Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR account for 61% of India's forward-deployed engineering talent: Report

A new report titled 'The Forward Deployed Engineer Talent Landscape in India' highlights that forward-deployed engineering (FDE) talent in the country is heavily concentrated across a small number of key technology hubs.

According to the findings, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Delhi-NCR together account for 61 percent of India's total FDE talent pool. Bengaluru alone leads the nation with 34 percent of the talent, cementing its position as the country's largest FDE hub. Hyderabad follows as a growing centre at 14 percent, while Delhi-NCR accounts for 13 percent.

Further down the distribution, Pune and Mumbai represent 12 percent and 11 percent of the talent pool respectively. Chennai and other remaining cities account for 8 percent each, the report states. Hyderabad's growth as an FDE hub is reportedly supported by expanding enterprise technology investments, an increasing base of artificial intelligence-led roles, and a strengthening talent ecosystem.

In terms of employer distribution, Big Tech companies are the largest employers, accounting for 38 percent of FDE professionals. Product companies, along with IT services and consulting firms, each account for 24 percent of the workforce. AI-first startups comprise the remaining 14 percent of FDE professionals in the country.

The data also points to a younger workforce demographic. Approximately 70 percent of FDE professionals possess eight years of experience or less, indicating a need for the industry to develop deeper pools of experienced talent over time.

Commenting on the ecosystem, Raghav Gupta, Founder and CEO at FDE Academy, noted that AI deployment demands a combination of engineering depth, business understanding, and outcome ownership within a customer's environment. He added that the geographical concentration of talent requires employers to strategically consider not only their hiring locations, but also methods for developing this capability over time.

"The concentration of forward-deployed engineering talent in core tech hubs like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Delhi-NCR reflects the maturity of India's enterprise technology ecosystem. With 70 percent of professionals having eight years of experience or less, growing experienced leadership will be critical for companies deploying complex AI solutions. Businesses must look beyond standard talent acquisition and focus on internal capability development to sustain long-term growth in customer-facing engineering roles." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes