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Forward Deployed Engineering · Applied AI · Customer delivery

I turn ambiguous problems into AI products people actually use.

I’m Solly Welch, a customer-facing Forward Deployed Engineer at IBM. I work from first conversation through architecture, implementation and production, building full-stack AI systems around real users, data and operational constraints.

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Based in the UK. Open to London, remote and customer-facing roles across Europe.

Positioning

Forward Deployed Engineer building AI systems from first conversation to production.

Customer discovery and stakeholder communication

Full-stack engineering across frontend, backend and AI

Production-minded delivery under ambiguity

Commercial awareness grounded in real engagements

  • 4+ years building software
  • Production enterprise AI
  • 5,000+ interactions on flagship deployment
  • Supported cross-sector engagements
  • First-Class Honours
  • IBM Developer Author

Featured case study

Mitsubishi Motors Canada - Intelligent Companion

The clearest example of Solly’s ability to work directly with stakeholders, shape an AI product under ambiguity and contribute core full-stack delivery inside an enterprise engagement.

Confidentiality note

Selected implementation details have been omitted to respect customer confidentiality.

Interactions

5,000+

Engagement supported

$x+

Recognition

Featured by the Financial Times

What Solly owned

  • Customer-facing discovery and problem clarification
  • Core frontend AI experience implementation
  • Core backend AI component engineering
  • Retrieval and model integration
  • Iteration based on stakeholder and user feedback
  • Productionisation considerations and cross-functional coordination
Read the full case study

Users and stakeholders

Discovery conversations, workflow understanding and iterative feedback.

Product interface

Frontend experience engineered around real tasks rather than a model demo.

AI and integration layer

Retrieval, orchestration, model integration and production-minded backend components.

Context

Mitsubishi Motors Canada worked with IBM on an intelligent companion experience powered by watsonx. Solly contributed within a wider IBM and customer team, with the project becoming the strongest example of his customer-facing AI product delivery work to date.

Customer challenge

The goal was to build a useful generative AI experience around real user needs rather than a demo in search of a problem. That meant balancing user-facing product quality with the realities of enterprise delivery, integration and stakeholder alignment.

Constraints and ambiguity

As with many applied AI engagements, requirements evolved through discovery, feedback and validation. Solly worked in an environment where the exact shape of the solution needed to be clarified through collaboration, iteration and technical judgement rather than handed over as a complete specification.

Solly’s role

Solly supported customer-facing technical discovery, built core frontend and backend AI components, worked on retrieval and model integration, and helped iterate the system based on stakeholder and user feedback. He did this as part of a wider team and does not claim sole authorship of the full product.

Selected work

A portfolio shaped around delivery, not demos.

Selected projects show a mix of production AI, rapid enterprise prototypes, technical writing and planned public work that will make Solly’s engineering approach easier to inspect over time.

Production AIDelivered

Mitsubishi Motors Canada - Intelligent Companion

watsonx-powered generative AI solution that moved from pilot towards production, with Solly contributing customer-facing discovery and core full-stack AI implementation.

Generative AIFull-stack engineeringRetrievalCustomer deliveryProduction path
Interactions recorded
5,000+
Commercial engagement supported
$x+
External recognition
Featured by the Financial Times
View project
Enterprise prototypesDelivered

Enterprise AI prototypes

Rapid customer builds across retrieval, agentic workflows, APIs and React interfaces used to test product direction with enterprise stakeholders.

RAGAgentic workflowsReactPython APIsContainerised deployment
View overview
Technical writingPublished

Integrate Crew AI agents with watsonx Orchestrate

IBM Developer article showing how agent-based AI software can be integrated with watsonx Orchestrate for a developer audience.

IBM DeveloperCrewAIwatsonx OrchestrateTechnical writing
View project
Personal projectsPlanned

Multimodal AI application

Planned personal project exploring image or video generation workflows through a polished product experience.

Planned projectMultimodal AIProduct design
View overview

How Solly works

An applied product-engineering process built for ambiguous environments.

This is the shape of work Solly is strongest at: direct customer interaction, technical definition, full-stack implementation and iteration in the real world.

01

Discover

Work directly with users and stakeholders to understand workflows, constraints and the actual problem behind the request.

02

Define

Turn ambiguity into a clear technical direction, prioritised scope and testable product hypothesis.

03

Build

Work across interfaces, APIs, AI systems, retrieval, integrations and infrastructure to produce usable software.

04

Ship and iterate

Deploy into real environments, gather feedback, improve reliability and identify patterns that should become reusable product capabilities.

Technical capabilities

Working across software, AI, infrastructure and delivery.

Tools are grouped by where Solly has working or production experience across customer builds, rather than presented as inflated claims of expertise in every category.

Languages

  • Python
  • TypeScript
  • JavaScript
  • SQL
  • Solidity

Backend

  • FastAPI
  • Flask
  • Node.js
  • Express
  • REST APIs

Frontend

  • React
  • IBM Carbon Design System
  • Streamlit
  • HTML
  • CSS

AI and data

  • Generative AI application development
  • Retrieval-augmented generation
  • Agentic systems
  • Prompt design and evaluation
  • Embeddings
  • Vector search
  • SentenceTransformers
  • Elasticsearch
  • ChromaDB
  • IBM watsonx.ai
  • IBM watsonx Assistant
  • IBM watsonx Orchestrate

Infrastructure and deployment

  • Docker
  • Podman
  • Kubernetes
  • Red Hat OpenShift
  • IBM Code Engine
  • CI/CD
  • Cloud-native application architecture

Experience

A trajectory built around agency, customer contact and shipping software.

From running a small consultancy to startup work and IBM Client Engineering, the through-line is ownership: understanding the problem, building the solution and helping it land with real users.

  • IBM

    AI Forward Deployed Engineer

    London, UK · August 2026 to Present

    Current focus

    Deploys AI systems directly alongside customers, owning the full lifecycle from problem definition through to production and ongoing iteration.

    • Works embedded with customers to identify high-value AI opportunities and translate them into production systems.
    • Owns end-to-end delivery across discovery, architecture, implementation, deployment and iteration.
    • Builds and ships full-stack AI applications using Python, TypeScript, React and Node.js with LLM, retrieval and orchestration components.
    • Acts as the primary technical contact for customers, communicating trade-offs and progress to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
    • Develops reusable AI patterns, tooling and accelerators that reduce time-to-value on future engagements.
    • Mentors engineers and contributes to the broader IBM AI engineering practice.

  • IBM

    Platform Engineer / Build Lead

    London, UK · August 2024 to August 2026

    Led customer-facing technical builds involving generative AI, automation and cloud-native systems within IBM Client Engineering.

    • Worked directly with customers to understand workflows, constraints and desired business outcomes.
    • Helped define technical problems where requirements began incomplete or ambiguous.
    • Owned delivery across discovery, architecture, implementation, deployment and iteration.
    • Built applications using Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, React and Node.js, alongside AI services and integrations.
    • Developed retrieval, orchestration, API and integration components for customer-facing systems.
    • Communicated architectural decisions and technical trade-offs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
    • Coordinated multidisciplinary delivery while continuing to write code.
    • Mentored early-career engineers and contributed reusable patterns and engineering practices.

  • IBM

    Technology Engineer / Degree Apprentice

    London, UK · September 2022 to August 2024

    Built full-stack prototypes and minimum viable products for enterprise customers across cloud and AI use cases.

    • Developed Python, Node.js and React applications in rapid customer delivery cycles.
    • Built and deployed containerised workloads using Docker, Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift and IBM cloud platforms.
    • Integrated enterprise data, APIs, retrieval systems and AI model endpoints.
    • Participated in customer workshops, technical discovery and solution validation.
    • Contributed to cloud architecture, AI deployment and technical enablement.

  • Rowlands Computing

    Founder / Engineer

    August 2020 to September 2022

    Founded and operated a small IT support and consultancy business serving local customers.

    • Acquired and retained customers through direct service and practical problem-solving.
    • Diagnosed customer issues and translated them into clear technical solutions.
    • Owned scoping, delivery, customer communication and ongoing support.

  • AcuiQ

    Software Engineer, part-time

    United Kingdom · June 2020 to August 2022

    Worked with an early-stage AI healthcare startup in a fast-moving and ambiguous environment.

    • Developed web application functionality using Python and Flask.
    • Contributed to frontend functionality and product iteration.
    • Implemented smart-contract and decentralised payment integrations using Solidity.
    • Worked closely with a founding team where priorities evolved quickly.

    • Writing and recognition

    Technical communication and leadership beyond implementation.

    Solly’s profile is strengthened not just by shipping software, but by explaining complex systems clearly, mentoring other engineers and contributing to engineering communities.

    Recognition

    • UK and Ireland Platform Engineering Community Lead at IBM
    • Mentor to early-career engineers
    • IBM Developer Author
    • First-Class Honours graduate

    Contact

    Open to high-ownership product and AI engineering roles.

    I’m particularly interested in AI and engineering roles, Forward Deployed Engineer, AI Engineer, Solutions Architect and founding-stage technical builder roles - especially where the work involves customer interaction, ambiguous problem spaces and shipping AI products into real environments.

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    Download CV

    Enter the password to download my CV. If you don't have it, reach out via the contact form.