Breaking Into AI FDE roles Through a Hiring Manager's Lens
What It Actually Takes to Get Hired as an AI FDE
Hey, Prasad here 👋 I’m the voice behind the weekly newsletter “Big Tech Careers.”
This week I bring you a guest post from Jove Zhong, Head of FDE @ Cresta! Based on recent episodes of his “Forward Deployed Caffeine” podcast, he shares what it takes to get your resume shortlisted for AI FDE roles.
Jove is hiring dozens of AI FDEs this year. He reviews hundreds of FDE resumes every week and in this article provides insights into the experience and skills he looks for in the candidates he hires as FDEs.
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Over to you, Jove!
The 5-Second Resume Screen
I review hundreds of FDE resumes every week (never use AI). I spend 5 to 10 seconds per resume. Not because I’m cold, because speed is a hiring superpower!
So, let’s start with the uncomfortable truth: your carefully crafted 5-page resume? It gets 5 seconds of attention. Maybe 10 if you’re lucky.
By default I spend 5 seconds, 10 seconds for every single resume, having reviewed hundreds (if not thousands) of FDE applications. I guess maybe you can blame me, but I don’t really have enough time to spend doing research for every single resume.
So what catches an FDE hiring manager’s eye in those precious seconds?
The Non-Negotiables
1. Real Engineering Experience (Minimum 1 Year)
I don’t want to hire someone with less than 1 year full-time working experience. I used to set the bar at 2 years, but lowered it after seeing exceptional candidates who grew quickly.
Why the experience requirement? FDE is not really just a technical effort. You need to understand how to do customer facing. You have to know some of the business logic. You need to know how to say no, how to challenge others, how to push the current clients.
(Source: Do We Really Need FDEs?)
2. Hands-On AI/LLM Experience
This isn’t negotiable. The job posting says “AI experience,” and they mean it.
What they’re looking for:
Experience with Python-based LLM frameworks
Knowledge of observability frameworks
Understanding of test evals and how to run them
Actual agent building experience (not just prompt tinkering)
We don’t want to hire someone just good at Python and spend the other half year training them. Getting your hands dirty about using AI or even building agents is something we look for.
Anthony Mein, who joined as Cresta’s second full-time FDE, shares his journey: “I’ve been on the ground with LLM since day one since the transformer model was released. I remember the first day I saw ChatGPT come out, my coworker and I were trying it out for some little tasks and it was horrible at coding... but over time we would continuously check back and as you grow with the AI technology evolving, we’re also growing with the best practices.”
3. The Right Educational Foundation
Does university matter? Yes and no.
Whether the person is coming from a nice university... it doesn’t mean a lot, but it means something because you are already selected, right? You earn your ticket to go to one of the best universities in a nice kind of major, you already get some computer science.
But it’s not a dealbreaker if you’re not from a top-tier school. What matters more is:
Computer science or technical major (preferred)
Evidence of technical depth
Actual projects and real-world experience
4. The Tech Stack Check
I scan for specific signals in your resume:
What programming languages do you use?
What frameworks have you worked with?
Are you dropping buzzwords or demonstrating depth?
Red flag: If people are talking about a lot of buzzwords, for example, like ISO or those change management, those big words, not really about those technical terms, I’m worried about.
What impresses: Specific mentions of frameworks, tools, and technologies with context about how you used them.
The Secret Weapon: Founding Engineer Experience
Here’s something that really stands out: startup or founding engineer background.
If people already have some founding engineering background, even as a founder, a couple of things. One is they work very hard and in a very challenging environment before. They know nothing is easy.
Why founding engineers make great FDEs:
Ownership mindset: “I will make this happen in whatever cost it is”
Self-directed: Won’t wait for approval or task assignment
Comfortable with ambiguity: Used to figuring things out independently
High agency: They will drive things and they will fix things. It’s okay to break things, but as long as you can fix fast.
Milos Mandic, FDE at Leverage, embodies this profile perfectly: “It’s been 6 months at Leverage doing forward deployed engineering, but my career spans all the way back to 2015. About 10 years now in engineering space, a bit all over the place... software engineering, also product management, technical instruction, all those skills that I believe put you in a really good place to become a forward deployed engineer.”
What Doesn’t Go on the Resume
Keep It Short
Please, you don’t have to send a resume for like five, six pages, just one page or two pages is good enough.
Skip the Fluff
Focus on:
University and graduation year
Work experience with specific projects
Technical stack and tools
Real outcomes and impact
Don’t waste space on:
Generic objective statements
Long lists of soft skills
Irrelevant hobbies (unless they demonstrate relevant skills)
Beyond the Resume: The Real Test
Even with a great resume, you’ll face:
Online coding test: We send the person an online test, making sure they can do the basic coding because sometimes people lie or buff a little bit on their resume.
Recruiter screen: Our recruiter talks to the person, making sure they can express themselves and they can share their lesson and their motivation.
Technical interviews: Multiple rounds with the team
The Mindset That Gets You Hired
More important than any single technical skill is demonstrating the right mindset:
Customer-Facing Comfort
You need to understand how to do customer facing. You have to know some of the business logic.
This isn’t a backend role where you can hide behind Slack messages. You’ll be on client calls, explaining technical concepts, managing expectations.
Healthy Skepticism About AI
Anthony puts it perfectly: “You need to have a healthy skepticism about AI code. As you said, you’re the ultimate owner of that. Whether the AI wrote it or not doesn’t matter if you’re the one approving it.”
The hiring team looks for candidates who:
Understand AI capabilities AND limitations
Can evaluate AI-generated code critically
Know when to push back on AI suggestions
Continuous Learning Orientation
The field is evolving daily. “Best practices are changing every single day,” Anthony notes. “You need someone with deep expertise in the AI field that your customer might not necessarily have.”
Can you keep up? Do you actively follow:
Latest model releases (GPT, Claude, Gemini)?
New frameworks and tools?
Emerging best practices?
Research papers and industry developments?
The Interview Philosophy: Transparency Over Gatekeeping
What’s refreshing about my approach? I’m not trying to make hiring harder.
I’m very open to sharing about it because I don’t want to hide those criteria. I don’t want to make my hiring harder. I want to meet more promising candidates and bring those awesome talents to our team.
This is the opposite of the typical “secret interview tricks” mindset. The FDE space needs talent, and the best way to find it is to be clear about what you’re looking for.
Red Flags That Get You Auto-Rejected
Zero professional experience: If you have not graduated yet, please, you don’t have to send a resume to me.
No AI/LLM background: If you’re learning about LLMs for the first time on the job, it’s too late.
Pure management speak: Buzzwords without technical depth signals you haven’t been hands-on.
Can’t code: The online coding test is non-negotiable. I want to make sure you can do the basic coding.
What Success Looks Like: Anthony’s Journey
Anthony represents the ideal hire in many ways:
Background:
Graduated college in 2022 (pre-ChatGPT era, so learned fundamentals the hard way)
Previous role: One of two developers building full stack AR + AI application
Learned from being in small team: “I was really looking to learn from more experienced developers, to get in a space where it’s more fast moving”
What stood out:
Deep hands-on experience across the stack
Early adopter of AI/LLM technology
Customer-facing experience from previous role
Genuine enthusiasm for the technology
Clear communication skills
His advice for applicants: “Really getting your people skills up and being able to have friendly interactions with customers. FDE is a really tricky role... You have to know when to say no to a client. You have to manage client expectations and you also need to be really friendly about this as well.”
The Bottom Line
Getting hired as an FDE isn’t about gaming the system or knowing secret interview tricks. It’s about:
Having real engineering experience (1+ years minimum)
Demonstrating hands-on AI/LLM expertise (not just theoretical knowledge)
Showing customer-facing readiness (communication skills, business understanding)
Proving high agency (founding engineer mindset preferred)
Keeping up with the field (continuous learning, following latest developments)
As I summarize: FDE is filling the missing piece. There are so many challenges for AI and the customer or the platform engineer don’t really have enough time understanding each other and they will have to make things happen.
If your resume can tell that story in 5 seconds, you’ve got a shot.
I would like to extend a big thank you to Jove for sharing his insights with Big Tech Careers readers.
I encourage you to subscribe to his Forward-Deployed Caffeine podcast for more conversations with FDEs from different companies and verticals.
Interested in FDE roles? Jove is hiring dozens of more FDE and managers:
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/cresta/jobs/5097513008 (US)
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/cresta/jobs/4595480008 (Canada)
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/cresta/jobs/5097513008 (EMEA)
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/cresta/jobs/5107283008 (APAC)
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/cresta/jobs/5099068008 (FDE Managers)
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