From a business problem to working production software.
A senior Forward Deployed Engineer embeds in your team, works with your users to define what to build, then builds it inside your existing systems and owns the path to production.
What Makes an FDE Different
Starts with the problem
Your engineer works with the people who use the system and figures out what should actually be built.
Works inside your systems
Your engineer integrates with your APIs, databases, ERP, CRM, and legacy systems — without adding another platform.
Builds, not advises
No recommendations handed to another team. The engineer who helps define the solution writes the production code.
Owns the path to production
The job isn't done when the prototype works. Your engineer handles integration, deployment, and whatever breaks under real load.
Key metrics: ~2 weeks to first shipped change, 1 technical owner, backed by SDA engineering, Weekly delivery
When a forward deployed engineer makes sense
Your project gets stuck before production
The idea is clear, but production means real data, existing systems, security requirements, edge cases, and deployment. Without one engineer owning the full path, progress stalls between teams and priorities.
One technical owner who takes it through production
Your engineer works inside your systems, writes the production code, handles integrations and deployment, and stays accountable once it goes live.
You know the problem, but not the solution yet
The business pain is clear, the requirements are not. A team that executes tickets needs a finished spec before it can start, and writing one can take months.
A technical owner, not extra capacity
Your engineer sits with your users and stakeholders, works out what should be built, and starts building it. No spec needed upfront. Priced monthly. Scale down when the work is done.
Consultants leave a deck, integrators leave a backlog
A consulting team maps your processes and moves on. An integrator delivers a scope and closes the ticket. Neither stays long enough to see the system run under real load, and the knowledge leaves with them.
An engineer who stays until it runs
Your engineer ships in small steps, documents what they build, and trains your team to own it. Clean handover. No dependency on us. When the system runs, your team takes over.
See Exactly What Your Engineer Does
What your engineer handles — from problem definition to production and handover.
Defines what to build
Works with your users and stakeholders to turn the business problem into a technical solution.
Starts with the problemIntegrates your systems
Connects ERP, CRM, PIM, APIs, databases, and internal tools.
No platform replacementBuilds production software
Writes the code and handles your data, business rules, permissions, and edge cases.
~2 weeks to first changeShips and improves
Deploys, monitors, fixes, and improves based on real usage.
Weekly deliveryTransfers knowledge
Documents code, architecture, and decisions so your team can own and extend the system.
Your team stays in controlWhat a Dedicated FDE Can Deliver in Your Industry
E-commerce
Catalog, order and pricing problems rarely sit in one system. Your engineer works across the PIM, OMS, ERP and storefront code, where most e-commerce projects actually get stuck.
AI Product Content for a Multi-Brand Retailer
The AI pilot wrote good copy for a few hundred hand-picked products. Across tens of thousands of SKUs it mixed up variants, ignored brand tone rules and failed marketplace listing checks.
In the first week with category managers, the engineer found the real issue: inconsistent attributes in the PIM, not the prompts. They fixed the attribute mapping, added per-brand rules and marketplace validation, and sent low-confidence items to a review queue.
- Time saved: Category managers review, not write
- Annual savings: Lower cost per listed SKU
- Speed improvement: New collections listed in days
- Additional: Fewer marketplace rejections
Real-Time Stock Sync for an Online Marketplace
Stock moved between the storefront, OMS, ERP and warehouse through hourly CSV exports. During promotions the shop kept selling items that were already gone, and support spent days cancelling orders.
Instead of speeding up the exports, the engineer moved stock updates to events: every reservation, return and warehouse adjustment is published once and read by all systems. A nightly reconciliation job catches anything the event flow misses.
- Time saved: Fewer manual order cancellations
- Annual savings: Lower cost of oversold orders
- Speed improvement: Stock updates in seconds, not hours
- Additional: One stock number for every channel
Markdown and Reorder Signals for a Fashion Retailer
Buyers decided markdowns and reorders from five spreadsheets that were out of date by the time they were merged. Slow sellers got discounted too late, and bestsellers ran out mid-season.
Buyers make three calls a week per category: mark down, reorder or leave alone. The engineer built a service around exactly those, combining sell-through, stock age and supplier lead times, and delivered it in the tool buyers already use.
- Time saved: Less time assembling spreadsheets
- Annual savings: Less margin lost to late markdowns
- Speed improvement: Weekly decisions on current data
- Additional: Every recommendation shows its reasoning
From First Call to an Embedded Engineer in Two Weeks
- 01
Free Intro Call
You bring the business problem. We look at where it hurts and agree on what success looks like.
- 02
Match & Scope
We pick the engineer whose experience fits your problem and domain. The detailed scope is shaped together with them in the first weeks. SDA's team backs your engineer with architecture reviews and proven integration patterns.
- 03
Embed
Your engineer joins your stand-ups, maps the workflow with the people who use it, and ships the first working change within two weeks. Your team stays in control.
- 04
Ship & Track
Working software goes live. We track agreed success metrics and keep improving. Extend or scale down anytime.
Built for Security-First Companies
Your data stays yours
Your engineer works in your environment under your access rules. We integrate, not extract.
Data location agreed
Where and how your data is processed is agreed with you before work starts.
Works with your security
We work with your security team and follow your security requirements.
How an Engagement Works
Have a business problem that needs working software?
Tell us about the problem. On a free intro call, we'll look at your needs and see whether a dedicated FDE is the right fit.
Free intro call • Scope & rate proposal • No commitment • 30 minutes
SHARE YOURIDEASTO MAKE THEMREAL
Feel free to reach out if you want to collaborate with us, or simply have a chat.
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contact@sda.company...or give us a call. 🇺🇸 +1 929 322 8837 🇬🇧 +44 7700 183718