Capacity · Forward deployed teams
Forward deployed engineering teams on contract
Forward deployed teams are a Kernavique Capacity service for programs that need more than one engineer from the start. Two to five forward deployed engineers join a client program together under a lead, on contract through their own companies. The lead plans the work and is your point of contact. It suits Palantir partners and consultancies that have won a Foundry, AIP or AI platform program and need a working team in place.
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Forward deployed teams
What you get
A lead
A senior forward deployed engineer who plans the work, keeps the team on scope and reports to you.
Engineers chosen as a team
Platform, data and LLM skills balanced across the team as the scope needs them, without gaps or duplication.
One written scope
The team’s deliverables, term and start date, agreed in writing before anyone is proposed.
Changes during the term
If the program grows or narrows, we adjust the team with you rather than starting again.
How it runs
- Scope the programOn the brief call we set the deliverables, the term, the start date and the skills the team needs.
- Propose the leadWe propose the lead first, and the lead helps shape the rest of the team.
- Assemble the teamNamed engineers matched to the scope and to the lead, for you to interview.
- Deliver and reviewThe team joins together. We check in through the term and agree the end with you.
When it fits
- You have won a Foundry or AIP program and the client expects a team at kickoff.
- Your own bench is committed elsewhere and the program cannot wait.
- The work needs several skills at once, such as data engineering, LLM work and platform configuration.
Who it is for
- Palantir partners that hold the delivery contract
- Implementation consultancies with AI platform programs
- Mid-size consultancies with no bench for a new program
Questions buyers ask
- What does a forward deployed engineer do?
- Works inside a client program, close to its users and its data, adapting a platform to the client’s actual problem. In the Palantir ecosystem the role centers on Foundry and AIP; AI platform companies now hire for the same pattern.
- Why a team rather than individual engineers?
- A team that starts together under a lead works to one plan from the first day. If the program needs only one engineer, Platform engineers is the better fit.
- Who manages the team day to day?
- The lead plans the work, keeps the team on scope and is your single point of contact. Kernavique stays in touch with you and the lead through the term.
- How are the engineers engaged?
- Each engineer, including the lead, is on contract through their own company. Kernavique contracts with you and with each engineer’s company, and the scope and term are set out in writing before the team starts.
Terms on this page
- AIP
- Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform, used alongside its Foundry data platform.
- LLM
- Large language model, the kind of model behind chat assistants and many AI products.
Related services
- CapacityPlatform engineersIndividual Foundry, AIP, LLM and MLOps engineers on contract for a defined scope and term, each matched to a written scope before they start.
- CapacitySurge capacityShort-notice engineers on contract for a program that has slipped or grown, scoped with you and proposed by name.
- SearchTeam buildsSeveral permanent roles hired against one plan, in sequence, so the first hires shape the later ones. It starts with a Capability Blueprint.