Principal Forward Deployed Engineer

Principal Forward Deployed Engineer

The Enterprise Intelligence Platform (EIP) builds and operates the AI platform that powers Sony Pictures Entertainment and drives AI Development Life Cycle (AI-DLC) adoption across the studio; it allows application teams to ship faster by using AI in the build process. EIP partners with IT and with business groups to deliver production AI applications and to compress the build cycle through AI-DLC practice. The Forward Deployed Engineer sits inside EIP and is how both the platform and the practice reach the work.

This Principal Forward Deployed Engineer role is a newly created role, and this person will help define its future from day one. As one of the first to step into this function, this person will play a pivotal role in building the team, shaping the work that the team delivers, and establishing new ways of partnering with the business to bring AI into production. This person will be deeply embedded with teams across Sony Pictures and help pioneer the AI-DLC that will underpin our next generation of solutions.

This Principal Forward Deployed Engineer is a full-stack senior engineer who partners with other parts of IT and with SPE business teams to ship full applications end to end. The role uses the AI Development Life Cycle (AI-DLC), which is AI-assisted development tooling and practice, to compress the build cycle dramatically. Each engagement runs from scoping through prototype, production hardening, and handoff to the incumbent application team that owns the application long-term. Reusable patterns from every engagement flow back into the EIP platform so successive projects compound.

This person will report directly to the SVP of Enterprise Intelligence Platform. This is a write, ship, and own role: production code, AI-DLC practice, and platform feedback. It is not a consulting or solution-architect role. Some of the applications you ship will include LLM inference at runtime (RAG, agents, prompt-based interactions). Production-LLM capability is part of the kit, but the dominant value of the role is shipping the application faster than traditional development cycles allow.

Responsibilities:

• Embed with IT and business teams on priority SPE projects and ship full applications end to end (data layer, backend services, AI integration where the application needs it, user-facing surface), using AI-DLC to compress the development cycle dramatically. (50%)
• Lead AI-DLC adoption in your partner teams: coach the team into team-tier self-sufficiency on AI-assisted development so they continue using the practice after you roll off. (10%)
• When the application requires inference at runtime, build production LLM components on the EIP platform (RAG, agentic orchestration, prompt architecture, evaluation frameworks, observability, and guardrails). (10%)
• Work directly with non-technical business stakeholders, from frontline operators and analysts through senior executives, to draw out what they actually need, shape a solution together, and translate it into a decomposed, shippable plan in real time. (10%)
• Harvest reusable patterns from every engagement back into the EIP platform backlog so what you build becomes platform capability and successive engagements compound. (20%)
• Hold the line with senior stakeholders when the request needs to change, and own what you ship through the handoff to the incumbent application team.

Qualifications:

• Full-stack production engineering experience across the whole application stack: object-oriented development proficiency, backend services, data pipelines, user-facing application surfaces (web UIs, internal tools, integrations), cloud (AWS and / or Azure), containers, and infrastructure-as-code. You ship every layer, not just the AI components.
• Hands-on experience using AI-assisted development tooling (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, or equivalent) to ship production code at meaningfully faster cycle times than traditional development. Comfort generating, reviewing, and iterating on AI-generated code at velocity, with the judgment to know what to keep and what to throw away.
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Some production experience with LLM-based systems (RAG, agents, prompt architecture, evaluation frameworks), applicable to the subset of engagements where the application includes runtime AI.
• A track record of satisfying enterprise security, governance, and data-handling requirements when shipping software in regulated or rights-sensitive domains.
• Strong stakeholder communication. You can sit with a non-technical business partner, draw out what they actually need beyond the surface ask, propose a solution with them, and own translating it into a decomposed, shippable plan in real time. The same skill carries from frontline operators through senior executives.
• Comfort operating with high autonomy in ambiguous, fast-moving engagements. You write, ship, and own production code; you do not hand off recommendations.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior Forward Deployed Engineer or embedded senior engineer experience.
• Deep experience with AI-assisted development workflows in a production setting (not just experimentation).
• Experience coaching teams through methodology shifts (DevOps adoption, agile transformations, AI-assisted development rollouts).
• Prior experience in media, entertainment, or other rights-sensitive industries.
• Experience with the EIP foundation platforms (Amazon Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenAI APIs) or with Moveworks / Agentic Foundation.
• Cloud platform certifications (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and / or production-AI / MLOps certifications.

The anticipated base salary for this position is $195,000-$245,000. This role may also qualify for annual incentive and/or comprehensive benefits. The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location of the position.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other protected characteristics.

SPE will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in accordance with applicable law.

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