"Forward deployed engineering" has become one of those phrases that technology companies reach for when they want to sound closer to clients than they actually are. In an environment where AI is rewriting how investment teams build, test, and deploy analytical tools, the distance between the fashionable version of forward deployed engineering and the genuine article has become much more consequential.

"Forward deployed engineering" has become one of those phrases that technology companies reach for when they want to sound closer to clients than they actually are. It shows up in sales decks. It gets mentioned in product announcements. And in most cases, it describes something fairly modest: an implementation team that helps with onboarding, or a solutions engineer who joins the occasional call.

In institutional investment management, the concept means something categorically different. That has always been true. But in an environment where AI is rewriting how investment teams build, test, and deploy analytical tools, the distance between the fashionable version of forward deployed engineering and the genuine article has become much more consequential.

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