Compare forward deployed engineering options
An embedded FDE team owns active deployment work. Hiring, recruiting, contracting, and consulting solve different problems.
| Option | Owns a defined outcome | Managed team and tooling | Embedded in your systems | Built-in handoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded FDE team | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| In-house FDE hire | Yes | — | Yes | — (permanent role) |
| Recruiting agency | — (fills the role) | — | — | — |
| Freelancers | — | — | Varies | Varies |
| Staff augmentation | — (you manage the work) | — | Yes | Varies |
| Traditional consultancy | Yes | Yes | — (separate project) | Varies |
Why not hire a forward deployed engineer in-house?
You should when the work is permanent and one person can own it. We are useful when customer work is already active, the problem needs several capabilities, or the team needs flexible capacity. You can keep hiring while we work beside the permanent team and hand the work over.
Why not use a recruiting agency?
A recruiting agency helps fill a role. We deliver the deployment and integration work itself. Use a recruiter when the goal is hiring. Use us when the work also needs an engineering owner.
Why not hire freelancers?
Freelancers can be right for isolated tasks. We provide a managed team, shared tooling, evaluation harnesses, technical review, and continuity for customer-facing production work.
Why not use staff augmentation?
Staff augmentation adds people for the customer to manage. We take ownership of defined deployment and integration outcomes and bring the platform used to deliver them.
Why not use a traditional consultancy?
A traditional consultancy often delivers a separate project. We embed in the repository, tools, and customer work, then continue operating or hand the work to the internal team.