What does a Forward Deployed Engineer do at Gradera?

Forward Deployed Engineers at Gradera are embedded directly with enterprise customers to implement and customize the platform, build integrations, and solve technical problems in real-world client environments. They combine software engineering skills with direct customer interaction, writing production code while also serving as the primary technical point of contact.

What skills are required for this Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Test Automation role?

The Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Test Automation role at Gradera typically requires strong software engineering skills (Python, TypeScript, SQL), experience with APIs and system integration, comfort with cloud platforms, and the ability to communicate complex technical topics to non-technical stakeholders. Most FDE roles require 3-7 years of engineering experience.

Is this Forward Deployed Engineer position at Gradera remote?

Remote availability varies by Gradera FDE role. Some positions are fully remote, others require travel to customer sites, and some are hybrid. Check the full job description above for the specific location requirements for this posting.

Gradera

Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Test Automation

$120K - $150K Remote Senior Posted July 09, 2026

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Role Description

About Gradera -----------------

Gradera is an AI‑Native Services firm pioneering Software‑Orchestrated Services—a new enterprise transformation model where software orchestrates human expertise, digital workers, and enterprise systems to deliver governed, scalable outcomes. We help enterprises move beyond fragmented AI pilots, disconnected automation, and labor‑led models by redesigning how work gets done across operations, product, engineering, customer experience, data, and core workflows.

Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Test Automation

Location: USA, Remote

Employment Type: Full-Time

Overview

We are seeking a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Test Automation to join our Solutions Delivery team, to lead the technical design of enterprise test automation solution and lead implementation with a hands-on approach. In this forward-deployed role, you will be the technical and strategic anchor for solution delivery, involving TestPhiTM – Gradera’s AI-First Enterprise test automation platform, leading client-specific implementation, configuration & enhancements.

We are looking for a seasoned professional who can strategically design solutions to integrate the platform for customers, lead the technical team, taking full ownership of the end-to-end solution delivery from strategy to production-grade deployment, independently with minimal supervision.

Key Responsibilities

Understand client goals for test automation and centralized COE objectives.
Understand Gradera’s TestPhi platform capabilities, vision & be in awareness of the continuously evolving roadmap.
Assess current test automation initiatives, tool stack, processes & methodologies, at client.
Collaborate with client to design the future state for enterprise-grade test-automation framework and operating model, leveraging Gradera’s TestPhi platform.
Implement a pilot using Gradera’s TestPhi platform, configure and enhance.
Lead and scale implementation phase to at least 80% test coverage.
Define blueprint for enterprise test automation foundation, including Test data management, tool integration, CI/CD, process orchestration, quality management, reporting & governance.
Act as a technical beacon for the implementation team, performing hands-on automation tasks, conducting rigorous script reviews and setting the standard for quality engineering.
Monitor and model the maintenance plan for maximum up-time and efficiency of the test automation solution.
Create adoption strategy and intake process, to automate testing for other enterprise applications as part of long-term roadmap.
Contribute to platform development within Gradera, as needed.

Required Qualifications

At least 8 years of professional experience in Software Quality Engineering successfully deploying test automation solutions in Enterprise environments.
At least 2 years of relevant experience with Playwright web test automation, including headless, automated test generation, and Playwright native agents.
At least 2 years of experience working with UiPath, automating tests & processes.
Must-have experience designing & implementing test automation for Enterprise commercial applications, Oracle ERP products or equivalent.
Proven ability to work independently and lead software quality initiatives with minimal supervision.
Experience operating in a Testing COE model, enabling software teams for automated testing, governance, standardization.
Experience defining quality standards & best practices, detailed review of automation tools/technologies.
Expert-level experience in Test data management, configuring for different line of businesses & environments.
Experience resolving test flakiness, increasing test execution success rate.
Experience defining approach to increasing overall test coverage – UI, API and integration tests.
Experience leading & participating different test cycles such as UAT, SIT.
Experience integrating automated tests as part of the DevOps, CI/CD process, with Azure DevOps.
Experience creating quality reports in Grafana, Allure or equivalent technologies.
Experience with mobile app test automation technologies.
Strong experience with BDD, designing solutions that leverage the BDD concepts, Gherkin format, working with business to adopt BDD practices.

Additional qualifications

Industry Experience: Experience in Energy & Utilities domain and understanding of B2B and B2C businesses process in this domain is a significant value-add.

Compensation Range: $120K - $150K

About Forward Deployed Engineering

Forward Deployed Engineers are embedded directly with customers to build custom solutions, integrate products into existing infrastructure, and bridge the gap between product engineering and customer success. The role combines deep technical skills with the ability to operate in client environments and translate business requirements into working software.

Originally pioneered by Palantir, the FDE model has spread across AI, enterprise SaaS, and cloud infrastructure companies. FDEs write production code, architect integrations, train customer teams, and feed product insights back to the core engineering organization. At companies like OpenAI, Salesforce, and Databricks, FDE teams are treated as elite engineering units that can ship custom solutions in days rather than quarters.

Typical FDE stack: Python, TypeScript, SQL, REST/GraphQL APIs, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure), and increasingly LLM APIs and AI orchestration frameworks. Strong communication and the ability to context-switch between technical and business conversations are as important as coding ability.