Senior Software Engineer - Forward Deployment Engineer (FDE)

Role: Senior Software Engineer - Forward Deployment Engineer (FDE)

Location: Bengaluru/Chennai - Hybrid (3 days in Office per week)

About Pearson

Pearson is the world’s leading learning company, dedicated to helping people make progress in their lives through education. We deliver high-quality content, assessments, and digital services to learners, educators, and institutions globally. Our mission is to empower every learner to achieve their potential.

Role Summary

We are seeking a Forward Deployment Engineer (FDE) who combines strong software engineering expertise with a customer-centric mindset to solve complex business problems and deliver production-ready solutions.

The FDE works closely with business stakeholders, product teams, architects, and engineers to understand customer needs, validate ideas, build proof-of-concepts, and deliver scalable capabilities using modern engineering practices.

This role requires strong technical leadership, hands-on engineering expertise, and the ability to translate business requirements into secure, reliable, and maintainable solutions.

Success is measured by delivering customer value, accelerating solution delivery, and enabling successful adoption of the capabilities delivered.

Key Responsibilities

Customer-Centric Solution Delivery

• Work directly with customers, business stakeholders, and product teams to understand requirements and desired outcomes.
• Analyse customer journeys, business workflows, and user pain points.
• Translate business needs into practical technical solutions.
• Ensure customer value remains at the centre of the delivery lifecycle.
• Gather feedback and continuously improve delivered solutions.

Solution Discovery & Proof of Concepts

• Lead technical discovery sessions and solution design workshops.
• Develop proof-of-concepts (POCs), prototypes, and minimum viable solutions to validate assumptions, demonstrate value, and reduce implementation risk.
• Evaluate technology options and recommend suitable approaches.
• Present technical recommendations and trade-offs to stakeholders.
• Support solution shaping and implementation planning activities.

Software Engineering

• Design, develop, test, and deploy production-grade software solutions.
• Build APIs, integrations, microservices, automations, and cloud-native applications.
• Participate in architecture and design discussions.
• Apply software engineering best practices, coding standards, and testing approaches.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical problems.

Cloud Engineering

• Design, build, and support solutions on AWS and/or Azure.
• Apply Infrastructure as Code, Terraform, Kubernetes, cloud automation, and deployment pipelines.
• Implement monitoring, logging, observability, and operational controls.
• Design and contribute to scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-effective cloud solutions.
• Follow cloud engineering and operational excellence practices.

Secure-by-Design Engineering

• Apply secure-by-design principles throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Implement secure coding practices and security controls.
• Participate in threat modelling, vulnerability remediation, and security reviews.
• Apply DevSecOps practices, including automated security validation and compliance checks.
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise security and governance standards.

AI-Assisted Engineering

• Leverage AI-assisted engineering tools to improve productivity and software quality.
• Apply AI-supported approaches for coding, testing, debugging, documentation, and automation.
• Contribute to agentic and automation initiatives where appropriate.
• Follow responsible AI and data governance practices.

Technical Leadership & Collaboration

• Provide technical leadership within project teams.
• Mentor engineers and contribute to technical knowledge sharing.
• Lead code reviews, design reviews, and engineering discussions.
• Collaborate with architects, security teams, product teams, and cloud engineers.
• Influence technical decisions through technical expertise, collaboration, and data-driven recommendations.

Required Qualifications

Customer Focus & Business Acumen

• Strong customer-centric mindset with a focus on delivering measurable business value.
• Experience engaging directly with customers, business stakeholders, and product teams to understand problems, validate assumptions, and shape technical solutions.
• Ability to balance customer experience, business priorities, technical constraints, security requirements, and operational considerations.

Software Engineering

• Strong software development experience using Python, Java, TypeScript, or similar technologies.
• Experience building APIs, integrations, distributed systems, and cloud-native applications.
• Understanding of microservices architecture and modern software engineering principles.
• Experience delivering production-grade solutions.

Cloud Engineering

• Experience with AWS and/or Azure.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code, Terraform, Kubernetes, cloud automation, and deployment pipelines.
• Knowledge of observability, monitoring, logging, and operational excellence practices.
• Understanding of cloud security, scalability, resilience, and cost optimisation.

Security

• Experience applying secure software development practices.
• Understanding of authentication, authorisation, data protection, encryption, and application security.
• Familiarity with DevSecOps principles and security automation.

AI-Assisted Engineering

• Experience using AI-assisted engineering tools within development workflows.
• Understanding of automation, agentic engineering concepts, and modern AI-assisted delivery practices.
• Knowledge of responsible AI practices and governance considerations.

Leadership & Communication

• Demonstrated technical leadership within engineering teams.
• Experience leading proof-of-concepts, pilots, or complex technical initiatives.
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across technical and business teams.
• Passion for continuous learning and innovation.

Success Measures

Success in this role is demonstrated through:

• Successful delivery of secure, scalable, production-ready solutions.
• Effective execution of proof-of-concepts and technology validations.
• Positive customer, stakeholder, and business outcomes.
• High-quality engineering practices and code quality.
• Adoption of cloud engineering, automation, security, and AI-assisted development practices.
• Strong technical leadership and collaboration within teams.
• Contribution to reusable engineering patterns and continuous improvement.

What This Role Is Not

• Not a pure Enterprise Architect.
• Not a traditional Software Engineer working only from a predefined backlog.
• Not a Consultant providing recommendations without accountability.
• Not a Project Manager.
• Not an AI Tool Specialist.
• Not an Individual Hero.