Principal Forward Deployed Engineer
Adobe· Software· Sep 18, 2026 · 1mo ago
San Jose
In office
Full-time
Principal
$190K–$361K
Job description
Elite full-stack engineer. Elite creative-tool expert. Elite public speaker who commands Fortune 100 boardrooms.
Read this before you apply. This role requires all of the following — at the same time, in the same person, at the hardest scale in the organization. Not three out of four.
You ship production code every week — real, full-stack systems that run in front of real customers. Not scripts. Not prototypes that die after the demo.
You have deep, professional-grade mastery of at least one of: Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Cinema 4D or Substance 3D — or an equivalent tool in your craft. Not familiarity. Mastery.
You can walk into a room of CMOs and CTOs from a Fortune 100 brand — the account with the impossible timeline, the fractured stack, the deal that has to prove out the whole motion — run a live demo unscripted, and walk out with the room won.
You’ve set a technical or creative direction that changed how an org works — a real “before-me / after-me,” not a one-off win.
This bar has to be met on day one, not grown into. If you’re most of the way there, that’s genuinely great — just come back once the track record is real, not aspirational.
What you’ll do
This is director-scope work delivered without direct reports: you set the technical and creative direction other engineers follow, through influence, not headcount. You take the engagements no one else can land — the impossible-timeline Fortune 100 account, the fractured stack, the strategic account where the whole motion has to prove itself. You go in first, and the bench follows.
The only metric that matters here: did the customer get real value, and did they come back for more. That’s the entire job — everything else is noise.
What you need
12 years shipping real software, full-stack, with a track record of adoption at the hardest scale — not one win, a pattern across accounts
Deep hands-on mastery of a professional creative tool (see above) — a portfolio proving it
Hands-on experience building multi-step automated workflows/pipelines (ComfyUI, n8n, or similar)
A named “before-me/after-me” change you drove that others in a practice still point to
A pattern of turning the most resistant rooms and most fractured stacks into repeat, at-scale adoption — named accounts, named outcomes
Hard requirement: public portfolio or verifiable shipped work showing both the engineering and the creative side, personally done by you. No portfolio, no review. At this level we also weight a public technical/creative footprint heavily — talks, published work, case studies, or an equivalent trail of things you’ve set direction on.
Strong pluses (not required, we’ll help you ramp)
Experience with Adobe Firefly Services, Firefly Creative Production / Workflow Builder, or Adobe Brand Intelligence
Domain depth in Healthcare & Life Sciences, Financial Services, or Media & Entertainment — especially MLR (medical/legal/regulatory) compliance-review experience
DevOps fluency
About Adobe
Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.
Our 30,000 employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.
Let’s Adobe together
At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture , focus on people, purpose and community , Adobe for All , comprehensive benefits programs , the stories we tell , the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.
Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.
Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email accommodations adobe.com .
AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.
At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience .
Expected Pay Range:
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $190,200 - $360,500 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process. In California, the pay range for this position is $248,900 - $360,500 In New York, the pay range for this position is $248,900 - $360,500
At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC base commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).
In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.
State-Specific Notices:
California :
Fair Chance Ordinances
Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.
Colorado:
Application Window Notice
If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.
Massachusetts:
Massachusetts Legal Notice
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
Application prep
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