Latest Career Resources

If you're a strong AI engineer, the hardest question isn't whether you'll move up — it's which direction "up" actually means. In most established fields the ladder is well worn. In AI, the roles above you are still being invented, the titles aren't standardised, and nobody can point to a twenty-year veteran who's done exactly what you're about to do. That's unsettling. It's also an opportunity: the path isn't crowded, and the people who navigate it deliberately move fast.

All three roles require a technical foundation, but they diverge sharply on where they sit, what they own, and what success looks like.

A Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) is a customer-facing software or AI engineer who embeds directly with a client to scope, build, customise, and ship production AI solutions inside the client's own environment.

To become one in Australia, you need production engineering depth (Python/Go, LLMs, MLOps, cloud), client-facing consultative skills, and a track record of owning outcomes end-to-end.

An AI Governance Specialist designs and implements the frameworks, policies, and oversight processes that ensure an organisation’s AI systems are used responsibly, legally, and in line with ethical standards.

A Generative AI Engineer designs, builds, and deploys systems that use large language models (LLMs) and other generative AI technologies to create, summarise, translate, or act on content at scale.