Introducing the a16z FDE Fellowship

A new 8-week cohort of FDEs at the forefront of how AI is deployed into enterprises.

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Today we’re introducing the a16z FDE Fellowship - an 8-week cohort for FDEs and Applied AI leaders at the forefront of deploying AI into real-world enterprises.

Demand for FDEs is growing rapidly as startups race to close the gap between what customers need and what AI agents can deliver. But best-in-class FDEs are rare and hard to reach. They’re siloed, scattered, and heads down with their customers.

We’re launching this fellowship to bring together the people at the center of this shift to share what’s working, level up, and define the future of forward-deployed engineering.

If this sounds like you, apply here by Friday, June 26th, 2026.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, and the fellowship will begin in July 2026.

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How it works

• 8 weeks long

• Starts in July 2026

• Time commitment is flexible, all opt-in

What you’ll get

• Tight network of FDEs and Applied AI leaders at the fastest-growing companies in the world

• In-person dinner series in SF (and more cities, by demand)

• Unfiltered learnings from the field

Who you’ll be joining

You’ll break bread with founding fellows and industry leaders like:

• Perry Ha - VP, Agent Product at Decagon

• Senta Knuth - Enterprise Product Deployment at ElevenLabs

• Rohan Chandra - Regional Director, AI Deployment at Cursor

• Conor Murphy - Director, AI Forward Deployed Engineering at Databricks

• Niko Grupen - Head of Applied Research at Harvey

• Gene Karshenboym - Director of Engineering, Operations and Strategy at Google, prev CEO at Phiar

• Luv Kothari - GM, AI FDE at Snowflake, prev VP Product at Scale

• Barry McCardel - Cofounder & CEO at Hex, prev Forward Deployed at Palantir

• Leo Mehr - Director of Engineering at Ramp

• Kevin Bai - Founding FDE at Rippling, prev FDE Lead at Palantir

• Isa Gomez - Technical Deployment Lead at OpenAI, prev Deployment Strategist Enterprise Lead at Palantir

… and many more.

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The rising need for FDEs

Since the FDE role originated in the early 2010s at Palantir, it’s become one of the hottest jobs in tech. The original insight was simple: building great enterprise software requires deep customer alignment.

Today, the FDE role has emerged as the critical enabler for agentic platforms. We’re still uncovering the blueprint for the AI-native enterprise, and the teams closest to customers are the ones drawing it. That same proximity is what makes agentic products successful. Agents are only as sophisticated as the context and workflows they can reach, which demands real immersion in customer operations.

For AI-native products, the work happening in the field right now isn’t just deployment - it’s R&D. FDEs are at the frontlines, engaging with the customer to discover, integrate, and build under tight timelines and with emerging expectations for highly-personalized software.

The best FDEs combine technical depth and customer empathy to navigate complex enterprise orgs, earn stakeholders’ trust, and deliver measurable outcomes.

We’re launching this fellowship to give these FDEs a space to trade stories, pressure-test ideas, and develop the playbooks this moment demands.

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We’re looking for fellows who:

• Are deploying new AI products and systems into enterprise orgs to make a meaningful, measurable dent in the business

• Think in scalable systems, not just individual features

• Combine technical depth with product intuition, exceptional communication, and real passion for the craft

You might call yourself an FDE, Applied AI Agent Builder, Director of AI Deployment, or something else entirely. Titles don’t matter - what does is your mindset and approach.

If you’re interested, apply here. We’re accepting applications on a rolling basis.

Questions? Contact Katie Kirsch. Thank you!

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