Caylent Shifted to Forward Deployed Engineering Model
The firm moved to embed specialized technical teams directly into client workflows to improve software development efficiency.
Updated on Oct. 10, 2026 in Employment
Live Poll
Is now a good time for companies to prioritize workflow overhauls to achieve better AI results?
Caylent currently employs 125 forward deployed engineers (FDEs) to help firms like Smarsh rebuild their software development lifecycles. The model uses embedded personnel and generative AI tools to accelerate project delivery.
Why it matters
Operators face significant costs from technical debt and slow development cycles, making direct integration of specialized talent a strategy to reclaim engineering capacity. This approach seeks to drive operational efficiency by embedding expertise directly into existing client workflows.
The FDE model resulted in $10 million in engineering and product capacity savings at Smarsh. Operational improvements included a 30 percent increase in test coverage and a 40 percent reduction in defect escape rates compared to previous cycles.
The players
Caylent
An Irvine-based Amazon Web Services Premier Partner providing specialized engineering services and generative AI consulting.
Smarsh
A software company that partnered with Caylent to modernize its development infrastructure through generative AI.
Amazon Web Services
A global cloud computing provider whose infrastructure serves as the technical backbone for Caylent's engineering engagements.
Anthropic
An artificial intelligence research company that provides the Claude Code tools integrated into client software development lifecycles.
The details
Caylent utilizes an embedded model where engineers work within client workflows to overhaul development processes. By integrating Anthropic's Claude Code into the Smarsh software development lifecycle alongside Amazon Web Services infrastructure, the firm successfully replaced traditional consultancy models with direct technical execution. The company now plans to scale this model until one-third of its entire organization operates as FDEs.
Timeline
October 9, 2026: Article publication date.
Market Landscape
This development represents a departure from the traditional model of external consultancy where providers operate at a distance from the core development team. It follows a growing industry trend toward high-touch, embedded technical talent integration to accelerate software lifecycles.
Business owners should assess whether their current software development projects are hampered by communication gaps inherent in traditional third-party contracting. Consider if reallocating budget toward embedded, rather than task-based, technical expertise could reduce defect rates and improve overall output.
The takeaway
The move to forward deployed engineering shifts the focus from delivering a project to owning the speed and quality of the underlying workflow. Operators should monitor the defect escape rates and test coverage metrics of their own teams as benchmarks for the efficiency gains realized through AI-enhanced embedding.
Further reading
For more on shifts in local technical staffing, explore the latest trends in /economics/employment/.
Source note: This article includes information reported by CRN.
Live Poll
Is now a good time for companies to prioritize workflow overhauls to achieve better AI results?
