Why I'm Starting This Newsletter (And Why Now)

I’ve had the same conversation 47 times in the past three months.

“Wait, what exactly does a Forward Deployed Engineer do?”

“How is that different from a solutions architect?”

“Is this just consulting with a fancy title?”

The questions come from engineers curious about the role, companies trying to hire for it, and fellow FDEs wondering if they’re doing it right. The Financial Times reported an 800% growth in FDE roles since January. The demand is exploding, but the understanding hasn’t caught up.

So here’s what I’m doing about it.

The Problem With LinkedIn

I love LinkedIn for what it is: a place to share quick wins, interesting observations, and connect with people doing similar work. But it’s also a game of engagement metrics and algorithmic optimisation. You write for the platform, not for depth. You optimise for likes, not for learning.

I’ve been sharing snippets of my work there: the Oura support story, thoughts on AI displacement, when not to use AI. People respond. They want more.
Unfortunately, I can’t jump on a call with everyone who reaches out. And I shouldn’t have to choose between depth and reach.

This newsletter is the solution to that problem.

What Makes This Different

I’m in an unusual position as an FDE.

Most forward-deployed engineers work with one, maybe two clients at a time. They go deep on a single problem, a single industry, a single tech stack. That depth is valuable, but it’s narrow.

At Lleverage, I’m working with 15 clients in parallel.

Logistics. Wholesale. Manufacturing. Insurance. Finance. Each one brings different constraints, different tech debt, different stakeholder dynamics. I’m not just learning one company’s messy reality, I’m pattern-matching across messy realities.

That compressed learning curve is something I want to share. Not just the wins, but the actual decisions: when we chose a simple script over an LLM, why we walked away from a project, how we navigated a stakeholder who wanted AI magic when they needed data infrastructure.

What You’ll Get Here

This isn’t going to be theory or hot takes. I’m not interested in pontificating about the future of AI or writing thought leadership that sounds impressive but says nothing.

Instead, expect:

Real implementations. The actual technical decisions we make and why. Code snippets, architecture choices, the boring middleware that makes AI useful.

Pattern recognition. When you see 15 different companies trying to solve similar problems in wildly different ways, patterns emerge. I’ll share those.

The craft of forward deployment. How to talk to CFOs. When to say no. How to scope a project when the client doesn’t know what they want. The meta-skills that don’t show up in job descriptions.

Community building. I want to hear from other FDEs. What’s working? What’s a disaster? What are you learning that I’m not? This role is too new for there to be a playbook. We’re writing it together.

Why Now

The experimental phase of AI is over. Companies aren’t asking “should we?” anymore. They’re asking “how much will this save us?” That shift from potential to ROI is what’s driving the explosion in FDE roles.

But with that explosion comes confusion. The role means different things at different companies. Some FDEs are glorified sales engineers. Others are embedded product builders. Some are consultants with coding skills. The boundaries are fuzzy, and that’s both opportunity and problem.

I’ve spent six and a half years at Elastic training thousands of engineers, six years building Socializer from scratch, and now I’m at Lleverage solving real problems with AI in production. I’ve been on both sides: building the technology and deploying it in environments that are hostile to change.

The questions people ask me every day tell me there’s a gap. This newsletter is how I’m filling it.

What This Isn’t

This won’t be weekly. I’ll publish when I have something worth saying, not because it’s Tuesday.

This won’t be promotional. I’m not selling anything here. If I mention a tool or approach, it’s because it worked (or didn’t), not because I have an affiliate link.

This won’t be sanitised. The interesting lessons come from things that broke, clients who said no, and approaches that seemed smart until they weren’t.

Let’s Build This Together

If you’re an FDE, I want to hear from you. If you’re trying to become one, I want to help. If you’re hiring for this role and not sure what you’re looking for, let’s figure it out together.

Hit reply. Tell me what you’re working on. Share your disasters. Ask your questions.

The role is new enough that we’re all still figuring it out.

Let’s do that out loud.