Forward Deployed Engineers: The Most Human Job in AI

Something surprising is happening in the AI job market.

The most sought-after role of 2026 isn't a research scientist. It's the Forward Deployed Engineer - the person who sits inside the business, learns the messy reality of how the work actually gets done, and builds AI that impacts the bottom line.

One new industry study estimates fewer than two thousand people in the United States do this job at a level that reliably delivers ROI, and tech giants are racing to close the gap. Microsoft recently committed $2.5 billion to place six thousand Forward Deployed Engineers inside customer organizations. AWS, OpenAI, and Anthropic have each announced comparable investments, signaling an industry-wide bet that people, not just models, are what turn AI pilots into real business results.

2026 is the year of The Great Recognition: leaders recognize that AI didn't replace their advantage. People are the advantage. AI makes judgment, industry fluency, and customer empathy more valuable.

Join us at ManpowerGroup World Headquarters for our next AI Quarterly, sponsored by Accenture. This event will feature a short keynote from Experis leaders, unveiling findings from ManpowerGroup's 2026 CIO Outlook, a global survey of 1,930 CIOs, CTOs, CISOs and senior tech leaders.

We'll explore the role of Forward Deployed Engineers through real use cases and best practices for unlocking value and keeping AI projects out of pilot purgatory. From there, a hands-on exercise will help you put those insights to work, followed by a panel discussion and time to connect with fellow attendees.