The Dirty Secret of Forward Deployed Engineering — Natalie Meurer, Sierra
Sierra's head of agent engineering argues agent engineering is a distinct AI subdiscipline, not just forward deployed engineering renamed.
“agent engineering had the same level of customer accountability as forward deployed engineering but was actually a domain onto itself”
Natalie Meurer, head of agent engineering at Sierra and former Palantir FDE, introduced the 'agent engineer' role concept in a July 2024 article, positioning it as a subdiscipline of AI engineering that carries the customer accountability of forward deployed engineering but is a distinct discipline. The talk frames the historical origins of forward deployed engineering (rooted in Palantir's model) and argues the AI era demands a new role definition. This is a practitioner-level take on emerging AI deployment roles rather than a major product or research announcement.