One engineer is not the unit of delivery. The pod is.
Forward deployed engineering as LockedIn Labs practices it: senior engineers embedded inside the client environment, working on real systems, shipping governed software from the first weeks, accountable for the operating result. This page shows the construct the training platform prepares people for: named seats on one ladder, anchored pods, a governed delivery method, and levels earned on evidence gates rather than resumes.
One engineer is not the unit of delivery. The pod is. Same engineers, same ladder, same method at every scale.
The forward deployed engineer is the unit. The pod is how it scales.
Same engineers, same ladder, same method at every scale. Buy the shape the work needs, and change shapes as it grows.
- 011 SEATSOLO FDE
One engineer, whole loop
A single senior FDE embedded in an existing team: requirements, build, integration, and stakeholder management in one person. The fastest way to add AI depth to an existing squad or own a scoped workflow end to end.
- 022 SEATSEMBEDDED PAIR
FDE plus architect
Assessment, the estate map, and the first working workflow. Two people, two to four weeks, and a credible plan grounded in working software.
- 034–9 SEATSBUILD POD
Five seats, anchored
The standard unit for delivery programs: lead, architect, and builders with the full method inside. Complete, anchored, or blended with the client's seats.
- 044–9 SEATSPOD PROGRAM
Many pods, one layer
Spanning architects, shared evidence gates, weekly readouts, and builder waves through the training pipeline. Program leadership included.
Five seats inside your operating frame, one architect spanning two pods, and the machine behind them.
Every pod is anchored by an onshore lead. The lead carries engagement management, so there is no separate project manager layer.
- Product owner
- Scrum cadence
- Backlog
- Ceremonies
- Program reporting
- FDE Leadonshore · owns outcome and cadencePRINCIPAL
- AI Solution ArchitectPRINCIPAL
- Senior FDEFDE II
- FDEFDE I
- FDE + AI EvaluationFDE I
One governed workflow to production at a time.
- FDE Lead
- Architect · shared
- Senior FDE
- FDE
- Flex seat · yours
One architect spans up to 2 pods. Flex seats stay the client’s in Configuration B.
Behind every pod, off the order: Data and Integration bench (remote) · Security and Compliance SME (on call) · shared evidence gates · training pipeline waves
- CONFIG A · COMPLETE POD
All seats LockedIn Labs. Full method, single accountability, fastest to production quality.
Method runs end to end
- CONFIG B · ANCHORED POD
LockedIn Labs holds lead, architect, and one to two builders. Flex seats stay the client's or a partner's; the pod still runs the method end to end.
Method runs end to end
- CONFIG C · CERTIFIED SEATS
Individual evidenced FDEs into pods the client runs. Fastest fill for an order; an architect stays on call across seats.
Method architect on call
- Standard pod: five seats. Flexes to four by making the evaluation seat fractional; grows to eight or nine by adding builder seats.
- At least one onshore lead per pod. Anchor before scatter.
- One architect spans at most two pods.
- An Associate FDE is always deployed paired with a lead, never alone.
- One Agile Program Manager per three to five pods, only when the program specifies it.
- Seat rates never move in negotiation. The blended rate is an output of composition, and pod size is the price dial.
Our roles, the market titles they answer to in job orders, and what each seat owns.
Procurement readers find their titles. Delivery readers find the accountability. Same seat either way.
| OUR SEAT | ANSWERS TO, IN ORDER LANGUAGE | LEVEL | WHAT THE SEAT OWNS | POSTURE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FDE Lead | Engagement lead · Delivery lead · Consulting lead | Principal | The outcome, the cadence, and the stakeholders. Carries the engagement management function, so there is no separate project manager layer. | Onsite |
| AI Solution Architect | GenAI architect · AI/ML solution architect | Principal | System design, estate integration, and model strategy. One architect can span two pods. | Hybrid |
| Senior FDE | Senior GenAI engineer · Agentic AI engineer | FDE II | Agent design, typed tooling, and the hardest workflows. Mentors the FDE I seats in the pod. | Hybrid |
| FDE | Forward Deployed Engineer · GenAI engineer · AI engineer | FDE I | LLM based workflows, copilots, and automation built inside the client estate. | Hybrid |
| Associate FDE | Junior GenAI engineer · Associate AI engineer | Associate | Bounded build work under a lead. An early career engineer trained and evidenced through this platform, always deployed paired with a lead and never alone. | Onsite |
| FDE + AI Evaluation | AI quality engineer · QA, modernized | FDE I | Evaluation sets, protected data gate evidence, and shadow mode readouts. The seat that makes governed AI provable. | Hybrid, fractional |
| Data and Integration bench | Data engineer · Integration engineer | Bench | Pipelines and connectors so pod engineers stay unblocked. Shared across pods, off the order. | Remote |
| Security and Compliance SME | Security engineer · GRC specialist | On call | CISO led review and audit evidence when the work demands it. | On call |
Coordination seats exist only when an order specifies them: an Agile Delivery Manager per pod on request, and one Agile Program Manager per three to five pods in the style of a release train engineer. By default the lead carries team ceremonies. Product ownership belongs with the business; LockedIn Labs slots under the client’s product structure and never duplicates it.
Levels come from recorded evidence, not from resumes.
Each rung on the ladder is earned on named qualification stages of the Forward-Deployed Engineering Standard. The stages are conjunctive: strength in one domain cannot average away an unsafe failure in another.
- RUNG 0QS-00
Associate FDE
A recorded baseline and an evidence based development plan. Deploys only paired with a lead.
Earned on 1 stage through Baseline established.
- RUNG 1QS-00 · QS-01 · QS-02
FDE I
Can diagnose, scope, integrate, evaluate, and stage a bounded mission under controlled pressure.
Earned on 3 stages through Production-ready in rehearsal.
- RUNG 2QS-00 · QS-01 · QS-02 · QS-03
FDE II (Senior)
Has owned a bounded mission in a real client boundary and transferred operation to a named owner under supervision.
Earned on 4 stages through Field evidence complete.
- RUNG 3QS-00 · QS-01 · QS-02 · QS-03 · QS-04
FDE Architect
The complete evidence chain has passed an independent integrated defense with architecture and integration depth across estates.
Earned on 5 stages through FDE qualification defended.
- RUNG 3QS-00 · QS-01 · QS-02 · QS-03 · QS-04
FDE Lead
The complete evidence chain has passed an independent integrated defense and the engineer anchors a pod onshore.
Earned on 5 stages through FDE qualification defended.
Every engineer, onshore or offshore, arrives with recorded evidence against the same gates and works under the same method. An Associate FDE is the visible front of the training pipeline and always deploys paired with a lead. The supervised field stage requires a real client boundary, a named supervisor, and a client designated owner; simulation cannot satisfy it.
A ladder rung is a training readiness signal. It is not a title grant, a qualification, a credential, an employer authorization, or a client acceptance.
Read the qualification standardThe outer frame is yours. The inner frame is the AISDLC the pod runs.
Product owner, scrum cadence, backlog, ceremonies, and program reporting stay with the client. Typed tools, a protected data gate, evaluation sets, a human gate on every consequential decision, and shadow mode until the accountable officer signs it live run inside the pod.
- Spec and PRDContext engineered before any build starts.
- Agentic buildTyped tools only. Requirements, design, code, and tests generated as auditable artifacts.
- Protected data gateProtected data never reaches a model without policy clearance.
- Evaluation setsMeasured behavior against versioned cases and thresholds.
- Human gateA person signs every consequential decision.
- Shadow modeLive data, no authority, until the readout holds.
- ProductionSigned live by the accountable officer.
Outside, your process. Inside, our method.
SAFe compatible. LockedIn Labs slots under the client's product structure and never duplicates it.
Anchors day one on every pod. Builder seats fill in waves.
Anchors land day one on every pod. Builder seats fill in waves through the training pipeline while flex seats stay the client's. Illustrative until sized against a role list.
- Pod 1Lead + architectBuilder wave · pipeline + benchFull pod · delivering
- Pod 2Lead + shared architectBuilder wave · pipeline + benchFull pod · delivering
- Pod 3Lead + architectBuilder wave · pipeline + benchFull pod · delivering
- Pod 4Lead + shared architectBuilder wave · pipeline + benchFull pod · delivering
- Engagement executiveOwnership of the program relationship, onsite for setup and critical phases.
- Chief FDE ArchitectArchitecture and method consistency across every LockedIn Labs pod in the program.
- Shared evidence gatesEvery engineer's work reviewed against the same published evidence standard, program wide.
- Weekly pod readoutsProgress against the backlog, gates cleared, risks. The evidence trail your governance wants, by default.
- Scaled agile shopSAFe compatible. We slot under your product structure; we never duplicate it. Our Agile Program Manager maps to your Release Train Engineer.
- Agile pod delivery shopTheir pod lead concept maps exactly to our FDE Lead. Facilitation carried by the lead, no dedicated scrum master by default.
- Staff augmentation procurementRoles by level by location, always with the answers to aliases so their titles map to our seats.
- Regulated healthcare contextUS soil delivery for regulated member data, always. Acknowledge badging and background check lead time. Name the protected data gate.
A training system built around the seats a pod needs.
Repository derived facts about the training property. The firm publishes its production record separately; this page makes no client, outcome, or placement claim.
- AUTHOREDThe seat catalog, ladder, configurations, rules, and operating frame below are authored data in this platform, versioned with the FDE Field Standard.
- RUNNING CODEProgram administrators compose pods against these rules and read seat readiness from the recorded practice ladder inside the authenticated workspace.
- ON ENGAGEMENTPods themselves deploy through LockedIn Labs on signed scope. Nothing on this page places a person, names a client, or commits a date.
Send us a role list or a workflow.
We answer with the shape the work needs, the seats it takes, and named profiles with recorded evidence under NDA. Illustrative ramps become sized plans once we hold the role list.