The Rise of the Forward Deployed CSM

AI-native products demand a new kind of Customer Success. Embedded, technical, and outcome-driven.

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Customer Success didn’t exist in the on-prem world. You sold the software, booked the revenue, and moved on. Whether it got used or not was someone else’s problem. Shelfware was common, and support was limited to the occasional maintenance contract.

But the cloud changed everything. Suddenly, revenue became recurring — earned month by month, year by year. If customers didn’t see value, they didn’t renew. That shift forced companies to stay close to their customers. Helping them achieve real outcomes wasn’t just good service — it became essential for survival. Customer Success was born.

AI is accelerating that feedback loop again. But this time, it’s not just about retaining customers — it’s about rethinking the entire relationship. Many AI-native products don’t compete for software budgets; they compete for headcount. If your product can do the work of a five-person team, where should that budget come from? At a minimum, it’s clear how per-seat pricing starts to break down when you simply don’t need as many people. It’s a big reason why usage-based models are on the rise.

But even usage isn’t always the clearest measure of value. Increasingly, companies are pricing based on outcomes. Did the software deliver what it promised? Great — charge for that. And when you’re pricing based on outcomes, time-to-value becomes everything. That’s where the Forward Deployed Customer Success Manager comes in.

So what is a Forward Deployed CSM?

The concept comes from a playbook pioneered by Palantir: the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDSE). Palantir created this role to solve a critical challenge — their customers operated in complex, high-stakes environments, often burdened with legacy systems, sensitive data, and deeply specific workflows. Off-the-shelf deployments didn’t cut it, and traditional implementation teams couldn’t bridge the gap between software features and real-world outcomes.

Palantir understood that value wasn’t delivered through features alone — it came from solving mission-critical problems. That required embedding directly with customers, learning their world inside out, and building solutions together. These weren’t just engineers — they were trusted partners, fully deployed into the heart of the customer’s operation.

Now, the same idea is emerging in Customer Success. AI-native products are facing the same constraints Palantir did: complex, high-stakes environments with legacy infrastructure, sensitive data, and highly specific workflows. To deliver value, these products need more than relationship managers — they need embedded operators who can translate technology into outcomes.

Why now?

Because the products are changing. AI-native tools are often general-purpose, but vertically applied — in fact, roughly two-thirds of the latest YC cohort focused on enterprise vertical software. These products need context to deliver value. A law firm doesn’t want a generic AI assistant — they want one trained on their workflows, their documents, and their compliance constraints.

The same goes for manufacturing, logistics, and finance. These tools only create value if someone can translate them into the customer’s specific operating model. That requires deep domain expertise — often highly technical in nature. And that “someone” isn’t a traditional CSM anymore. It’s a hybrid role: part implementation, part enablement, part advisor.

Attributes of a Forward-Deployed CSM:

• Embeds early — often during the trial or proof of concept; sometimes on-site, always at least Slack-close

• Customizes the rollout — configures workflows, aligns onboarding, and drives initial usage

• Brings technical or domain expertise — goes beyond relationship management to understand real customer needs

• Drives consumption and value realization — especially critical for AI-native products where time-to-value is compressed

• Translates product into outcomes — bridges the gap between the product’s capabilities and the customer’s operating model

• Owns outcomes, not check-ins — proactively identifies roadblocks and co-creates solutions that deliver results

Leveling Up: Becoming a Forward-Deployed CSM

If you’re a CSM looking to transition into a Forward-Deployed CSM role, the first step is expanding beyond relationship management into technical problem-solving. Start by building fluency with your product’s configuration tools, APIs, and integrations — even if you’re not expected to own them today. Get comfortable navigating internal admin environments, pulling usage data, and working alongside solutions engineers. Understanding how your product actually works under the hood is key. At the same time, go deeper into your customers’ workflows and industries. Learn how they operate, what constraints they face, and what success really looks like beyond adoption metrics.

Next, shift your mindset from supporting outcomes to owning them. Forward-Deployed CSMs embed early — often during pilots or proof of concepts — and take responsibility for driving value from day one. That means proactively designing onboarding plans, configuring workflows, solving rollout blockers, and aligning technical and executive stakeholders around a clear outcome. Instead of escalating issues, co-create solutions.

Where we’re seeing it:

• Palantir — the blueprint

• Harvey, Hebbia — legal AI with embedded customer experts

• Ramp, Rippling — where fast deployments drive retention

• Motive — dealing with legacy systems, complex integrations, and significant change management, embeds someone during the sales process who stays on the account through to value delivery.

Final thought

Customer Success is evolving from a service function into an embedded operating layer. In an AI-first world, value is created in real time, inside the customer’s workflow, by people who can translate technology into measurable outcomes. That’s the job description of a Forward-Deployed CSM — outcome owners who ship, iterate, and prove impact on the front lines.

If you’re already feeling this pull—or you’re building a product that demands it — let’s compare notes in the comments below.

- JG