Latest Industry Insights

Hire a Forward Deployed Engineer when your AI model is built but not in production.

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.

A client called me last month to tell me the candidate I'd backed for the role had missed out. And on paper, it made no sense. Fifteen years in the field,glowing references, the kind of CV you don't second-guess. I'd been sure they'd land it. Instead, the client went with the other candidate — someone with half the experience. When I asked why, the hiring manager didn't hesitate: "The other one could actually use the tools. We could feel the difference in the first interview."

Everyone told me AI was going to kill jobs. The data says otherwise.LinkedIn's 2026 Labour Market Report landed recently and one number jumped out at me — 1.3 million new AI-related jobs created in the last two years. Not cut. Created. That's the story nobody is talking about loudly enough, especially here in Australia.

Let's be honest. In most organisations right now, AI transformation in the workplace is being led by the CTO, the CDO, or an enthusiastic exec who just came back from a conference with a subscription to three new tools and a lot of energy.And HR? HR is in the back seat. Waiting to be told what's happening. Reacting to the fallout.That needs to change.

hese are exciting times — organisations are racing to apply AI, create new teams and build capability — but that speed brings real headaches for hiring.