Forward Deployed Engineer

Forward Deployed Engineer (Remote, US)

Orr Search is partnering with a leading global private equity firm with a strong mid-market focus to hire a Forward-Deployed AI Engineer. This is a founding hire for a small AI team in the firm’s Portfolio Operations group. The engineer will work across portfolio companies to turn AI into measurable EBITDA impact.

The role

You’ll be embedded with portfolio company leadership teams to find where AI can create real value, then deliver it. You won’t be writing strategy decks. Most of the work is choosing and deploying the right third-party AI platforms, integrating them into existing systems, proving their impact and getting teams to adopt them. Where off-the-shelf tools fall short, you’ll build. That could be a quick automation in n8n, Zapier or Claude Cowork, or a fully custom agentic workflow in LangGraph. Part of the job is judging which one the problem actually needs.

What you’ll do

• Run build-vs-buy assessments, test vendors’ claims, and make go/no-go calls based on data rather than demos
• Lead implementations end to end: configure workflows, connect tools to ERP, CRM, HRIS and data warehouses via APIs, webhooks and MCP, and manage go-live
• Set baselines and success metrics before each deployment, design evaluations that catch silent degradation, and track adoption
• Translate results into EBITDA impact for Operating Partners and portfolio company management
• Deliver quick wins within 30–60 days while also running longer transformation programmes
• Build custom solutions in Python (agents, document pipelines, RAG systems, assistants), plus skills, plugins and MCP integrations
• Train portfolio teams and write runbooks and playbooks so solutions can be repeated across the portfolio

What we’re looking for

• 5+ years of work experience, including consulting experience at a strategy consulting firm, boutique specialist or Big 4 firm
• A BSc in Computer Science, Maths, Statistics, Data Science or Engineering (an MSc in ML, AI or a related field is a plus). A STEM degree is essential.
• Experience building or deploying AI/ML systems from scoping through to production and adoption
• Hands-on experience deploying third-party AI tools in enterprise environments and measuring their ROI
• Strong Python skills, cloud experience (AWS, Azure or GCP), and familiarity with CI/CD and containers
• Working knowledge of agentic architectures (orchestration, state, tool calling, failure handling), RAG, and evaluation methods such as golden sets, LLM-as-judge, human-in-the-loop review and A/B testing
• A solid grasp of core ML methods and metrics, and the ability to explain them clearly to non-technical executives
• Commercial judgement and comfort with P&L conversations, plus the presence to work independently with C-level stakeholders
• Experience in private equity, management consulting or forward-deployed engineering is a strong plus, as is working across several companies at once

Location

The role is remote, but you’ll need to live close to a major airport because it involves around 40% travel to portfolio company sites within the US.