# Plank: FDE as a service

> Plank provides FDE as a service: AI-native forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), embedded AI engineer pods, and QA pods, all as a service. Engineers are trained through the Plank AI Accelerator, then embed with your team starting the same day, vendor-neutral across OpenAI, Anthropic, and open models, and ship to production in days. Trusted by 50+ AI companies.

## What is a forward-deployed engineer (FDE)?

A forward-deployed engineer is a software engineer who embeds directly with a customer's team to take AI from pilot to production: scoping architecture, integrating with real systems of record, and shipping alongside in-house engineers. Palantir popularized the role, and OpenAI and Anthropic now build their enterprise businesses around it.

## What Plank offers

- Forward-deployed engineers: embedded with your team and your enterprise customers, starting the same day.
- AI engineer pods: dedicated full-time teams shipping agents, RAG, evals, and voice.
- QA pods: real human QA engineers, augmented by AI, test every pull request and return a clear merge verdict in 24 hours.

## How Plank is different

- Trained, not sourced: every engineer is trained through the Plank AI Accelerator before embedding.
- Vendor-neutral: works across OpenAI, Anthropic, and open models; your architecture stays yours.
- In person: pods work together in person from Plank centres in San Francisco, Brazil, Spain, and Poland.
- Harness-driven SDLC: a persistent conductor dispatches work to a pool of autonomous agents; engineers steer, review, and merge, with evals on every pull request.

## Pages

- [FDE as a service (home)](https://joinplank.com): forward-deployed engineers, AI engineer pods, and QA as a service; the offerings, customer showcase, and how Plank ships.
- [Forward-deployed AI engineering (FDE as a service)](https://joinplank.com/fde): forward-deployed AI engineers (FDEs) who embed with your team and your customers to take AI from pilot to production, vendor-neutral.
- [AI-native engineering](https://joinplank.com/ai-engg): AI-native engineers embedded with your team to build production AI: agents, RAG, LLM workflows, integrations, and internal tools.
- [QA pods](https://joinplank.com/qa): on-demand human QA engineers, augmented by AI, with a quality report and merge verdict on every pull request.
- [FAQ](https://joinplank.com/faq): common questions about FDE as a service, AI-native engineers, and on-demand QA pods, answered for the technical buyer.
- [AI Accelerator](https://joinplank.com/accelerator): the one-year program that trains ambitious engineers into world-class forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), including the full AI engineering curriculum, from the agentic development workflow to multi-agent systems, RAG, voice, production, evals, and forward deployment, plus the projects built and the tools and stack covered.
- [AI Product Delivery & QA Engineer Program](https://joinplank.com/ai-product-delivery-qa): a competitive one-year program that trains ambitious early-career professionals into world-class AI Product Delivery & QA engineers, combining AI-augmented testing, product thinking, evals, and customer-facing delivery on real startup projects.
- [About Plank](https://joinplank.com/about): the mission, the founders (Privahini Bradoo and Anusheel Bhushan), and the team.
- [Careers](https://joinplank.com/careers): join Plank's co-located, AI-native engineering teams; open roles for forward-deployed AI engineers, AI-native engineers, and QA engineers, with centres in San Francisco, Brazil, Spain, and Poland.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, open role](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-engineer): embed with customer teams to take AI from pilot to production, vendor-neutral across OpenAI, Anthropic, and open models.
- [AI-Native Full-Stack Engineer, open role](https://joinplank.com/careers/ai-engineer): join a Plank pod building production AI, agents, RAG, evals, and integrations, with an agentic development workflow.
- [Senior Full-Stack AI Engineer, open role](https://joinplank.com/careers/senior-ai-engineer): lead architecture and delivery on production AI engagements, and set the eval and quality bar.
- [QA Engineer, open role](https://joinplank.com/careers/qa-engineer): run on-demand QA pods that test every pull request with AI-augmented workflows and return a merge verdict in 24 hours.
- [Lab Lead, open role](https://joinplank.com/careers/lab-lead): start and run a Plank centre, recruit and train forward-deployed engineers, and own delivery in a new city.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, Healthcare](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-healthcare): embed with healthcare teams to ship production AI on clinical workflows and patient data, vendor-neutral and HIPAA-aware.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, Fintech](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-fintech): embed with fintech teams to ship production AI for risk, underwriting, and compliance.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, Manufacturing](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-manufacturing): embed with industrial teams to ship production AI across sensors, equipment, and processes.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, Construction](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-construction): embed with construction teams to ship production AI from site safety to project systems.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, Cybersecurity](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-cybersecurity): embed with security teams to ship production AI for detection and defense.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, Retail](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-retail): embed with retail and restaurant teams to ship production AI from expansion models to operations.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, Developer Tools](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-developer-tools): embed with devtools teams to ship production AI agents and infrastructure.
- [Forward-Deployed AI Engineer, Energy & Hardware](https://joinplank.com/careers/fde-energy): embed with energy and hardware teams to ship production AI across devices and IoT.
- [Research](https://joinplank.com/research): the landing page for all Plank research, with first-party data on the FDE market and technical deep-dives from real production AI engagements.
- [The FDE Brief](https://joinplank.com/fde-news): a monthly, synthesized read on forward-deployed engineering news, each development paired with analysis of what it means for the FDE-as-a-service category.
- [The FDE Brief, July 2026](https://joinplank.com/fde-news/july-2026): the July 2026 edition, on the month the hyperscalers made forward deployment their own (AWS $1B and Microsoft's $2.5B Frontier Company, the Pentagon's War Force, the FDE job market, a16z's fellowship).
- [The FDE Brief, June 2026](https://joinplank.com/fde-news/june-2026): the June 2026 edition, on the month the AI industry reorganized around the engineers who deploy it (Anthropic and TCS, Databricks, Salesforce, a16z, Foundation Capital).
- [State of FDE 2026](https://joinplank.com/state-of-fde): market analysis and first-party data on the forward-deployed engineering category.
- [FDE job market](https://joinplank.com/fde-job-market): a first-party census of open forward-deployed engineer roles, salaries, and demand.
- [LangGraph templates for ARC-AGI-3](https://joinplank.com/research/arc-prize-langgraph): how Plank and the ARC Prize team built an open-source, stateful multi-agent LangGraph template that solves the LS20 interactive reasoning game.

## Contact

- Book a call: https://cal.com/anusheel/30min
- Email: hello@joinplank.com
- Main site: https://joinplank.com