Deming’s List

The FDE market map: companies, verified roles, and specialist search.

Deming Search · For employers

Hire for the deployment, not the title.

Specialist recruiting for engineers who can write production code, work through messy customer constraints, and own the path from an ambiguous problem to a durable AI deployment.

Request a 15-minute role calibration →Pressure-test the role first →

Offer and method reviewed Run by Andre Becker Norton

01 · Best fit

A narrow search for a hard-to-name job.

The wedge is the first few or unusually important deployment hires where production engineering and customer ownership are inseparable.

Strong fit

  • Forward Deployed Engineer, FDSE, or AI Deployment Engineer.
  • A hands-on Applied AI or Customer Engineer who owns production systems.
  • A role where customer constraints materially change the engineering work.
  • A search that requires evidence of delivery, judgment, and ownership—not title matching.

Outside the wedge

  • Pure pre-sales or presentation-led solutions work.
  • Configuration-only implementation or generic consulting.
  • High-volume recruiting across unrelated roles.
  • A process that treats public profiles as candidates without a conversation and permission.

02 · Search process

Demand first. Evidence next. Permission before presentation.

  1. Calibrate the outcome

    Define why the role exists now, what must work in six months, the production-code/customer mix, compensation, location, travel, and interview process.

  2. Agree to the search

    Put the working relationship, fee basis, candidate ownership, confidentiality, guarantee, and data handling in signed terms before formal submissions.

  3. Research against a scorecard

    Map direct and adjacent evidence across shipped work, customer environments, technical ownership, ambiguity, and reusable product learning.

  4. Speak transparently with candidates

    Describe the real employer and role, establish interest and relevant facts, and record exactly what may be shared.

  5. Present a small, inspectable shortlist

    Explain why each person may fit, what evidence supports that view, and which unknowns the interview must resolve.

03 · Evaluation

What the title cannot tell you.

Shipped work

Production systems, integrations, architecture, tooling, and attributable technical decisions.

Customer judgment

Discovery, scope control, stakeholder communication, tradeoffs, and adoption under real constraints.

Ownership

What the person owned from problem framing through rollout, operation, and feedback into the product.

No invented bench

Deming Search does not claim that everyone in the public market map is available or represented. The search starts with a real employer need and earns candidate interest one conversation at a time.

04 · First conversation

Bring one live role and one hard question.

A useful 15-minute calibration is enough to determine whether the role belongs in this niche and what evidence would distinguish the right hire.

Send the public role link if one exists, the six-month outcome, expected split between production engineering and customer work, location or travel constraints, compensation range, and the hiring decision maker. Do not send candidate data or sensitive personal information.

There is no on-site employer form yet. Email is the current contact path; the privacy notice describes how messages are handled.

Role calibration

Is this really an FDE search?

Pressure-test the ownership boundary before adding more sourcing volume.

Email Andre →Use the hiring scorecard →