AI AND DATA ROLES
FDE vs ai engineer
Quick answer
An AI engineer builds LLM features for the company's own product; an FDE builds them for a specific customer on that customer's data.
| AI ENGINEER | FORWARD DEPLOYED ENGINEER | |
|---|---|---|
| MAIN OUTPUT | Models and LLM features in-house | A working deployment inside one customer's systems |
| CLIENT TIME | Lower than an FDE | High: discovery, demos and handover every week |
| WRITES PRODUCTION CODE | Yes | Yes |
| PAY | See FDE salary in India for bands by experience and city. | |