Forward Deployed Engineers: Embedded Engineering from Requirement to Production
Our forward deployed engineers (FDE) join your team remotely or on site, learn how your business actually runs, and own delivery end to end — from the first conversation with your operators to a system running in production.
An FDE works inside your workflow — your chat groups, your data, your operators — instead of waiting for a specification. Requirements are discovered where the work actually happens.
The same engineer handles discovery, integration, data, backend, front end and deployment. No hand-offs between analysts, developers and operations, so nothing is lost in translation.
We ship a working slice into your real environment early, then iterate. Audit history, permissions, monitoring and rollback are part of the first delivery, not an afterthought.
Every engagement starts with a small, fixed-scope paid pilot. You see working results on your own systems before committing to a longer engagement.
What is a forward deployed engineer?
A forward deployed engineer (FDE) is a software engineer who sits with the customer instead of behind a ticket queue. The FDE learns the business process first-hand, connects your existing tools and data, and turns what they find into a system that runs in production — then stays to improve it.
It suits problems where the hard part is not the code but understanding the work: information scattered across chat groups and files, legacy systems that must keep running, devices that need an app and a cloud behind them, or an AI idea that has never left the demo stage.
Where our FDEs work
Business process automation
Turning information that lives in chat groups, spreadsheets, PDFs and scanned forms into structured, searchable records, with every automatic change kept in a full audit history and a human review queue for uncertain cases.
AI and document processing in production
Document parsing, OCR and AI classification wired into real operations — with clear rules about what is automated, what needs review, and where data is allowed to go. Sensitive data can stay on your own servers.
Integration with existing systems
Connecting official platform APIs, legacy databases and internal tools without forcing a big-bang replacement. We work with what you already run.
IoT and smart hardware: app, cloud and admin as one loop
For hardware brands, we build and repair the software around the device: BLE connection and Wi-Fi provisioning, device binding, OTA update flows and on-device debugging, plus the companion app, cloud backend and admin console. We do not design PCBs or RF hardware for these projects; we make the device’s software side reliable.
Data pipelines and dashboards
Collecting, cleaning and reporting operational data so managers can see what is happening without manual consolidation.
Recent FDE project
Multinational manpower agency
Résumés and job orders from group chats: automatic archiving, matching, push and lead generation
Candidate résumés and employer job orders arrived as files, images and messages in instant-messaging group chats and were compiled by hand. We embedded with the team and built a pipeline on the messaging platform's official chat archive API that collects group messages and attachments, parses résumés and job orders in PDF, Word, WPS, Excel and image formats with cross-checked Chinese OCR, de-duplicates by file content and by name plus phone number, keeps a complete version history, automatically matches candidates to jobs, pushes new matches to the responsible recruiters, turns employer demand into sales leads, and serves a role-based workbench for administrators and group members. All processing runs on the client's own server; résumé content is not sent to external AI models.
Python · FastAPI · PostgreSQL · Redis · Next.js
Read the case studies →How an engagement works
- Discovery call (free, about 20 minutes). You describe the process or product problem; we ask how the work is done today and what “fixed” would look like.
- Small paid pilot (fixed scope, fixed price). We take one narrow, valuable slice — one workflow, one integration, or one failing app flow — and deliver either a working result in your environment or a fixed-price plan to finish it.
- Production rollout. Hardening, permissions, monitoring, documentation and handover to your team.
- Ongoing iteration. Monthly improvements and maintenance, or a clean exit with everything documented. You own the code and the data.
Frequently asked questions
Remote or on site?
Mostly remote, working in your tools and time zone. On-site visits can be arranged when the work needs it.
Who owns the code and data?
You do. Source code, deployment scripts and documentation are delivered to your repository, and data stays in your environment.
How is this different from hiring a contractor?
A contractor implements a specification. An FDE is responsible for finding the right specification, delivering it into production and keeping it working — one accountable owner for the outcome.
What does a pilot cost?
Each pilot is scoped narrowly and quoted as a fixed amount after the discovery call, so you know the cost before any work starts.
Company
S9FT TECH SDN. BHD. · Company No. 202601005125 (1667223-A)
Lot 508-2-1, Tanjung Point, Jalan Tanjung Tokong, 10470 Penang, Malaysia
Email: support@s9ft.tech · Contact us
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