The Forward Deployed Engineer Role: The Fastest Way In

Aki Wijesundara is an AI leader with a PhD in Machine Learning and extensive experience mentoring startups at Google’s AI Accelerator. With a career spanning both research and applied AI, Aki has taught 5,000+ students worldwide how to design and deploy production-ready AI systems.

He has worked across cutting-edge areas of applied AI, from LangChain and RAG pipelines to observability and large-scale deployment. As a researcher and educator, Aki bridges the gap between theory and practice, making complex systems approachable and actionable for engineers, founders, and product leaders.

Aki is also a frequent speaker and advisor to organizations adopting AI, helping them transition from experimentation to production at scale.

Career highlights

• Ex–Google AI Accelerator researcher focused on respo
• Cognitive Systems with publish

Manu Jayawardana is a serial entrepreneur with multiple AI startup successes. He exited Rise AI, a fintech app with over 35,000 users, to a private investor, demonstrating his ability to build and scale impactful products.

He is also the Co-Founder of Snapdrum, an AI consultancy helping companies integrate and automate their businesses using AI. Through Snapdrum, Manu has worked with top startups and enterprises across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, advising on automation, product development, and AI strategy.

Currently, Manu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Krybe, an AI voice agent startup in London transforming how businesses automate customer interactions. His experience spans fundraising, scaling products, and leading teams to deliver production-grade AI solutions adopted globally.

Career highligh

• Co-Founder of Snapdr— builds production-ready AI systems for Fortune 500s, YC startups, and glo