OpenAI launches Forward-Deployed Engineers: A new team to accelerate AI adoption inside the world’s largest companies

OpenAI has announced the creation of its Forward-Deployed Engineers (FDE) team, a specialized group of full-stack engineers who will embed directly within client organizations to deliver mission-critical AI solutions.

The program, first revealed by OpenAI executives at the Fortune Brainstorm AI 2025 event, marks a strategic shift: from offering just powerful models, OpenAI now aims to guarantee enterprise results through hands-on, on-site engineering.

Forward-Deployed Engineers bring AI from concept to production

The core role of a Forward-Deployed Engineer is to work temporarily—either physically or remotely—within client companies. These engineers map business processes, design bespoke AI architectures, and take generative models from proof-of-concept to production-ready systems. The approach is inspired by the Palantir model, but focused on OpenAI’s own technologies such as GPT-4o and next-generation autonomous agents.

Each FDE typically manages two or three strategic accounts per year, supporting large contracts that include API consumption, professional services, and dedicated technical support. Their mission is to quickly identify high-ROI use cases, build secure and compliant pipelines, and ensure a smooth transition of the deployed solution to the customer’s IT team—all within a few months.

The program is built to overcome enterprise AI bottlenecks

OpenAI’s leadership highlights that the biggest barrier to enterprise AI adoption is moving from initial experimentation to large-scale rollout. The FDE initiative directly targets this problem, with engineers responsible for designing robust guardrails, integrating with legacy IT environments, and maintaining clear benchmarks for measurable business impact.

By embedding talent within client teams, OpenAI aims to shorten time-to-value, raise the level of technical trust, and cement long-term relationships based on critical, customized solutions.

A global team with top-tier compensation and high ambitions

The FDE team is headquartered in major tech hubs: New York, San Francisco, London, Singapore, Tokyo, and Seoul. OpenAI is hiring aggressively, offering base salaries between $220,000 and $280,000, plus significant equity and performance bonuses. The group, which started in early 2025 with a handful of engineers from big tech and consulting, is projected to grow beyond 100 members by mid-2026. This expansion runs in parallel with the scaling of OpenAI’s Sales & Partnerships divisions.

OpenAI positions the FDE role not only as a strategic lever for clients, but as a talent flywheel: engineers who complete several client cycles are encouraged to launch their own startups, fueling a new wave of AI entrepreneurship.

Early use cases show the reach and versatility of the FDE model

OpenAI describes several current projects already underway. For a global bank, FDEs deployed a GPT-4o agent that analyzes hundreds of thousands of regulatory documents and produces “explain-like-I’m-five” summaries for compliance teams. In Asia, a telecom company uses OpenAI-powered orchestration for workforce scheduling, cutting field intervention times by 30%. In Europe, an automotive client now benefits from an AI copilot that assists over 15,000 engineers in drafting software requirements and debugging embedded systems.

These real-world examples illustrate the program’s capacity to deliver high-impact, custom AI at enterprise scale—moving beyond demo environments to deliver measurable operational value.

OpenAI’s strategy: services and AI, together, to lead the enterprise market

By investing in Forward-Deployed Engineers, OpenAI positions itself as a full-stack AI partner. The goal is clear: ensure that organizations not only access frontier models but also extract tangible business outcomes through tailored deployments and ongoing technical guidance. This “services plus AI” model increases customer retention, creates barriers to switching, and sets OpenAI apart from competitors.

Management estimates that, by 2026, up to 40% of OpenAI’s enterprise revenue will be linked to engagements handled by FDE teams. Each dollar spent on FDE services is projected to generate up to five dollars of infrastructure and API usage in the following years.

With this new program, OpenAI cements its ambition to provide not just cutting-edge models but also complete, end-to-end AI solutions for the world’s most ambitious organizations.

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