Lead Forward Deployed Engineer

Who We Are

Building the AI-first frontier enterprise.

We are a global technology consultancy with a trademarked, AI-first approach—Gen-e2™. It redefines how enterprises build digital products and transform their organizations with AI. We do the right thing, and we do it right. We're proud to be a World Economic Forum New Champion, and a B Corp-certified company.

• We are small enough to care locally, big enough to deliver globally (10 countries, 450+ experts from 50+ nationalities)

• We are becoming an agentic organization, adopting the AI-native operating model we bring to our clients.

• We are robust and resilient (100% independent, 0 debt, founded 2009)

• We are AI-native professionals who invest in what we believe and work as a collective intelligence

• We are positive, courageous and deliver at the leading edge

Your Role

As Lead Forward Deployed Engineer, you take full ownership of delivering AI-powered products from early discovery through pilot to production to adoption. You will embed closely with Fortune 1000 clients in sectors like finance, retail, and energy, translating ambiguous, high-impact business problems into scalable AI-native solutions.

This hands-on, client-facing role requires deep full-stack expertise and daily use of AI coding tools to accelerate development and maintain high quality. You don’t just write code, you lead workshops, present to senior executives, and ensure your solutions create real user value. If you thrive in ambiguity and end-to-end ownership, this role is for you.

What You’ll Own

• End-to-end project delivery: Lead discovery, scope work, architect, develop prototypes, and deliver stable production-ready AI systems.

• Client engagement: Run discovery sessions, frame complex needs, manage expectations, and build trust with technical and executive stakeholders.

• Team leadership: Mentor engineers, foster AI-native best practices, and nurture autonomous AI-augmented delivery teams.

• Strategic advising: Collaborate with Sales and Presales to craft compelling proposals and solution designs.

• AI-native excellence: Champion prompt engineering, output validation, guardrails, fallback strategies, and embed Gen-e²™ methodology in every engagement.

• Continuous improvement: Capture field insights to strengthen delivery tools, playbooks, and accelerate scalable client success.

Who You Are

• 10+ years of hands-on software engineering with proven client-facing delivery experience.

• Skilled at independently managing all project phases from discovery to production with minimal oversight.

• Deep full-stack expertise (preferably ReactJS front-end; .NET, Java, or Python back-end), with eagerness to learn new stacks and platforms.

• Experienced in deploying LLM- or generative AI-powered systems, understanding the nuances of AI behavior in product design.

• Strong architecture and design capabilities coupled with excellent communication and stakeholder management.

• Autonomous, proactive, outcome-oriented, and comfortable leading senior conversations.

• Experience mentoring or leading small teams.

• You're fluent in French and English with excellent communication skills for both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Familiarity with enterprise constraints - risk, compliance, complex stakeholder environments.

Core AI-Native & Gen-e²™ Skills

• Daily, hands-on use of AI tools integral to your development workflow.

• Expertise in prompt engineering and context management to maximize AI effectiveness.

• Critical evaluation of AI-generated outputs to ensure reliability and quality.

More About PALO IT

Our mission is to become the most advanced consulting company when it comes to AI-First product and software engineering. 100% of our projects are focused on deploying our Gen-e2 methodology to clients to help them accelerate delivery and scale those new practices.

• A playground matching your expertise: missions chosen for their complexity, engineering excellence, and meaningful business and societal impact.

• Dedicated career coaching with regular development check-ins and goal support.

• A demanding yet supportive technical community: code reviews, pair programming, mentoring to raise development craft daily.

• Gen-e²™ skill ramp-up from week 1, fully integrated onboarding.

• Funded Microsoft and GitHub certifications.

• From idea to impact: internal R&D labs, default open source culture, tech conferences, and innovation dojos to experiment and share.

…Plus

• 🌍 Global career opportunities with cross-sector and multi-country missions, connecting 11 offices worldwide.

• 🏠 Remote-friendly arrangements depending on project needs, alternating client sites and Paris office for team collaboration.

• 🌱 Impact Academy: training on climate, digital responsibility, and accessibility embedded in everyday practices.

• 🤝 Solidarity engagements: team volunteering, skills sponsorship, and more.

• 🥗🩺 Benefits including Swile meal vouchers and Alan health insurance.

For more on our team culture and benefits, check out our careers page.

PALO IT Labs is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions will be based on merit, qualifications and abilities. PALO IT Labs does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices based on race, colour, religion, sex, sexuality, national origin, age, disability, marital status or any other characteristics protected by law.

Protecting your privacy and the security of your data are longstanding top priorities for PALO IT. Your data will be processed to manage PALO IT’s recruitment-related activities. Please consult our Privacy Notice (https://www.palo-it.com/en/privacy-policy) to know more about how we collect, use, and transfer the personal data of our candidates.