Forward deployed engineer salary: what employers post and file

By FDE Interview Prep, a SourceStrongAI company

On this page13 sections

1. The short answer
2. Posted bands by company
3. What the H-1B filings show
4. Base, OTE and equity
5. New-grad and early-career bands
6. Figures that circulate but do not trace
7. Aggregator figures
8. Negotiation
9. The posts in this series
10. What to do next
11. Posts on this topic
12. Questions people ask
13. Keep reading

You have a recruiter call on the calendar, or an offer in your inbox, and every salary site gives you a different number for the same job. One prep site’s table lists OpenAI FDEs at about $555K, and names no source for that row. ^[1]Source 1Forward Deployed Engineer Interview: The Definitive 2026 Guide (FDE)PublisherAced (formerly Exponent)Source typeinterview prep site This guide leads with the numbers you can check: what employers print on their postings, and what they file with the US Department of Labor.

The short answer

At OpenAI, Anthropic and Palantir:

• OpenAI: as of September 2026, the San Francisco FDE posting lists a salary range of $185K to $300K, with equity on top. ^[13]Source 13Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF | OpenAIPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job posting
• Anthropic: as of September 2026, the US FDE posting lists an annual salary of $280,000 to $320,000. ^[14]Source 14Forward Deployed Engineer (New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA)PublisherAnthropic (Greenhouse job board)Source typecompany job posting
• Palantir: as of September 2026, the New York Forward Deployed Software Engineer posting lists a salary range of $135,000 to $200,000 a year, and says RSUs and a sign-on bonus may be added. ^[15]Source 15Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting

Jump to a company: Palantir, OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks or Google. Starting out? Go to new-grad bands. Offer in hand? Go to negotiation.

Postings and filings, the two public records in the brief above, answer different questions:

• A posted band is what the employer says it will pay for one role, on the day you read it. It may be base, OTE or unlabeled, and it can span several levels.
• An H-1B filing is the base wage an employer offered one sponsored worker. It has no bonus, no equity and no sign-on in it.
• Neither is what FDEs receive in total. Only self-reported sites try to measure that, with small samples, and we cover them further down.

If you only need the number for a recruiter call, read the negotiation section below and the question What are your compensation expectations? first. The rest of this page is the evidence behind that answer.

Posted bands by company

Most US FDE postings publish pay: in our September 2026 count of public postings on the 103 job boards we checked, 364 of the 415 postings with a US location published a pay figure. ^[16]Source 16Our analysis: FDE posting censusPublisherfdeinterviewprep.com researchSource typeour analysis of public data Outside the US, many don’t: OpenAI’s FDE postings in Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and other cities show no salary range. ^{[17, 18, 19]}Source 17Forward Deployed Engineer - Seoul (Ashby)PublisherOpenAI (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 18Forward Deployed Engineer - Tokyo (Ashby)PublisherOpenAI (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 19Forward Deployed Engineer - London (Spanish-speaking) (Ashby)PublisherOpenAI (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job posting

We read every range below the same week as that count, so each cell ends with the month we read it. Postings close and change without notice, so check the live one before you quote it. Each cell says what the employer says the number covers, because that is the part people skip.

AI labs and AI product companies

Read down this table: as of September 2026, most of its salary and base ranges top out between $300K and $330K, and LangChain’s OTE range reaches $380,000. ^{[4, 5, 6, 13]}Source 4Software Engineer, Forward Deployed @ RampPublisherRamp (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 5Deployed Engineer (NYC) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 6Deployed Engineer (Boston) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 13Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF | OpenAIPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job posting

Enterprise software, data and cloud companies

Read down this one: as of September 2026, most of its ranges top out between $200,000 and $300,000, whatever they are labeled, and Okta’s principal OTE range reaches $360,000. ^{[15, 29, 30]}Source 15Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job postingSource 29Forward Deployed Engineer IV, GenAI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job postingSource 30Principal Forward Deployed Engineer - Okta for AI AgentsPublisherOkta (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting

Where the posting names a level or years

A senior engineer’s real question is what their experience buys. A few postings answer it by naming the level or the years they ask for. Read down the pairs: at Google, Microsoft, Scale AI, LangChain and Anthropic, the higher level’s band starts above the lower one’s and tops out above it, and the two bands overlap or meet. ^{[5, 6, 14, 29, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44]}Source 5Deployed Engineer (NYC) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 6Deployed Engineer (Boston) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 14Forward Deployed Engineer (New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA)PublisherAnthropic (Greenhouse job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 29Forward Deployed Engineer IV, GenAI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job postingSource 34Forward Deployed Engineer III, Generative AI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job postingSource 37Microsoft Careers: Senior Software Engineer - FDEPublisherMicrosoftSource typecompany job postingSource 38Microsoft Careers: Principal Software Engineer - FDEPublisherMicrosoftSource typecompany job postingSource 40Senior Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)PublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 41Staff Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)PublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 42Deployed Engineer (Early Career- SF) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 43Deployed Engineer (Early Career-NYC) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 44Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering (New York City, NY)PublisherAnthropic (Greenhouse job board)Source typecompany job posting

So the level you are hired at sets how high your number can go, whatever you negotiate inside the band. The negotiation section below builds on that: settle the level before the number.

Three things these tables hide.

One range can cover several levels. Scale AI’s postings say a posted range may span several career levels, and that pay is set during the interview process based on factors that include interview performance. ^[26]Source 26Forward Deployed Engineer, GenAIPublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting So a wide band can hold more than one level, and your level decides which part of it you are in.

The top of the band is not the target. All 61 Deloitte FDE postings in our count say it is “not typical” at the firm to be hired at or near the top of the range. ^[45]Source 45Anthropic Forward Deployed Engineer - GPSPublisherDeloitte USSource typecompany job posting Our rule of thumb: plan around the midpoint of a posted band, because a band can span several levels and at least one employer says hiring near the top is not typical. ^{[26, 45]}Source 26Forward Deployed Engineer, GenAIPublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 45Anthropic Forward Deployed Engineer - GPSPublisherDeloitte USSource typecompany job posting Argue for the top only with evidence: a competing offer you hold in writing, or scope from the loop that points to a higher level.

Location moves the band. As of September 2026, Salesforce’s Mid/Senior FDE base salary range rises to $97,860 to $316,750 in California, New York and select metro areas, and Microsoft’s Frontier Company IC4 base range is $160,200 to $261,000 in the SF Bay Area and NYC. ^{[35, 37, 38]}Source 35Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) (Mid/Senior Level)PublisherSalesforce (Workday careers site)Source typecompany job postingSource 37Microsoft Careers: Senior Software Engineer - FDEPublisherMicrosoftSource typecompany job postingSource 38Microsoft Careers: Principal Software Engineer - FDEPublisherMicrosoftSource typecompany job posting

Palantir FDE salary

Palantir calls the role Forward Deployed Software Engineer, or FDSE, and our Palantir guide covers the role and the loop. In our September 2026 count, 51 of Palantir’s 110 matching postings stated a US annual salary range, and those ranges ran from $90,000 to $200,000. ^{[15, 16]}Source 15Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job postingSource 16Our analysis: FDE posting censusPublisherfdeinterviewprep.com researchSource typeour analysis of public data Our count includes 35 Deployment Strategist postings among those 110, so that span covers more than FDSE roles. ^[16]Source 16Our analysis: FDE posting censusPublisherfdeinterviewprep.com researchSource typeour analysis of public data The US Government postings differ by city: as of September 2026, Washington DC lists the same $135,000 to $200,000 salary range as New York, and Honolulu has a lower floor of $125,000. ^{[46, 47]}Source 46Forward Deployed Software Engineer - US Government (Washington, D.C.) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job postingSource 47Forward Deployed Software Engineer - US Government (Honolulu, HI) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting

Palantir also has the largest samples here, in both the filings and the self-reported data. Its 72 H-1B filings with forward deployed titles, certified from October 2024 to June 2026, had a median offered base wage of $146,666. ^{[7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 8LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q1.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 9LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q2.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 11LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data Levels.fyi’s Palantir FDE page shows a self-reported median package of $201K, with 51 submissions behind its percentiles. ^[48]Source 48Palantir Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyi The two measure different things, sponsored workers’ base against self-reported packages, so don’t read the gap between them as a bonus figure.

Two offers reported on Blind show how a Palantir package is put together. One poster reported, in August 2024, an offer of $148K base plus $42K a year in RSUs with no sign-on, about $190K a year, and called it “very lowball”; days earlier, in the same thread, they had asked what deployment strategists earn there. ^{[49, 50]}Source 49Palantir Deployment Strategist TCPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 50Palantir Offer Forward Deployed EngineerPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind A second poster reported, in December 2024, a Forward Deployed Engineer offer in Washington DC written as “$185k annual” and “$320k over 4 years”, with no sign-on, and did not say whether the $185K was base alone. ^{[49, 50]}Source 49Palantir Deployment Strategist TCPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 50Palantir Offer Forward Deployed EngineerPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind The two posters reported these offers in 2024, well before the bands above were read, so use the first for the shape of a package, a base plus a yearly slice of RSUs, and neither for the number. ^{[49, 50]}Source 49Palantir Deployment Strategist TCPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 50Palantir Offer Forward Deployed EngineerPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind For the rounds, read what Palantir FDSE candidates report.

OpenAI FDE salary

OpenAI posts several forward deployed titles, each with its own range. As of September 2026, its Forward Deployed Software Engineer postings list salary ranges of $185K to $325K in San Francisco and $153K to $325K in New York and Seattle, all with equity. ^{[22, 23, 24]}Source 22Forward Deployed Software Engineer - SF (Ashby)PublisherOpenAI (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 23Forward Deployed Software Engineer - NYC (Ashby)PublisherOpenAI (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 24Forward Deployed Software Engineer - Seattle (Ashby)PublisherOpenAI (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job posting Its FDE, Gov posting (Washington DC, Seattle or San Francisco) shows $145.8K to $280K plus equity as of September 2026, a range the job board’s compensation record types as salary. ^[51]Source 51Forward Deployed Engineer, Gov (Ashby)PublisherOpenAI (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job posting It lists an active TS/SCI clearance or equivalent among the things that help. ^[51]Source 51Forward Deployed Engineer, Gov (Ashby)PublisherOpenAI (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job posting

On the main FDE posting the range is labeled as salary, and total compensation also includes equity and performance-related bonuses for eligible employees. ^[13]Source 13Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF | OpenAIPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job posting OpenAI’s eight H-1B filings are set against that band in the filings section below. For the interview itself, start with our OpenAI guide and what OpenAI says and candidates report about its take-home.

Anthropic FDE salary

Anthropic’s US FDE band is narrow: as of September 2026, an annual salary of $280,000 to $320,000, and its Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering posting in New York lists an annual salary of $320,000 to $405,000. ^{[14, 44]}Source 14Forward Deployed Engineer (New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA)PublisherAnthropic (Greenhouse job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 44Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering (New York City, NY)PublisherAnthropic (Greenhouse job board)Source typecompany job posting The FDE posting also says that for sales roles, the listed range is the OTE range. ^[14]Source 14Forward Deployed Engineer (New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA)PublisherAnthropic (Greenhouse job board)Source typecompany job posting

Beyond the postings, the public record is thin. In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, Anthropic had two for Member of Technical Staff (Forward Deployed Engineer) in San Francisco, with offered base wages of $264,514 to $300,000 and $161,637 to $300,000 a year. ^[7]Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data Levels.fyi’s Anthropic FDE page shows no salary figures. ^[52]Source 52Anthropic Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyi On negotiation, two posters on Blind wrote that an Anthropic recruiter said offers are not negotiated. One poster wrote, in March 2024, that the recruiter seemed “pretty strict” that Anthropic doesn’t negotiate offers and that “each level is pretty set”; the other poster, with a research offer outside the US, wrote in July 2025 that the recruiter said they won’t negotiate, “but maybe that’s just itself a negotiation tactic.” ^{[53, 54, 55]}Source 53Does Anthropic negotiate?PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 54Does Anthropic really not negotiate?PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 55OpenAI/Anthropic/Stripe: Is "no negotiating" a lie?PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on Blind Neither poster named an FDE role, and both reports predate the posted band above.

Some candidates have heard that Anthropic pays in profit participation units; no source we found supports that, as the note further down shows. For the interview, start with how to answer “Why Anthropic?”.

Databricks FDE salary

Databricks posts an FDE ladder: as of September 2026, $152,900 to $210,155 for the US AI FDE (salary or OTE), and a base salary range of $182,000 to $250,208 on most industry-aligned Sr. FDE postings. ^{[32, 33]}Source 32AI Engineer – Forward Deployed Engineering (AI FDE)PublisherDatabricks (careers site / Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 33Sr. Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - Financial Services (New York City)PublisherDatabricks (careers site / Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting Its Sr. Deployment Strategist, FDE postings in the US list $219,765 to $302,220 as a pay range as of September 2026, and the posting does not say whether this is base or total. ^[56]Source 56Sr. Deployment Strategist, FDE - Financial ServicesPublisherDatabricks (careers site / Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting

Two of its H-1B filings, certified by June 2026, were Senior FDEs in New York with offered base wages of $189,592 to $249,000 and $189,592 to $241,900, which sit inside the Sr. FDE band. ^[7]Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data Levels.fyi’s Databricks FDE page shows a median total compensation of $354K, but from 3 submissions. ^[57]Source 57Databricks Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyi Our Databricks guide covers the role and the loop.

Google FDE salary

Google’s postings name the level and put the bonus target beside the range. As of September 2026, FDE III lists $174,000 to $252,000 plus a 15% bonus target and asks for 5 years of experience, and FDE IV lists $207,000 to $300,000 plus a 20% target and asks for 8; neither posting says whether its range is base or total. ^{[29, 34]}Source 29Forward Deployed Engineer IV, GenAI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job postingSource 34Forward Deployed Engineer III, Generative AI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job posting So ask the recruiter whether the range is base, and what the bonus target is calculated on.

Google had one H-1B filing with a forward deployed title in the window: a Forward Deployed Engineer in New York at an offered base wage of $174,000 a year, certified in May 2026. ^[7]Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data That is the floor of the FDE III band. A detailed Google offer from a candidate report is worked through, line by line, in the section on putting an offer on one number. For the loop, read our Google guide and what Google FDE candidates describe.

What the H-1B filings show

Before a US employer can sponsor an H-1B worker, it files a labor condition application, and the Department of Labor’s record layout defines its wage fields as the wage for the worker at the first worksite location. ^[58]Source 58Public Disclosure File: LCA (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3), Form ETA-9035, FY2026 record layoutPublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data The Department of Labor publishes those filings. We pulled every certified filing whose title matches forward deployed and related patterns; our methodology page has the method, and the last part of this section shows how to check it yourself.

Read every figure in this section with four limits in mind:

1. It is the offered base wage. Filings have no field for bonus, equity or commission.
2. It covers sponsored workers only, not everyone in the role.
3. Where an employer filed a range, we used the lower bound, which can understate what the worker was offered. In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, employers stated a range rather than a single offered base wage on 157 of the 607 filings in the wider title pool. ^{[7, 10]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data
4. A certified filing is not a hire, and one worker can have several.

By employer

Ten employers had five or more certified filings with “forward deployed” in the title, from October 2024 to June 2026. ^{[7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 8LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q1.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 9LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q2.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 11LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data Read down the table: in those filings, certified over the same 2024 to 2026 window, the employers’ median offered base wages run from $136,350 at Braze to $225,500 at OpenAI, and Palantir filed the most, 72. ^{[7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 8LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q1.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 9LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q2.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 11LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data

Every other employer filed four or fewer, so read theirs as single records, not medians. The Anthropic, Google and Databricks records are in the company sections above.

Set the filings beside the posted bands. In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, OpenAI’s eight offered base wages ran from $220,000 to $280,000, inside the $185K to $300K salary range its San Francisco FDE posting lists as of September 2026. ^{[7, 11, 13]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 11LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 13Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF | OpenAIPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job posting Filings are a rough check: they are lower bounds, filed before the posting you read, under OpenAI’s own internal titles, but they show roughly where offers to one group of sponsored workers began.

By prevailing-wage level

A filing also names a prevailing-wage level, from I to IV, which is the nearest the filings come to a split by seniority. In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, the median offered base wage on the 387 forward deployed filings was $145,000 at Level I, from 113 filings; $161,637 at Level II, from 137; $190,000 at Level III, from 75; and $213,512 at Level IV, from 55; 7 filings named no level. ^{[7, 58]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 58Public Disclosure File: LCA (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3), Form ETA-9035, FY2026 record layoutPublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data

Read the level for what it is. The Department of Labor’s record layout defines it as the wage level, I to IV, from the government’s occupational wage survey, filled in when the employer itself determined the prevailing wage for the first worksite. ^{[7, 58]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 58Public Disclosure File: LCA (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3), Form ETA-9035, FY2026 record layoutPublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data It is not the company’s internal level, so don’t map Level II onto anyone’s L2 or L5. Palantir, for example, filed 50 of its 72 forward deployed filings at Level II. ^{[7, 58]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 58Public Disclosure File: LCA (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3), Form ETA-9035, FY2026 record layoutPublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data Use the ladder to see how base pay steps up with the level an employer chose, and keep the four limits above in mind.

Pay in New York and San Francisco

The New York metro area had the most filings with forward deployed titles, 160, against 102 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. ^{[7, 10]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, the New York filings had a median offered base wage of $150,000, with a 25th percentile of $145,000 and a 75th percentile of $180,000. ^{[7, 10]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data The San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont filings, certified in the same 2024 to 2026 window, had a median offered base wage of $172,040, with a 25th percentile of $160,000 and a 75th percentile of $200,000. ^{[7, 10, 11]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 11LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data

For a New York offer, set that beside the New York postings as of September 2026: Palantir’s FDSE salary range of $135,000 to $200,000, AWS’s Sr FDE base salary range of $184,900 to $250,200, and LangChain’s Deployed Engineer OTE range of $165,000 to $380,000. ^{[5, 6, 15, 36]}Source 5Deployed Engineer (NYC) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 6Deployed Engineer (Boston) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 15Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job postingSource 36Sr Forward Deployed Engineer, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering - Job ID: 10517491PublisherAmazon.jobsSource typecompany job posting The filing median sits below most of those bands, and you should expect that: a filing is the base for sponsored workers at the lower bound of any range, while a posted band covers every hire at one or more levels.

Why some titles are data scientists

Of the 387 forward deployed filings, 242 were filed under the Software Developers occupation code and 92 under Data Scientists. ^{[7, 10]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data Braze’s eight filings, for example, were all Forward Deployed Data Scientist titles. ^[7]Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data Read the title and the occupation code together before you compare a filing with your role.

More filings under the title

From October 2024 to September 2025, 70 certified filings had forward deployed titles, and from October 2025 to June 2026 there were 317. ^{[7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 8LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q1.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 9LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q2.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 11LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data That counts filings, not hires, and the second window is only nine months long, so read it as more filings under the title, not as a trend in what employers offer.

Check an employer yourself

The filings are public, so you can check our numbers, or look up an employer we don’t list, with a few lines of Python. Download the FY2026 Q3 LCA disclosure file from the Department of Labor’s OFLC performance data page. The Department of Labor says that file covers determinations issued from October 2025 to June 2026, and it is a large spreadsheet. ^{[58, 59]}Source 58Public Disclosure File: LCA (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3), Form ETA-9035, FY2026 record layoutPublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 59OFLC Performance DataPublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data Then install two packages and run this script beside it:

pip install pandas python-calamine

import pandas as pd

cols = ["CASE_STATUS", "EMPLOYER_NAME", "JOB_TITLE",
        "WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY_FROM", "WAGE_UNIT_OF_PAY"]
df = pd.read_excel("LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx",
                   usecols=cols, engine="calamine")

fde = df[(df.CASE_STATUS == "Certified")
         & df.JOB_TITLE.str.contains("forward[ -]deployed", case=False, na=False)].copy()

# Annualize the lower bound of the offered wage, as our tables do.
per_year = {"Year": 1, "Month": 12, "Bi-Weekly": 26, "Week": 52, "Hour": 2080}
fde["base"] = fde.WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY_FROM * fde.WAGE_UNIT_OF_PAY.map(per_year)

print(len(fde), "filings, median base", fde.base.median())
print(fde.groupby("EMPLOYER_NAME").base.agg(["count", "median"])
         .sort_values("count", ascending=False).head(10))

Its first line of output is:

317 filings, median base 161637.0

That matches our own count: in H-1B filings certified from October 2025 to June 2026, 317 had forward deployed titles, with a median offered base wage of $161,637. ^[7]Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data The second print lists the employers with the most filings in this one file, so its list and some of its counts differ from the table above, which also adds the four FY2025 files. To look at one employer, filter by name, for example fde[fde.EMPLOYER_NAME.str.contains("databricks", case=False)], and read its job titles before you compare them with your role.

Base, OTE and equity

The number on a posting is one part of a package, and employers label it differently. Before you compare two numbers, write down what each one is.

Base salary is guaranteed pay. Salesforce, Scale AI, AWS, Microsoft and Snowflake label their FDE ranges as base. ^{[26, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39]}Source 26Forward Deployed Engineer, GenAIPublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 35Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) (Mid/Senior Level)PublisherSalesforce (Workday careers site)Source typecompany job postingSource 36Sr Forward Deployed Engineer, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering - Job ID: 10517491PublisherAmazon.jobsSource typecompany job postingSource 37Microsoft Careers: Senior Software Engineer - FDEPublisherMicrosoftSource typecompany job postingSource 38Microsoft Careers: Principal Software Engineer - FDEPublisherMicrosoftSource typecompany job postingSource 39Senior/Staff Forward Deployed Engineer, Applied AI | Engineering | Snowflake CareersPublisherSnowflakeSource typecompany job posting Microsoft’s FDE postings state only base ranges, and its pay page says some roles add an annual bonus and stock. ^[60]Source 60Corporate U.S. base pay ranges and additional pay informationPublisherMicrosoftSource typecompany website

OTE, on-target earnings, is base plus the variable pay you get if you hit a target. Okta’s Principal FDE posting gives its pay as an OTE range, which it defines as base salary plus incentive compensation. ^[30]Source 30Principal Forward Deployed Engineer - Okta for AI AgentsPublisherOkta (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting When a posting says OTE, the guaranteed part is lower than the number you see. Our glossary entry on OTE has the questions to ask, and the post why some FDE jobs pay OTE goes further into what the variable part is measured on.

Unlabeled ranges are the ones to ask about. In our count of Deloitte’s 61 FDE-titled postings, none labels its range as base or total. ^[61]Source 61Job Search | Deloitte USPublisherDeloitte USSource typeour analysis of public dataHow we counted Databricks’ AI FDE posting describes its range as salary for non-commissionable roles or OTE for commissionable ones. ^[32]Source 32AI Engineer – Forward Deployed Engineering (AI FDE)PublisherDatabricks (careers site / Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting Ask the recruiter one plain question: “Is this range base or OTE, and is equity on top of it?”

Equity is where packages differ most and where postings say least. In Bloomberry’s analysis of 1,000 FDE postings, 70% mentioned equity, 8% mentioned OTE and 0% were quota-carrying roles. ^[62]Source 62What I learned analyzing 1K forward deployed engineer jobsPublisherBloomberrySource typeindependent analysis Postings name the instrument only sometimes: Palantir’s and AWS’s name RSUs, while OpenAI’s and Ramp’s say only “Offers Equity”. ^{[4, 13, 15, 36]}Source 4Software Engineer, Forward Deployed @ RampPublisherRamp (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 13Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF | OpenAIPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job postingSource 15Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job postingSource 36Sr Forward Deployed Engineer, AWS Forward Deployed Engineering - Job ID: 10517491PublisherAmazon.jobsSource typecompany job posting At a private company the grant is the hardest part to value, so ask these four questions and get the answers in writing:

• “Is this RSUs or options?”
• “What valuation, or price per share, is the grant set at?”
• “If it’s RSUs, are they double-trigger, and when can I first sell?”
• “Is there a tender offer, and who can take part?”

Double-trigger RSUs need two events before they become shares you can sell: the time-based vesting schedule, and a second event such as a listing or a sale of the company. Until that second event, their value is on paper. The valuation question comes up on Blind too: a poster in Anthropic’s loop asked, in May 2026, what valuation its RSU grants are based on. ^{[63, 64, 65]}Source 63Anthropic offer - advice + RSU info?PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 64RSU Valuation for current Anthropic offers?PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 65Anthropic options exercise windowPublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on Blind

How to put an offer on one yearly number

Our method is to price every offer twice, as its first year and as an average year, with the risks written beside each line. Here it is on a real report. One Blind poster reported, in May 2026, a Google FDE offer at L5 of about $195K base, $360K in RSUs on a 38/32/20/10 vest, a 15% bonus and a $25K sign-on. ^[66]Source 66Google (FDE) vs NVIDIA (AI Infra) – Offer comparisonPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind

Priced both ways, in US dollars, the offer comes out like this:

            Year 1    Average
Base       195,000    195,000
Bonus       29,250     29,250
Sign-on     25,000          0
RSUs       136,800     90,000
Total      386,050    314,250

On the vest one poster reported, the first year takes 38% of the RSU grant and the average year a quarter of it, and the average leaves out the one-time $25K sign-on, which would add 6,250 a year if spread over the vest. ^[66]Source 66Google (FDE) vs NVIDIA (AI Infra) – Offer comparisonPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind The average year assumes the stock price stays where it was at grant. To price your own offer, change the inputs to this function:

def one_year(base, bonus_pct, sign_on, grant, vest):
    bonus = base * bonus_pct
    first = base + bonus + sign_on + grant * vest[0]
    average = base + bonus + grant / len(vest)
    return round(first), round(average)

print(one_year(195_000, 0.15, 25_000, 360_000, [0.38, 0.32, 0.20, 0.10]))
# (386050, 314250)

The gap between those two totals is the thing to notice. A front-loaded vest and a sign-on make the first year look larger than any later one, and here the last year’s RSUs are the smallest slice of the grant. Then write the risks beside each line: whether the bonus is a target or a promise, whether the equity can be sold, and how much travel the job asks for.

Travel can be most of the job: Palantir’s London NATO FDSE posting asks for travel throughout Europe 70-90% of the time. ^[67]Source 67Forward Deployed Software Engineer - NATO (London) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting Our lesson on travel, location and on-site time shows how to turn a travel line into weeks away a month. The post comparing FDE offers works through the full comparison, and FDE equity explained covers the terms to get in writing.

New-grad and early-career bands

New-grad FDE roles exist, and their bands start lower than the figures that circulate. These are the postings we found, split by whether they take graduates.

Open to graduates:

• Palantir, New Grad FDSE (Commercial), New York: a salary range of $135,000 to $145,000 a year as of September 2026, with 25–50% travel. ^[68]Source 68Forward Deployed Software Engineer, New Grad - Commercial (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting
• C3 AI, FDE, New Grad 2027, Redwood City: a California base pay range of $120,000 to $150,000 as of September 2026. ^[69]Source 69Forward Deployed Engineer, New Grad 2027 | C3 AIPublisherC3 AISource typecompany job posting
• Accenture Federal Services, Junior FDE: a base pay range of $72,600 to $132,100 as of September 2026, open to a bachelor’s degree or demonstrated hands-on coding experience. ^{[2, 3]}Source 2Junior Forward Deployed Engineer (AFS, 4715182006)PublisherAccenture Federal Services (Greenhouse job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 3Junior Forward Deployed Engineer (AFS, 4715182006)PublisherAccenture Federal Services careers (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting

Early career, experience required:

• LangChain, early-career Deployed Engineer: an OTE range of $160,000 to $175,000 as of September 2026, asking for 1 to 3 years of experience. ^{[42, 43]}Source 42Deployed Engineer (Early Career- SF) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 43Deployed Engineer (Early Career-NYC) @ LangChainPublisherLangChain (Ashby job board)Source typecompany job posting
• Deloitte, Palantir Associate FDE: $91,100 to $175,100 as of September 2026, asking for 2+ years of experience plus 1+ years with Palantir; the posting does not say whether this is base or total. ^[70]Source 70Palantir Associate Forward Deployed Engineer - GPSPublisherDeloitte USSource typecompany job posting
• Salesforce, Missionforce Associate FDE: a base salary range of $96,300 to $176,700 as of September 2026, asking for 3 to 7 years of experience. ^[71]Source 71Missionforce - Associate Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), Public SectorPublisherSalesforce (Workday careers site)Source typecompany job posting

Watch the word “associate”. At both Salesforce and Deloitte it names an experienced hire, not an entry-level one, and Deloitte’s also asks for hands-on Palantir experience. The post can you become an FDE as a new grad? covers who hires graduates and what they ask for. For consulting-firm roles like Accenture’s and Deloitte’s, read FDE roles at Accenture and Deloitte, because the work and the pay structure differ from a product company’s.

Figures that circulate but do not trace

Some FDE pay claims circulate and trace back to nothing we could find. If a recruiter hears one of these from you, it costs you credibility.

The rule we apply: a figure is usable only if you can say where it came from and what it measures. A posting, a filing or a self-report with its sample size passes. A table that credits “recruiter benchmarks” does not.

Aggregator figures

Self-reported salary sites are the main public source that tries to capture total pay, which is why people quote them. Their FDE samples are small, so always carry the sample size with the figure.

• Across companies. Levels.fyi’s cross-company Forward Deployed Engineer page shows a median total compensation of $207,500 from 155 data points, and a median base salary of $170,000. ^[12]Source 12Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyi
• Scale AI. Levels.fyi’s Scale AI FDE page shows a median of $351K from 6 submissions. ^[73]Source 73Scale AI Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyi
• Palantir, Databricks, OpenAI and Anthropic. Levels.fyi’s pages for these are covered in the company sections above, with 51 submissions, 3 submissions, 1 submission and none. ^{[48, 52, 57, 72]}Source 48Palantir Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyiSource 52Anthropic Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyiSource 57Databricks Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyiSource 72OpenAI Forward Deployed Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyi

A median from a handful of submissions tells you about a handful of people. Levels.fyi’s FAQ says every data point is self-reported by a professional and reviewed before publication. ^[74]Source 74Palantir Software Engineer SalaryPublisherLevels.fyiSource typeself-reported pay on Levels.fyi Use these pages to see how a package is shaped, such as how large equity is next to base, not to set your number.

Posting analyses are different again: they measure advertised pay ranges across many postings. Bloomberry reports that, in its analysis of 1,000 FDE postings, the median salary among postings that disclosed a range was $173,816, and it does not say how many disclosed pay. ^[62]Source 62What I learned analyzing 1K forward deployed engineer jobsPublisherBloomberrySource typeindependent analysis Recruiting from Scratch reports a median FDE salary of $195,000 from 924 FDE postings, in an analysis dated June 2026. ^[75]Source 75Forward Deployed Engineer Salary in 2026: Real Data from 1.9 Million Job PostingsPublisherRecruiting from ScratchSource typeindependent analysis Each uses its own window and method, so don’t average them or set one against another.

Negotiation

Your leverage in an FDE negotiation comes from three things you can check: the posted band, the level, and any other offer you hold. Everything above feeds the first. Here is how to use it.

Before the offer, get the band and the level. The first pay question can come before any interview: the application form for Palantir’s US Government FDSE postings asks whether you support the advertised compensation range. ^[76]Source 76Apply: Forward Deployed Software Engineer - US Government (Washington, D.C.) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting On the recruiter call, ask first: “Can you share the range for this role, and which level you’re hiring at?” If the band works, say so and stop. Our model answer to What are your compensation expectations? gives the full sequence, and What level do you think you are, and why? shows how to argue for a level with evidence.

Settle the level before the number. Where bands overlap, the level decides which one you negotiate inside, as the level table above shows. Take Scale AI in that table: no raise inside its Senior Frontier Agents Engineer base band reaches the top of its Staff one. ^{[40, 41]}Source 40Senior Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)PublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 41Staff Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)PublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting Candidates on Blind report Google FDE offers a level below the one they aimed for: one reported, in July 2026, an L4 offer after targeting L5, and another, in May 2026, a down-leveled L3 offer. ^{[77, 78]}Source 77Google FDE AdvicePublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 78Google Cloud FDE or Adobe Applied AI SWEPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind

Know what candidates report about moving the number. The Blind reports that Anthropic recruiters said offers are not negotiated, and the Palantir offer one poster called “very lowball”, are in the company sections above. ^{[49, 50, 53, 54, 55]}Source 49Palantir Deployment Strategist TCPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 50Palantir Offer Forward Deployed EngineerPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 53Does Anthropic negotiate?PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 54Does Anthropic really not negotiate?PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on BlindSource 55OpenAI/Anthropic/Stripe: Is "no negotiating" a lie?PublisherBlindSource typecandidate report on Blind These are single reports, not rules, so ask your recruiter which parts of the offer are flexible.

How the number gets set

This is our reading, not a process any employer publishes. The recruiter negotiates inside a band, the band follows the level, and the level comes out of the interviewers’ debrief, before the offer is written. What employers publish fits that reading: Scale AI’s postings say pay is set during the interview process, based on factors that include interview performance, and Google’s general hiring pages say every candidate is assessed using clear rubrics. ^{[26, 79]}Source 26Forward Deployed Engineer, GenAIPublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 79Our hiring process - Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany hiring page As we see it, the evidence that moves an FDE level is scope you owned end to end, how you handled a customer when the problem was unclear, and what you shipped and how you knew it worked. So argue for your level in the loop, with stories that show that scope, and again on the recruiter call, using What level do you think you are, and why? as your model.

A script for the offer call

Say the offer is a base in the lower half of Palantir’s New York FDSE range, which runs from $135,000 to $200,000 as of September 2026. ^[15]Source 15Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting Here is what to say, in order:

1. Confirm what the band covers. “Thanks, I’m excited about the role. Before I respond, is the posted range base, and is equity on top?”
2. Name a number and the reason. “Based on the scope we discussed, leading two customer deployments end to end, I’d like the base at one eighty-five. If you can get there, I’m ready to sign this week.” Say one figure, not a range, and say the last part only if it is true. One eighty-five, meaning a hundred and eighty-five thousand, sits above the midpoint of the posted range and below its top, and the scope you just named is your evidence for it.
3. Offer a second route. “If base is fixed at this level, can we look at the sign-on or the equity instead?”
4. Get it in writing. “Could you send the full breakdown in writing, with the vesting schedule and the deadline?”

Then be ready for three turns in the call:

• If you hold a competing offer. “I have a written offer from [company] at $[X] base and $[Y] a year in equity. I’d rather join you. Can you get the base to $[Z]?” Name only an offer you hold in writing, with its real numbers.
• If the recruiter says offers aren’t negotiated. “Understood, I’m not asking you to break the band. Can you tell me what evidence from the loop set the level, and what I’d need to show to be at the next one?” That moves the talk to the level, which is where the band comes from.
• If the recruiter asks what you make now. “I’d rather anchor on this role’s range than on my current package, because the scope is different. The range you shared works for me.”

The last two follow our model answer to What are your compensation expectations?. Each line gives the recruiter something to take to the hiring manager: scope, not adjectives. A strong written offer names the level, the base, the equity (instrument, vesting schedule and value), any sign-on and its clawback, and the deadline. Anthropic’s careers FAQ says candidates can take their time deciding on an offer. ^[80]Source 80CareersPublisherAnthropicSource typecompany hiring page If another employer sets a short deadline, our answer to a one-week offer deadline has the words, and the offer came in one level below covers the down-level call.

The posts in this series

Each of these takes one part of the pay question further than a guide can.

• The filings. Forward deployed engineer H-1B salaries explains what a labor condition application records, how to look one up yourself, and why a filing figure is never total pay.
• The negotiation. How to negotiate a forward deployed engineer offer covers what candidates report moved, how to use a competing offer you have, and the words for the first call after the offer.
• The equity. FDE equity explained sorts RSUs from options and cash in lieu, and lists the terms to get in writing before you compare two grants.
• The level. Down-leveled on your FDE offer? covers what candidates report about down-leveling and how to respond without arguing with the verdict.
• The number. ‘What are your salary expectations?’ gives an answer that confirms the overlap without setting your own ceiling.
• The comparison. Comparing FDE offers puts base, equity, bonus and travel on one basis, with the risks beside each.

The series also covers the conversations around pay: the FDE recruiter screen, where the pay question can first come up, and FDE at a startup or at a big company, which covers how the offer differs between the two.

What to do next

Pick one posting you are applying to and fill in three lines: the range, what it covers (base, OTE or unstated), and the date you read it. Then find the employer in the H-1B table above, if it is there, and note where its filings sit inside the band. That page is your preparation for the pay question. Our free lesson on how to read an FDE job posting, part of the module The FDE role decoded, walks through the rest of the posting line by line.

Scale AI’s postings name interview performance as one of the factors that set where you land in the band, so at least there, the loop is part of the negotiation. ^[26]Source 26Forward Deployed Engineer, GenAIPublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting Run the free practice customer case at /try after signing in. Then start Pro’s 7-day free trial for the offer-stage questions, each with a model answer: the offer came in one level below, the equity number is final, a one-week offer deadline and where else are you interviewing?. The syllabus for Module 13: Offers, negotiation and the first months lists the lessons it plans on pay and offers. See pricing for the plans.

Posts on this topic

Each takes one part of this guide further.

1. Pay and offers

   ‘What are your salary expectations?’ An FDE answer that doesn’t cost you money

   The recruiter asks your FDE salary expectations before you know the level. Scripts to hold off, anchor to the posted band and answer when pushed.

   10 min readPublished September 2026

2. The FDE role

   Can you become a forward deployed engineer as a new grad? Who hires, and what they ask for

   Palantir, C3 AI and a few others post FDE roles for new grads. Who posts them, what they ask for, and how to show customer skill without a job history.

   11 min readPublished September 2026

3. Pay and offers

   Comparing FDE offers: the math for base, equity, bonus and travel

   One FDE offer has more base, the other more equity and more travel. A worked comparison: annualized equity, bonus at target, OTE risk and travel as a cost.

   10 min readPublished September 2026

4. Company loops

   Databricks resident solutions architect vs FDE: what the postings show and a candidate’s report

   Databricks resident solutions architect vs FDE: what Databricks’ own pages say about each role, one candidate’s conversion report, and how to prepare.

   10 min readPublished September 2026

5. Pay and offers

   Down-leveled on your FDE offer? What candidates report and how to respond

   You interviewed for senior; the FDE offer is one level lower. What candidates report, what leveling changes, and how to ask for the evidence behind it.

   11 min readPublished September 2026

6. The FDE role

   FDE at a startup or at a big company: how the job, the loop and the offer differ

   The same FDE title can mean a startup’s first customer engineer or one of many at a big company. How scope, interviews and offers differ, and how to tell.

   11 min readPublished September 2026

7. Pay and offers

   FDE equity explained: RSUs, options and the terms to get in writing

   The equity line is the hardest part of an FDE offer to read. RSUs, options, cash in lieu and PPUs explained, with vesting math and questions to ask.

   11 min readPublished September 2026

8. The FDE role

   FDE jobs that need a security clearance: who asks, which level, and what it changes

   Which FDE postings ask for a security clearance, from Secret to TS/SCI with polygraph, the citizenship rules, and how to answer the clearance question.

   11 min readPublished September 2026

9. The FDE role

   FDE roles at Accenture and Deloitte: what consulting-firm FDE jobs involve

   Accenture and Deloitte post many FDE roles. What their postings ask for, and how consulting-firm FDE work and interviews differ from a product company’s.

   10 min readPublished September 2026

10. The FDE role

    FDE vs AI engineer: same models, different job

    Both build with LLMs, but only one works inside the customer’s systems. How FDE and AI engineer postings differ, side by side, and how to choose.

    11 min readPublished September 2026

11. The FDE role

    FDE vs technical account manager: who builds, who supports, and how to tell from the posting

    FDE vs technical account manager: both answer to the customer, and only one writes the fix. How postings tell them apart, and how the interviews differ.

    11 min readPublished September 2026

12. Pay and offers

    Forward deployed engineer H-1B salaries: what the filings show and what they leave out

    Offered base wages on certified H-1B filings for forward deployed titles, by employer and city, and what filings leave out: equity, bonus and level.

    11 min readPublished September 2026

13. The FDE role

    From consulting to forward deployed engineer: what employers say about consultants, and how to make the move

    OpenAI’s FDE team has ex-consultants, and Palantir says a Delta is not a consultant. What transfers from consulting, what doesn’t, and the coding plan.

    11 min readPublished September 2026

14. Company loops

    Google Cloud customer engineer vs forward deployed engineer: same company, different jobs

    Google Cloud customer engineer vs forward deployed engineer: what each posting says the job is, how pay is structured, and what candidates report.

    10 min readPublished September 2026

15. Pay and offers

    How to negotiate a forward deployed engineer offer: what moves, what doesn’t, and the words to use

    Your FDE offer came with a deadline. What candidates report moved and what didn’t, with scripts for the first call, competing offers, equity and deadlines.

    10 min readPublished September 2026

16. Preparation

    Questions to ask at the end of an FDE interview that tell you what the job really is

    Questions to ask at the end of an FDE interview about travel, quota, reporting lines and customers, grouped by interviewer, with good and worrying answers.

    11 min readPublished September 2026

17. Interview rounds

    The FDE recruiter screen: what gets asked and how to answer each question

    The FDE recruiter screen is ‘just a chat’ until it sets your level and pay. What gets asked, how long it runs, and the words to use.

    10 min readPublished September 2026

18. Company loops

    The OpenAI Deployment Company: what it is and what it means for FDE candidates

    The OpenAI Deployment Company (DeployCo) embeds FDEs with customers. Where it hires, what its postings ask, how engagements start and how to prepare.

    10 min readPublished September 2026

19. Pay and offers

    Why some FDE jobs pay OTE: what on-target earnings mean for an engineer

    Why some FDE postings state pay as OTE, what on-target earnings mean for an engineer, and the questions to ask about the variable part before you accept.

    10 min readPublished September 2026

Questions people ask

How much does a forward deployed engineer make?

It depends on the employer and the level. As of September 2026, OpenAI’s San Francisco FDE posting lists a salary range of $185K to $300K with equity on top, Anthropic’s US FDE posting lists an annual salary of $280,000 to $320,000, and Palantir’s New York FDSE posting lists a salary range of $135,000 to $200,000. No posting or filing measures total pay, so read each figure for what it covers.^{[13, 14, 15]}Source 13Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) - SF | OpenAIPublisherOpenAISource typecompany job postingSource 14Forward Deployed Engineer (New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA)PublisherAnthropic (Greenhouse job board)Source typecompany job postingSource 15Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting

What do H-1B filings show for forward deployed engineers?

In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, 387 had forward deployed in the job title, and their median offered base wage was $161,637, taking the lower bound of each filed range. A filing covers base only, for sponsored workers only: it has no bonus, equity or sign-on in it.^{[7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 8LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q1.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 9LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q2.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 11LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q4.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data

What is Palantir’s FDE salary?

As of September 2026, Palantir’s New York Forward Deployed Software Engineer posting lists a salary range of $135,000 to $200,000 a year, and says RSUs, a sign-on bonus and other incentives may be added. Its New York Deployment Strategist posting lists a salary range of $110,000 to $170,000.^{[15, 31]}Source 15Forward Deployed Software Engineer (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job postingSource 31Deployment Strategist (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job posting

Are Anthropic FDEs paid in profit participation units?

No source in our research supports it. Anthropic’s careers page mentions competitive salary and equity packages without naming the equity instrument, and none of the sources we checked mentions profit participation units at Anthropic.^[80]Source 80CareersPublisherAnthropicSource typecompany hiring page

Is FDE pay quoted as base salary or OTE?

It depends on the posting, so read the words around the number. Salesforce’s Mid/Senior FDE posting says its range is base salary only, Google’s FDE postings list a range plus a bonus target and equity, and Okta’s Principal FDE posting gives OTE, which it defines as base salary plus incentive compensation.^{[29, 30, 35]}Source 29Forward Deployed Engineer IV, GenAI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job postingSource 30Principal Forward Deployed Engineer - Okta for AI AgentsPublisherOkta (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 35Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) (Mid/Senior Level)PublisherSalesforce (Workday careers site)Source typecompany job posting

How much do new-grad forward deployed engineers make?

As of September 2026, Palantir’s New Grad FDSE posting in New York lists a salary range of $135,000 to $145,000 a year, and C3 AI’s New Grad 2027 FDE posting lists a California base pay range of $120,000 to $150,000.^{[68, 69]}Source 68Forward Deployed Software Engineer, New Grad - Commercial (New York, NY) - Palantir on LeverPublisherPalantir Technologies (Lever)Source typecompany job postingSource 69Forward Deployed Engineer, New Grad 2027 | C3 AIPublisherC3 AISource typecompany job posting

How does FDE pay change with seniority?

At Google, where the posting names the level, the next level up posts a higher range: as of September 2026, the FDE III posting lists $174,000 to $252,000 and the FDE IV posting lists $207,000 to $300,000, and neither says whether this is base or total. In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, the median offered base wage on forward deployed filings was $145,000 at prevailing-wage Level I and $213,512 at Level IV, a government wage level the employer enters on the filing, not its internal level.^{[7, 29, 34, 58]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 29Forward Deployed Engineer IV, GenAI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job postingSource 34Forward Deployed Engineer III, Generative AI, Google Cloud — Google CareersPublisherGoogleSource typecompany job postingSource 58Public Disclosure File: LCA (H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3), Form ETA-9035, FY2026 record layoutPublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data

What do H-1B filings show for forward deployed engineers in New York?

In H-1B filings certified from October 2024 to June 2026, the 160 filings with forward deployed titles in the New York metro area had a median offered base wage of $150,000, a 25th percentile of $145,000 and a 75th percentile of $180,000.^{[7, 10]}Source 7LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2026_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this dataSource 10LCA_Disclosure_Data_FY2025_Q3.xlsx (DOL OFLC LCA disclosure data)PublisherUS Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor CertificationSource typeUS Department of Labor filing dataHow we used this data

Keep reading

Guides

• What is a forward deployed engineer?
• The forward deployed engineer interview, round by round

Lessons

• How to read an FDE job posting line by line
• Who hires FDEs, and under which titles
• Travel, location and on-site time: read the posting, then ask

Questions

• What are your compensation expectations?
• What level do you think you are, and why?
• The offer came in one level below the one you interviewed for. What do you say to the recruiter?
• The recruiter says the equity number is final. What do you ask next?
• If we make an offer, we will need an answer within a week. Is that workable?
• Where else are you interviewing, and how far along are you?