How is this different from hiring a marketing agency?

An agency usually delivers advice, a strategy, or a roadmap, and is priced against the time it spends. A forward deployed team writes the working system in your own tools and is priced against whether it works. Some agencies genuinely own outcomes, but most are structured to keep advising rather than to finish and hand over.

Isn't forward deployed engineering just consulting with a new name?

The honest distinction is narrow but real. A consultant produces a recommendation and bills for the time. A forward deployed engineer produces a running system built in your environment and is measured against it. If we only advised, the label would be fair. We ship code that is live when we are done.

Who owns the code and the systems you build?

You do. The repository is assigned to you in your own account, the integrations are built in tools you already pay for, and you receive the documentation and runbooks at handover. Nothing is rented back to you or locked to our licence.

What happens when something breaks after the engagement ends?

You can fix it, because the runbooks and documentation are yours and were written for someone who was not in the room. We can also stay on to run it if you prefer. The point of the handover is that you are not stranded either way.

Do I need to hire someone internally to run what you build?

Not necessarily. The system is built in your existing tools and documented so an ordinary team member can operate it. If you want us to keep running it we can, but that is a choice, not a dependency we design in.

How long before something is actually live, not a demo?

A scoped pilot is usually weeks, and production for a well defined use case follows soon after. The assessment phase that comes first takes one to two weeks. We scope real durations against your specific systems rather than promising a slogan.

We start with a short paid assessment that produces a plan and a scope you own. The build is priced against the agreed system rather than an open-ended retainer. We would rather be measured on a working outcome than on hours logged.

What tools do you build on, and am I locked into them?

We build in the tools you already use wherever possible, such as your CRM, your calendar, and your automation platform, so nothing depends on a licence only we hold. Avoiding lock-in is part of the design, not an add-on.

How do you measure whether the system is actually working?

Against the outcome it was built for: replies, booked calls, qualified leads, whatever the scoped use case targets, tracked back to the system that produced it. We also define what happens when the agent gets something wrong and when it hands off to a person.

Why wouldn't I just hire a forward deployed engineer full-time?

If you can hire and retain one, that is often the best long-term answer, and we build toward you being able to run things in-house. Hiring is slow and single-threaded, though, and a specialist team gets a working system live faster than a new hire can ramp. Many businesses use us to get there, then take it in-house.

FORWARD DEPLOYED ENGINEERING

Most AI you buy becomes your problem to run.We build it inside your business and stay on the hook.

You have tried the software you have to operate and the agency that only advises. A forward deployed team writes the code in the tools you already use, ships a working marketing and sales system, and hands it back documented. You keep it.

[Talk to an engineer][See how it works]

EngagementEmbedded

Assess

Build

Handover

You own it

RepoDocsRunbooksExit

A documented system that is yours to run. No lock in, clean exit.

Example

A forward deployed engineer is a builder who works inside your business rather than from a vendor's office. The model was named and industrialised by Palantir, whose framing is one customer and many capabilities, the opposite of a product engineer serving many customers with one feature. In 2025 and 2026 the model went mainstream: Palantir, OpenAI, AWS, Deloitte, and Accenture all now run forward deployed teams. We point the same model at your pipeline instead of a data lake: we embed, build your marketing and sales agents in your own systems, and own whether they work.

THE PROBLEM YOU ACTUALLY HAVE

You have bought AI before. It did not run itself.

There are three ways to get AI into a business today, and each one leaves you holding something. We are fair about all three, because the honest version is more useful than a strawman.

Software you operate

The tool works. It ships you a login and a blank canvas. Now you own the configuration, the maintenance, and the one person who understands it. When they leave, the system leaves with them. Software never promised to run itself, and it does not.

An agency that advises

You get a strategy, a roadmap, an audit. Someone else still has to build it. Good agencies exist, but most are priced against time and retainer rather than against a working system, so the incentive is to keep advising, not to finish.

A freelancer who vanishes

Something gets built. Nobody wrote down how. It breaks in month four and the person who made it is gone, and no one who is left can read it. The cheapest option up front is often the most expensive by the end.

WHAT A FORWARD DEPLOYED ENGINEER IS

The delivery model Palantir named, pointed at your pipeline

Palantir built the role in the early 2010s. The distinction that matters: a forward deployed engineer writes production code in the customer's own environment and is measured against a working system, while a consultant delivers a recommendation and is measured against time. One builds, the other advises.

The model is no longer fringe. In 2025 and 2026 Deloitte launched a forward deployed engineering practice, AWS built a partner programme around it, and OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, and Google all stood up large deployment teams. AWS put the shift plainly: enterprise AI has outgrown the advisory model, and the move is from counsel to outcomes.

The honest limit, and we will say it before you ask: the goal is that you stop needing us. Forrester calls embedded engineers the training wheels for AI adoption, useful precisely because someone eventually takes them off. A good engagement ends with your team owning a system they understand, not with a dependency you cannot exit.

THE OBVIOUS QUESTION

Is this just consulting with a new name?

Fair question, and the honest answer is narrow. A consultant hands you a recommendation and bills for the time it took to produce. A forward deployed engineer hands you a working system built in your own tools and is priced against whether it works. If we only advised, you would be right to call it consulting. We write the code, in your environment, and it is running when we are done.

HOW THE ENGAGEMENT WORKS

Three phases, real durations, a handover at the end

No open-ended retainer. Each phase has a deliverable, and the last one is you owning the system.

011 to 2 weeks

Assessment

We map how leads reach you today, where they leak, and which one workflow is worth building first. You get the plan and the scope whether or not you continue.

02a few weeks

Embedded build

We build the agreed system in your own tools, working alongside your team, not in a black box. You see it take shape and can redirect it while it is cheap to change.

03on completion

Production and handover

The system goes live, and we hand over the repository, the documentation, and the runbooks. Your team can operate it, and so can we if you want us to. The handover is the deliverable, not an afterthought.

WHAT YOU OWN, IN WRITING

You keep the system. This is what that actually means.

Most teams wave at this. Here are the specific things you own when we are done, because a claim you can put in a contract is worth more than a slogan.

The code repository

Assigned to you, in your account. Not rented, not locked to us.

The integrations

Built in the tools you already pay for, so nothing depends on our licence.

The documentation

Written for a person who was not in the room, so a new hire can pick it up.

The runbooks

What to do when it breaks, who to call, and how to change it safely.

The exit

A clean way to part. If we are not adding value, you keep everything and walk.

THE FOUR OPTIONS, HONESTLY

Who runs it, who owns the result, what happens when it breaks

Each of these has a real advantage. The point is not that three are bad, it is that they answer different questions.

Compared honestly

Who operates it

Who owns the result

Time to value

When it breaks

Buy software

Fastest to buy

You. The vendor ships capability, not operation.

Nobody. The vendor owns their product's uptime, not your results.

Fast to access, slow to value. The integration is the real project.

A support ticket for their product. Your setup is yours.

Hire an agency

Off your plate

Them, in their tools, often opaque to you.

Usually activity or deliverables, not the outcome.

Weeks to activity. Time to a working system varies a lot.

Depends on the retainer. If it ended, you are on your own.

Hire in-house

Best end state

You, permanently. The best long-term answer if you can hire.

You, entirely. The clearest accountability of the four.

Slowest. Months to hire, then ramp.

You fix it, if the person who built it still works there.

Forward deployed

Built to hand over

Them first, you by design. Handover is the deliverable.

Us, priced against a working system, and it is in the contract.

Weeks to a scoped pilot, production for a defined use case soon after.

We fix it during the engagement, you fix it after, because the runbooks are yours.

Buy softwareFastest to buy

Who operates it: You. The vendor ships capability, not operation.
Who owns the result: Nobody. The vendor owns their product's uptime, not your results.
Time to value: Fast to access, slow to value. The integration is the real project.
When it breaks: A support ticket for their product. Your setup is yours.

Hire an agencyOff your plate

Who operates it: Them, in their tools, often opaque to you.
Who owns the result: Usually activity or deliverables, not the outcome.
Time to value: Weeks to activity. Time to a working system varies a lot.
When it breaks: Depends on the retainer. If it ended, you are on your own.

Hire in-houseBest end state

Who operates it: You, permanently. The best long-term answer if you can hire.
Who owns the result: You, entirely. The clearest accountability of the four.
Time to value: Slowest. Months to hire, then ramp.
When it breaks: You fix it, if the person who built it still works there.

Forward deployedBuilt to hand over

Who operates it: Them first, you by design. Handover is the deliverable.
Who owns the result: Us, priced against a working system, and it is in the contract.
Time to value: Weeks to a scoped pilot, production for a defined use case soon after.
When it breaks: We fix it during the engagement, you fix it after, because the runbooks are yours.

In-house is genuinely the best end state. That is why we build toward it rather than against it.

WHY THIS IS NOT ANOTHER AI PROMISE

The industry is littered with AI that never shipped

of agentic AI projects Gartner predicts will be cancelled by the end of 2027, on cost, unclear value, or weak controls

Gartner, June 2025

of companies have yet to show tangible value from AI, and only 26 percent can move beyond a proof of concept

BCG, Where's the Value in AI, October 2024

of businesses abandoned most of their AI initiatives in 2025, up from 17 percent a year earlier

S&P Global Market Intelligence, reported by CIO Dive, 2025

Gartner also estimates that of the thousands of vendors claiming agentic AI, only around 130 are real, and calls the rest agent washing. The reason so much AI never reaches production is not the model. It is that nobody owned the last mile: the integration, the edge cases, and the person who keeps it running. That last mile is the entire job we do.

We did this to our own business before selling it. Ask ChatGPT about getting more customers with AI, and our name comes up, because we built the system that gets us named. In a crowded space, that is the proof the method works.

HOW WE START

A paid first step, not a free audit

We do not sell a free AI audit, because a free audit is a sales call wearing a lab coat. We sell the first phase: a short, paid assessment that maps your funnel, finds where leads leak, and scopes the first system to build. You get the plan and the scope as a deliverable, and you own it whether or not you continue with the build.

If the assessment says AI is not the answer for you right now, we will tell you that too. It is cheaper for everyone than a build that should not have happened.

[Talk to an engineer]You are hiring a team, not buying software.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Forward deployed engineering, answered

A forward deployed engineer is a builder who writes production code inside the customer's own environment rather than from a vendor's office. Palantir named and industrialised the role in the early 2010s. Its framing is one customer and many capabilities, as opposed to a product engineer who serves many customers with one feature.

STOP BUYING AI YOU HAVE TO BABYSIT

Have someone build it, run it, and hand you the keys.

A forward deployed team that ships your marketing and sales system inside your business, and owns whether it works.

[Talk to an engineer][Check if AI names you]

Agentic AI Labs

We build AI systems that work.

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