Google Cloud pitches partner-built FDEs as its edge; 66degrees says a fifth of its staff are now FDEs

CRN spoke with Samrah Khan, Google Cloud's director of global and regional systems integrator partnerships, and Ben Kessler, CEO of Google Cloud partner 66degrees, about how Google is approaching forward deployed engineering. Their argument: while OpenAI and Anthropic have invested in their own in-house FDE teams, Google has put its $750 million FDE investment behind channel partners, funding presales work, proofs of concept, MVPs and free training that certifies partner engineers as Google FDEs.

The vehicle is the Gemini Enterprise Transformation (GET) program, which pairs partners building FDE practices with large customers and co-sells alongside Google's own FDE teams to move enterprises from pilots to production agentic AI. Kessler said the program has let 66degrees double down on the role, to the point where roughly 20 percent of its workforce are now FDEs.

Why it matters for FDEs: the hiring map is not only the AI labs and hyperscalers. Google's model pushes FDE demand into systems integrators and consultancies, which are retraining existing engineers and hiring for Google-certified FDE skills. If you are targeting partner firms, Gemini Enterprise, Vertex and Google's agent tooling experience, plus the FDE and agentic AI certifications Google mentions, are increasingly relevant.