AWS Partner Network (APN) Blog
New FDE Pathways For AWS Partners: Get Ready for Production Agentic AI Delivery
By: Karthik Sonti. Head of Agentic AI, Consulting Partners Growth & Strategy – AWS
By: Erik Farr, Director of Solution Architecture, Consulting Partners Growth & Strategy – AWS
By: Priya Bains, Head of Partner Brand and Content Strategy – AWS
Production agentic AI requires engineering depth that most organizations are still building. On June 30, AWS announced the Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) organization, backed by a $1 billion investment, and extended this hands-on delivery approach to AWS Partners through the Partner-Led FDE motion. Now, AWS Partners have a structured way to build and validate that depth with three new Partner FDE pathways and credentials that recognize the applied proficiency required to deliver production agentic AI.
Starting today, AWS Partners can access the three FDE pathways at no cost through AWS Skill Builder: Ground, Orchestrate, and Prove. Two credentials, FDE Validated and FDE Advanced, recognize different levels of technical depth. They are earned through hands-on validation in AWS-provisioned environments, not solely through course completion or multiple-choice tests.
Why this matters
Moving agentic AI from demonstration to production requires both a measurable business outcome and the engineering depth to deliver it. The system must connect to authoritative business data, coordinate workflows reliably, recover from failures, and meet enterprise security and governance requirements. These demands span different disciplines, and expecting every engineer to be equally deep in all of them doesn’t scale. Partners who build this depth now will be positioned to meet the demand FDE is designed to serve.
The pathways give partner organizations a structured way to build, assess, and scale this depth. As builders earn credentials and apply these capabilities, reusable connectors, domain ontologies, agent patterns, and operations tooling compound into a stronger delivery practice. That depth matters to customers. Partner FDE credentials provide evidence of what individual builders have demonstrated, and customers can choose the delivery model that fits: first-party AWS FDE, an AWS-led engagement with partner specialists, or Partner-Led FDE.
Three capabilities required for production
A demonstration can show that an agent works once. A production system must do more. Ground, Orchestrate, and Prove divide the production problem into complementary areas of engineering depth:
| Pathway | Focus | Production question |
| Ground | Trusted enterprise data, systems, domain ontologies, and business context | Does the system understand the business and use reliable information? |
| Orchestrate | Dependable agents, tools, workflows, identity, and recovery | Can the system perform real work reliably? |
| Prove | Evaluation, observability, security, policy, and human control | Can the customer trust it in production? |
These are technical capability pathways, not separate delivery models or fixed job titles. Builders can develop depth in one or more pathways. For customer delivery, partners bring the necessary capabilities together around the problem being solved.
How Partner FDE readiness works
Credential attainment is based on what builders can demonstrate, not what courses they’ve completed. Preparation resources are available but separate from validation. Builders can use them for additional context or proceed directly when ready.
Four steps to earn a credential:
- Meet the AWS Certification prerequisite. An active AWS Certification is required for the credential being pursued.
- Choose a pathway in AWS Skill Builder. Begin with Ground, Orchestrate, or Prove based on your existing skills and where you want to demonstrate depth.
- Complete the required validation. Finish the published validation activities and point requirements in AWS Skill Builder. Activities can include assessments, SimuLearn, microcredentials, and other hands-on work in AWS-provisioned environments.
- Accept your badge. A badge is automatically issued upon completion.
The credentials recognize two levels of demonstrated depth:
- FDE Validated: Hold an active Associate- or Professional-level AWS Certification, complete every required validation activity in at least one pathway, and earn the required total points across Ground, Orchestrate, and Prove.
- FDE Advanced: Hold an active AWS Certified Generative AI Developer – Professional certification and complete the published validation requirements across all three pathways.
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Get Started: Access the Partner FDE Technical pathways in AWS Skill Builder to confirm pre-requisites, choose your pathway and begin validation. The live Skill Builder experience is the source of truth for current requirements, recognized prior completions, and credential policies.