Principal Forward Deployed Engineer

Life at UiPath

The people at UiPath believe in the transformative power of automation to change how the world works. We’re committed to creating category-leading enterprise software that unleashes that power.

To make that happen, we need people who are curious, self-propelled, generous, and genuine. People who love being part of a fast-moving, fast-thinking growth company. And people who care—about each other, about UiPath, and about our larger purpose.

Could that be you?

Role Overview

As a Principal Forward Deployed Engineer, you will define technical strategy across major customer engagements and lead lighthouse implementations with strategic customers. You'll establish standards for FDE teams, influence product direction through field insights and co-innovation, and serve as a trusted technical advisor to both customers and internal stakeholders. This role uniquely combines deep technical expertise in AI and automation with strategic customer engagement and organizational leadership.

Unlike traditional software engineers who build products for many customers, Principal FDEs enable transformative capabilities for strategic customers while shaping how the entire FDE organization delivers agentic automation solutions. You'll work directly in customer environments while simultaneously establishing technical standards and best practices that scale across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

AI Engineering & Platform Mastery

• Define technical strategy for AI system design, multi-agent orchestration, and enterprise deployment across major customer engagements, including lighthouse implementations with strategic customers

• Partner with UiPath Product and Engineering teams to co-innovate and shape the roadmap for agentic automation based on field insights and customer needs

• Develop reference architectures for scalable, reusable AI deployments that become standards across FDE teams and customer implementations

• Lead governance and best-practice standardization for agent engineering, prompt management, and LLM operations across FDE teams

• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and frameworks, determining applicability and integration strategies for UiPath's platform

• Create strategies to optimize solution performance, reduce hosting costs, and enhance security posture across customer environments

Technical Excellence, Innovation & Delivery

• Define and enforce best practices for AI system delivery, agent reliability, and production operations across FDE teams

• Lead lighthouse implementations with strategic customers, demonstrating new capabilities and delivery approaches

• Lead cross-functional initiatives spanning multiple teams to improve scalability, quality, and delivery consistency

• Generate new technical and product ideas through co-innovation, synthesizing customer insights, field patterns, and industry trends

• Represent UiPath's technical practices and agent engineering expertise at conferences, customer briefings, and industry forums

• Establish mechanisms for capturing and disseminating field learnings that accelerate the FDE organization

Customer & Business Impact

• Define customer technology strategy across major engagements, ensuring alignment with business transformation objectives and measurable outcomes

• Lead lighthouse implementations with strategic customers, demonstrating new agentic capabilities and establishing replicable patterns for the FDE organization

• Influence UiPath product direction through co-innovation, translating aggregated field insights into roadmap recommendations

• Build executive-level relationships with strategic customers, advising on AI and automation strategy

• Establish frameworks for quantifying and communicating business impact across customer engagements

• Work with cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, Customer Success) to address systemic customer needs and competitive gaps

Collaboration, Influence & Leadership

• Lead cross-functional collaboration across regions and technical domains, coordinating with strategic customers on lighthouse implementations

• Connect field operations with Product Engineering, ensuring field insights inform product direction and co-innovation

• Resolve complex conflicts constructively, prioritizing UiPath's goals and customer outcomes

• Mentor Senior FDEs and emerging technical leaders in architectural thinking and customer engagement

• Facilitate discussions on technical standards and strategies across FDE teams, ensuring organizational alignment

• Provide feedback to leadership and proactively address challenges outside your direct responsibility

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with demonstrated expertise in enterprise software delivery and customer-facing technical roles

• Deep expertise in LLM systems, including prompt engineering, evaluation techniques, and production deployment of agentic workflows

• Strong proficiency in Python and/or TypeScript with experience building production-grade AI applications

• Proven track record of defining technical strategy and delivering complex, multi-system integrations that drive measurable business outcomes

• Experience leading lighthouse implementations or strategic technical initiatives with enterprise customers

• Demonstrated ability to influence product direction through field insights and co-innovation with product teams

• Excellence in technical communication with both technical and executive audiences, including experience presenting at conferences or industry forums

• Track record of mentoring senior engineers and establishing technical standards across teams

• Willingness to travel to customer sites (up to 30-40%) and work directly in customer environments

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with enterprise automation platforms (UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, or similar)

• Background in machine learning, including experience with custom ML models, document understanding, or AI Center deployments

• Familiarity with multiple LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, etc.) and understanding of model tradeoffs

• Experience with orchestration platforms, workflow engines, and integration architectures

• Track record of contributing to open source projects or publishing technical content

• Prior consulting or professional services experience in enterprise software

What Makes This Role Special

• Strategic Impact: Define technical strategy for UiPath's most important customer engagements and influence the product roadmap through direct customer insights

• Cutting-Edge Technology: Work at the forefront of AI and agentic automation, implementing solutions that push the boundaries of what's possible with LLMs and enterprise automation

• Organizational Leadership: Establish standards and best practices that shape how the entire FDE organization delivers customer solutions

• Customer Partnership: Build executive relationships with strategic customers and serve as their trusted advisor on AI and automation strategy

• Measurable Business Outcomes: See the direct impact of your work through deployed automations that save millions of dollars and transform how enterprises operate

• Innovation at Scale: Co-create technical capabilities with Product and Engineering that unlock new use cases for customers across industries

• Thought Leadership: Represent UiPath at industry conferences and establish yourself as a recognized expert in AI-driven enterprise automation

Our Core Priorities

At UiPath, we're guided by key business priorities that shape how Principal FDEs work:

• Customer Centric: You'll be embedded directly with customers, making their success the foundation of your daily work

• Breaking Silos: Operate at the intersection of customer organizations and UiPath teams, facilitating collaboration across all stakeholders

• Improving Agility: Prototype rapidly, iterate based on real-world feedback, and embrace the principle that shipping is how we learn

• Dealing with Ambiguity: Navigate unclear requirements, non-deterministic AI systems, and unpredictable field conditions with confidence

• Building Focus: Prioritize high-impact use cases that deliver measurable business value and ensure solutions achieve depth and reliability

Maybe you don’t tick all the boxes above—but still think you’d be great for the job? Go ahead, apply anyway. Please. Because we know that experience comes in all shapes and sizes—and passion can’t be learned.

Many of our roles allow for flexibility in when and where work gets done. Depending on the needs of the business and the role, the number of hybrid, office-based, and remote workers will vary from team to team. Applications are assessed on a rolling basis and there is no fixed deadline for this requisition. The application window may change depending on the volume of applications received or may close immediately if a qualified candidate is selected.

We value a range of diverse backgrounds, experiences and ideas. We pride ourselves on our diversity and inclusive workplace that provides equal opportunities to all persons regardless of age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression, national origin, disability, neurodiversity, military and/or veteran status, or any other protected classes. Additionally, UiPath provides reasonable accommodations for candidates on request and respects applicants' privacy rights. To review these and other legal disclosures, visit our privacy policy.