the problem
• More opportunities to create new systems and capabilities, not just maintain old ones