Become a Forward Deployed Engineer in 6 Weeks.
Companies are racing to adopt AI. The bottleneck is not the AI models — it's the people who can deploy them. Ship real AI systems from week one. Built for engineers, analysts, product people, consultants, and career switchers. No ML research required.
Apply for Cohort #1
Why Forward Deployed Engineering
The market is desperate for people who can put AI into production.
Job postings for FDE roles grew 729% — from 643 in April 2025 to 5,330 in April 2026.
The role every AI company is hiring for
Models don't ship themselves. FDEs do — and demand has outpaced supply with no sign of slowing.
A high-leverage career pivot
No ML research required. Ship, communicate, and solve real problems — we compress the skills into six focused weeks.
Practical over theoretical, always
Every week you build real skills that can be applied right away - no passive lectures.
Open to generalists and specialists
Engineers, analysts, PMs, consultants, and domain experts all succeed here. We meet you where you are.
Fast-track to an offer
Graduate with deployed projects, interview ready stories, and warm intros to companies hiring right now.
Discover your FDE archetype
Don't be one-size-fits-all. Identify the type of FDE that best suits your work experience and working style.
6+6 Weeks Program
Intensive sessions 2x a week on Tuesday and Thursday.
6 weeks to become an FDE Practitioner — capable of deploying AI. Another 6 weeks to become an FDE Principal — capable of driving organizational change.
FDE Practitioner
Week 1 - 6Foundational capabilities to deploy AI to production
0 to 1 Process & FDE Archetypes
- Understand what makes a successful FDE
- Identify your own unique FDE archetype
- Learn the 0 to 1 process specific to FDE engagement
Account Research
- Run account intelligence to map the deal structure
- Learn what to prepare before the first meeting
- Framing executive narratives for different accounts
Discovery Meeting
- Understand the cadence of discovery meeting
- Learn the protocol for online and offline discovery
- Facilitate a discovery meeting that brings the deal to the next step
Challenge Identification & Use Case Prioritization
- Identify challenges to solve suitable for AI
- Frame and prioritize AI use cases to implement
- Learn to run strategy workshops to scope AI project
Use Case Development
- Write a use case spec that gives any engineer what they need to build
- Define inputs, outputs, success criteria, and data dependencies
- Break a use case into milestones and get client sign-off
Process Re-engineering
- Map an enterprise workflow and identify bottlenecks
- Design a future-state process with defined human-AI handoffs
- Build the case for process change with a sceptical ops team
Prompt Engineering & GenBI
- Design structured, testable prompts using prompt structuring building blocks.
- Apply generative BI techniques to surface insight from enterprise data
- Learn advanced prompting methods that hold up in production
Workflow Automation
- Build automated workflows with no-code agentic workflow builder.
- Automatically trigger workflows with AI decision nodes
- Connect AI to CRMs, APIs, and enterprise data systems
Revenue Modeling & ROAI
- Model token costs across model tiers and usage patterns
- Calculate ROI of AI investment
- Build a financial case that moves a CFO toward a decision
Client Engagement
- Maintain cadence, transparency, and trust throughout the deal.
- How to communicate with client stakeholders.
- Nurture strong relationships with engagement models.
Integrate everything into a complete pre-sales-to-delivery plan for a real enterprise scenario. Prepare and rehearse on Tuesday. Pitch live to a panel of enterprise executives on Thursday — they evaluate it as if they're the client.
- Synthesize 5 weeks of learning into a single coherent plan
- Present and defend under real executive scrutiny
- Earn FDE Practitioner certification and placement eligibility
FDE Principal
Week 7 - 12Evolve your skills capable of driving enterprise AI transformation
AI Strategy
- Understand key components inside an AI strategy
- Develop AI strategy for enterprises
- Facilitate a strategic AI planning session with an executive team
Change Management
- Diagnose the real root causes of AI adoption failure
- Design a change management plan with measurable adoption milestones
- Transition the organization to adopt your AI solution
Executive Storytelling
- Build an AI transformation narrative that earns C-suite sponsorship
- Translate technical outcomes into strategic business language
- Hold your ground under board-level challenge and scrutiny
Positioning & Messaging
- Position an AI solution against alternatives in a competitive account
- Craft messaging that resonates with each buying persona
- Sharpen differentiation without overselling or underdelivering
Context Engineering
- Deploy strategies to ensure accurate knowledge retrieval
- Connect AI to relational databases and enterprise knowledge stores
- Diagnose and fix context failures in production environments
Agentic Patterns
- Understand 30 types of agentic design patterns
- Learn the correlation between various agents and how they connect
- Build and deploy a combination of AI agents.
AI Governance
- Navigate the AI regulatory landscape and enterprise compliance requirements
- Design a governance framework that enables deployment, not blocks it
- Lead governance conversations with legal, compliance, and the board
Risk Management
- Categorize model, data, operational, and reputational AI risk
- Build a risk register and mitigation plan for a live AI program
- Present risk trade-offs to executive decision-makers
Unit Economics
- Model the unit economics of an enterprise AI program at scale
- Analyze cost-per-outcome across different deployment configurations
- Build the financial case for scaling from pilot to enterprise-wide
GTM Motion
- Design the go-to-market motion for an enterprise AI product
- Align sales, product, and engineering around a single GTM playbook
- Define the FDE's role in each stage of the GTM funnel
Build and defend a complete enterprise AI transformation strategy — governance framework, phased roadmap, risk plan, GTM motion, and value case — in front of C-suite executives from partner corporations. Some of them are hiring.
- Deliver a full transformation strategy to a live C-suite audience
- Defend it under adversarial executive questioning
- Earn FDE Principal certification and priority placement
How it works
From application to offer, in record time.
Every cohort runs with a live roster of enterprise partners — corporations actively seeking to deploy FDE capability into their teams. These are not job postings. They are executive-sponsored seats.
Build the capability
6+6 weeks of live, practice-based training across pre-sales, AI implementation, and transformation skills.
Present to executives
Both capstones are judged by a panel of enterprise executives from partner corporations with open mandates.
Get matched
Top performers are introduced directly to the executives who assessed them, with program faculty facilitating the match.
Start deployment
Placed graduates join enterprise partners as FDE Practitioners or Principals, with check-ins to support the transition.
Pricing
Invest six weeks. Change your trajectory.
A fraction of the cost of a degree — and a fast track to a role companies are paying a premium to fill.
Early Bird
The full 6 week program at our launch price. For the first builders who join Cohort #1.
- All 6 weeks of live, live remote sessions
- Mentorship from practicing FDEs
- Portfolio & interview preparation
- Warm introductions to hiring companies
- Lifetime access to course materials
- Weekly office hours
- Join FDE talent pool
- Join FDE community
Standard — 1 Level
The complete single level program at standard pricing for upcoming cohorts.
- All 6 weeks of live, live remote sessions
- Mentorship from practicing FDEs
- Portfolio & interview preparation
- Warm introductions to hiring companies
- Weekly office hours
- Join FDE talent pool
- Join FDE community
FDE Principal
The full two level program for engineers who want to go deeper and accelerate faster.
- Everything in FDE Practitioner
- Advanced second level curriculum
- Extended mentorship hours
- Portfolio & interview preparation
- Warm introductions to hiring companies
- Weekly office hours
- Join FDE talent pool
- Join FDE community
Join the cohort.
Apply for Cohort #1 and we'll be in touch with next steps, schedule, and your early-bird offer. Remote-first — join from anywhere in the world.
About Shieldbase
The enterprise AI company building the next generation of FDEs.
Shieldbase co-creates with leading corporations and governments to accelerate organization-wide AI transformation — embedding Forward Deployed Engineers directly within client environments to rapidly scope, build, and deploy production-grade AI solutions across sectors.
Driven by an unprecedented surge in market demand, we are scaling the next generation of FDE talent to meet the enterprise needs that drive AI transformation.