Chris Walker | Partner - AI Talent

2026 Enterprise AI Hiring Snapshot (NYC + London) Forward-Deployed Engineers: $200K–$250K base Solutions Engineers: $170K–$200K base What actually wins offers right now: → Customer-facing deployment speed → Ownership mindset over pure comp → Tight 2-week interview loops Just placed 3 in the last 30 days. Hiring? Candidate? DM me, I keep shortlists ready.

@milalolli Sure will do

@chrispwalker Amazing, glad to hear! Let me know if you spot any bugs (it’s still in beta), have ideas for improvements, or just general suggestions.

London is becoming one of the most important AI cities in the world. $6.7B in AI funding in 2026 alone. Over 1,300 AI-focused companies. DeepMind is headquartered here, OpenAI and Anthropic are both expanding here. NVIDIA is putting £2B into the UK ecosystem. The gravity is undeniable. But here's what the numbers don't show: the right people still aren't finding each other fast enough. Researchers and founders are in the same city, sometimes the same postcode, yet never connecting. That's the problem I built CR3W to solve. CR3W is an AI-driven matchmaking network for builders, founders, researchers, and industry leaders — designed to create the right connections online so the real conversations can happen in person. Currently in beta, focusing on London. No vanity metrics. No noise. Just the people and introductions that actually move things forward. We're live in London and growing. If you're building something worth paying attention to, come find your CR3W. 👉 cr3w.app

@milalolli Joining now, looking forward to being a part of the growth

@chrispwalker Come and join us :) We are growing organically!

HQ'ed in London, chips built in Bristol. Selling to Anthropic and competing with Nvidia. LETS GO

@vovwe_sec That’s odd, here’s my email address if you want to send me a message Chris.Walker@carterwellington.com

@chrispwalker I couldn't dm you

London Full Stack Engineers: I’m personally hiring TWO Senior Software Engineers for a fast-growing Series A company’s London office RIGHT NOW.Hey everyone — quick one from me.I’m working directly with the team at a strong Series A player in enterprise AI + B2B to bring on two senior full-stack engineers who actually want to ship real product. Hybrid in London, competitive equity, and the kind of ownership and impact you only get at a company that’s still early but scaling fast. Here’s the gig: £80K–£100K + 15.39% first-year equity + bonus TypeScript, NodeJS, React, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kubernetes, GCP 3+ years experience Real ownership building the core platform that powers their enterprise customers If you’re a strong senior full-stack engineer based in London (or happy to relocate), love clean code, real customer problems, and want to join a team that’s actually moving the needle this one’s worth a look. These roles are moving quickly, so if you’re even a little curious, don’t sit on it. Shoot me a DM or email me directly at chris.walker@carterwellington.com with “London Senior FS” in the subject + your LinkedIn/resume and I’ll get you the full brief and fast-tracked into the process this week. Let’s get the right people in the room. #LondonTech #FullStackEngineer #TechHiring #SoftwareEngineering #AIJobs #EngineeringCareers #HiringNow

@SebJohnsonUK @awxjack London is flying right now

Airwallex is hiring 100 engineers in London. It's the first time the company has hired for engineers in the UK. AI is flying in the UK, so much so it's easy to forget what a powerhouse it is for Fintech NICE @awxjack

Forward Deployed Engineers - if you’re operating in this space (or close to it), we should be connected. I spend most of my time speaking to Forward Deployed Engineers across NYC, SF, and London, and the pattern is clear: the best aren’t sitting behind tickets, they’re in the room with customers, shipping into live environments, and owning outcomes end-to-end. I’m working on multiple FDE roles with top AI startups and venture-backed teams (most never hit job boards), so if you’re an FDE, a backend/full-stack engineer with real customer exposure, or an early-stage builder, it’s worth being in my network. Send a connection request or follow, always open to comparing notes. #ForwardDeployedEngineer #FDE #AIJobs #TechHiring #EngineeringCareers #AI #TalentAcquisition #Hiring

If you’re hiring FDEs or trying to break into the role get this right first. It’ll save you a lot of time. DM me or email chris.walker@carterwellington.com, if you want to see what great actually looks like. Forward Deployed Engineers are still widely misunderstood. ▶️ They’re not support. ▶️ They’re not traditional solutions consultants. The cleanest way to think about it: An FDE is a software engineer embedded with the customer who owns the outcome end-to-end. ▶️ Not just building, but owning. They’re the ones in the room scoping real problems, designing architecture that actually works in messy environments, building integrations, shipping into production, and iterating fast based on what’s happening in reality not what was spec’d. In a lot of cases, they’re also shaping the product through what they’re seeing on the ground. That’s exactly why companies like Palantir Technologies built their entire model around this. Their FDEs own high-stakes deployments and feed those learnings straight back into product and commercial. That loop is where the value is: customer reality → build → deploy → learn → improve Most companies break because those things sit in different teams. FDEs collapse that. Where founders get this wrong is hiring for “customer-facing engineers” instead of engineers who can actually own outcomes in live environments. That gap is massive. The profiles that consistently work are the ones who’ve already operated like this early-stage startup engineers, former founders, or people who’ve had to ship without perfect specs and figure things out under pressure. They’re comfortable in ambiguity and they move anyway. That’s why demand is where it is. If you’re building an FDE function, or you’re an engineer wondering if you’re a fit, I’ve been placing these profiles across NYC, SF, and London over the last 18 months. Send me a connection request, DM me or email chris.walker@carterwellington.com, happy to share what’s actually working in the market right now. #ForwardDeployedEngineer #FDE #AIJobs #TechHiring #EngineeringCareers #AI #TalentAcquisition #Hiring

If you’re a founder scaling your FDE function (or an engineer wondering if your background is a fit), I’m actively placing exactly this talent across all three cities right now. DM me or email me directly at chris.walker@carterwellington.com with your city preference (or “open to all”) and I’ll send you the latest unlisted roles + tell you which backgrounds are closing fastest this month. Let’s get the right people embedded where they actually move the needle. #ForwardDeployedEngineer #FDE #AIJobs #TechHiring #EngineeringCareers #AI #TalentAcquisition #Hiring

Bottom line: the very best FDEs aren’t coming from pure “head-down coding” roles anymore. They’re coming from people who’ve already operated at the intersection of code, customers, and outcomes.

Founders & Heads of Eng hiring FDEs: Here’s exactly which current roles are generating the strongest talent right now, broken down by NYC, SF, and London (based on the placements I’ve made over the last 18 months). Early-stage startup engineers are still the #1 predictor everywhere, the first 10 engineers who’ve already worn every hat, talked directly to customers, and shipped under fire. But the mix shifts noticeably by market.

DM or email me at chris.walker@carterwellington.com (mailto:chris.walker@carterwellington.com) and I’ll tell you what’s actually working right now. #ForwardDeployedEngineer #FDE #AIJobs #TechHiring #EngineeringCareers #AI #TalentAcquisition #Hiring

Bottom line: the talent war for FDEs is real, structural, and not easing up anytime soon.If you’re a founder or head of eng trying to hire one (or two), I’ve been placing exactly this profile for the last 18 months and can shortcut a lot of the pain.

The biggest challenges orgs and founders face when hiring Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) right now straight from what I’m seeing in the market every single day in 2026: Demand has completely outstripped supply. FDE job postings exploded 800–1,165% in 2025 alone, but the actual pool of qualified candidates barely grew 50%. Every top AI company is aggressively hiring them, which means you’re not just competing with other startups, you’re up against labs that can throw massive comp and prestige at candidates.