The Forward Deployed Engineer role is a strategic, customer-facing position within Kong's Professional Services organization, focusing on helping enterprise clients adopt API and AI connectivity platforms. Key responsibilities include partnering with customers to design and implement Kong solutions across cloud and hybrid environments, building automation frameworks and migration tooling, and developing production-grade code for infrastructure modernization. The position offers the appeal of working directly with Fortune 500 companies on mission-critical AI initiatives while influencing product roadmaps through real-world field experience. This role provides significant growth opportunities through exposure to cutting-edge distributed systems and cloud-native technologies, operating at the intersection of software engineering and solution delivery.