AI & Data Talent.
Forward Deployed Engineers first, then the rest of the bench: data engineers, AI engineers, solutions architects, and the leaders who run them. We recruit the people who move AI and data products from demo to production inside customer environments.
AI pilots do not fail on the model. They fail between the demo and production.
Most companies can build an impressive AI demo. Far fewer can make that demo work inside a customer's environment, with the customer's data, security constraints, legacy systems, and internal politics. The people who can do that carry two skill sets at once: real production engineering depth and the ability to sit in a room with a customer and hold the conversation. That combination is scarce, those engineers are employed, and they are almost never reading job boards.
This practice exists for exactly that problem. Engaged Headhunters recruits the engineers and technical leaders who turn AI and data products into working customer outcomes: Forward Deployed Engineers, data and platform engineers, applied AI engineers, customer-facing architects, and the directors and VPs who lead them.
We serve four kinds of buyers. AI product companies that need engineers embedded with customers. Data-platform companies whose revenue depends on successful implementations. Consultancies and systems integrators staffing delivery teams. And enterprises operationalizing AI who need the in-house talent to make vendor promises real.
For most of these searches the right structure is engaged: the candidate pool is passive, the screen is dual-skilled, and the search depends on credible direct outreach rather than inbound applications. Contingent works when the role is closer to the active market. We recommend the model that fits the search, not the one that fits us.
Why Platforms Choose Engaged Search
Where the search lives.
Senior leadership and niche-headhunter roles. The recruiter assigned to your search has spent a decade in this segment.
FORWARD DEPLOYED
DATA & PLATFORM
APPLIED AI
LEADERSHIP & ARCHITECTURE
AI & Data Talent, specifically.
The questions hiring operators send in the first call.
What is the AI & Data Talent practice?
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A specialist recruiting practice focused on the roles that move AI and data products into production: Forward Deployed Engineers, data engineers, analytics engineers, data platform and AI infrastructure engineers, AI and machine learning engineers, developer relations engineers, solutions architects, and data and AI leadership. The common thread is talent that combines engineering depth with customer or business impact, not research credentials alone. If you are looking for an AI recruiting agency, this is the practice built for that search.
When do we need a Forward Deployed Engineer instead of a Solutions Architect?
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Hire a Forward Deployed Engineer when someone has to write and ship production code inside customer environments. Hire a Solutions Architect when someone has to design the technical approach, guide the customer, and hand implementation to other teams. If pilots are stalling because nobody is hands-on in the customer's stack, that is an FDE problem, not an architecture problem.
Should these searches run engaged or contingent?
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Most senior AI and data searches run engaged. The strongest candidates are passive, the screen requires evaluating two skill sets, and the search lives or dies on credible direct outreach. Contingent fits roles with a more active candidate pool or when you want the search running in parallel with internal channels. We recommend the model after scoping the role, and we will tell you if contingent is the better fit.
How do you evaluate both technical skill and customer-facing skill?
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Two tracks, both required. On the technical side we look for evidence of production ownership: systems the candidate built, ran, and was accountable for, confirmed in technical conversation and references. On the customer side we look for real exposure to external stakeholders under pressure, checked through scenario questions and reference calls with people who watched them do it. The screening workload runs through ProHireHQ, the ATS and recruiting-automation system supporting the process, so recruiter time goes to judgment rather than admin.
What are your fees?
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Contingent search runs 18 to 25 percent of first-year compensation, owed only on placement. Engaged search runs 25 to 35 percent with a deposit credited against the final fee. Replacement guarantee terms are agreed in writing at the start of the search. Candidates never pay us anything; the hiring company pays the fee.
Do you place data and AI leadership, or only engineers?
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Both. The practice covers Directors of Data Engineering, Heads of Data, VPs of Data and AI, and AI Deployment Leaders alongside individual-contributor searches. Leadership searches almost always run engaged because the pool is small and the wrong hire is expensive in every direction.
Three paths from here.
You have an AI or data role open now and deployments are stalling.
Book a 30-minute scoping call. We map the role, recommend the engagement model, and give you a straight read on what the candidate market looks like for your search.
Start the scoping call →You are about to open a Forward Deployed Engineer req and want to define it correctly.
Read the FDE hiring guide first. The title means different things at different companies, and the guide walks through how to pick your flavor, write the role definition, and build the evaluation loop.
Read the FDE hiring guide →You are weighing engaged versus contingent for a scarce technical search.
Read how engaged search runs: what the deposit funds, how it is credited against the final fee, and when the exclusive structure earns its keep versus contingent.
Read engaged search →Tell us the product, the role, the deployment problem.
Tell us the product, the role, and where deployments stall. We scope the search, recommend the engagement model, and give you an honest read on the candidate market before you commit to anything.