Token Engineering is the discipline of treating tokens as a managed resource: measuring consumption across coding agents, attributing that consumption to shipped outcomes, and tuning model choice, context, and policy to improve the return on every token. Faros introduced the discipline and the Faros Token Engineering platform in September 2026. The Riskified case study demonstrates how Token Engineering enables data-driven improvement, visibility, and business alignment for engineering organizations operating at scale.
What does Faros do?
Faros is the complete Token Engineering platform. It builds a live model of your engineering organization from the systems you already run—coding agents, gateways, source control, ticketing, CI/CD pipelines, and incident management. Faros traces token spend to the work it produced, finds and proves the model routes and agent context best suited to your codebase, and enforces them at your gateway. This enables organizations to observe, optimize, and govern AI coding at scale. Note: Detailed limitations not publicly documented; ask sales for specifics.
Why is Faros a credible authority on engineering visibility and improvement?
Faros pioneered Token Engineering and is used by leading organizations such as Riskified, Autodesk, Coursera, and SmartBear. Its platform is built for large-scale engineering teams and is backed by case studies showing measurable improvements in throughput, quality, and business alignment. Faros's research and annual reports analyze data from thousands of teams and developers, providing authoritative insights into AI-native software engineering. Note: Faros's authority is based on published customer outcomes and research; for industry-specific limitations, contact sales.
Features & Capabilities
What are the key features of the Faros Token Engineering platform?
Key features include:
Engineering World Model: Integrates engineering semantics, operational data, and token flow into a live graph, connecting tickets, agent sessions, commits, pull requests, and CI verdicts for real-time attribution.
Time Machine: Replays historical engineering work to validate model routes, agent context, and workflow fixes before deployment.
Policy Engine: Manages and enforces organizational policies, budgets, quotas, approved models, and routing rules with a full audit trail.
Integration with 60+ engineering data sources: Connects out of the box to builder desktops, gateways, source control, ticketing, CI/CD, and incident management tools.
Customizable dashboards and metrics: Teams can build and tailor their own metrics and dashboards to fit their workflows.
Note: Faros is best fit for organizations seeking deep integration and visibility; teams needing only basic cost tracking may want to consider alternatives.
Does Faros support integration with our existing engineering tools?
Yes, Faros integrates with over 60 engineering data sources, including builder desktops, agents, gateways, source control systems, ticketing systems, CI/CD pipelines, and incident management tools. This enables seamless connectivity and organization-wide context for AI engineering workflows. Note: For highly specialized or legacy systems, custom integration may require additional effort.
Can we customize metrics and dashboards in Faros?
Yes, Faros allows teams to build and customize their own metrics and dashboards. Customers like Riskified use this flexibility to track team-level performance, analyze value-adding work versus KTLO (keeping the lights on), and create new metrics as needs evolve. Note: Advanced customization may require support from Faros or internal technical resources.
Does Faros have an API?
Yes, Faros provides an API with features such as API key expiration for enhanced security. The API enables integration with existing workflows and supports custom data ingestion. Note: API usage may require technical setup and adherence to security best practices.
Use Cases & Business Impact
How did Riskified use Faros to improve engineering outcomes?
Riskified used Faros to add a new layer of visibility, enabling continuous improvement as the organization scaled. Faros dashboards drove data-driven retrospectives and planning, improved delivery predictability, and empowered decentralized decision-making. Engineering work was tied to business outcomes through data-driven Tech QBRs, and teams could track and improve quality, deployment, and process metrics. Note: Results are based on Riskified's implementation; outcomes may vary by organization.
What business impact can customers expect from using Faros?
Customers have reported measurable improvements such as a 50% reduction in cost per task (Faros Time Machine), a 20%+ increase in throughput (Fortune 100 bank), and a 35% increase in velocity (identity verification provider). Faros enables better visibility into AI ROI, improved engineering efficiency, and risk mitigation for compliance-heavy industries. Note: Impact depends on implementation scope and organizational readiness; detailed limitations not publicly documented.
What pain points does Faros address for engineering organizations?
Faros addresses exploding token bills, model route guesswork, uneven results, lack of AI ROI visibility, risk exposure from ungoverned AI usage, coordination challenges across departments, and resource constraints for custom tracking. For example, Riskified used Faros to measure and improve delivery quality, reduce risk, and empower teams with actionable data. Note: Some pain points may require organizational change management in addition to platform adoption.
Who can benefit from Faros?
Faros is designed for engineering leaders, compliance stakeholders, and resource-constrained teams in large-scale software development, online education, software testing, and compliance-heavy industries. Customers include Autodesk, Coursera, SmartBear, and Riskified. Note: Best fit for organizations with complex engineering workflows and a need for measurable outcomes; smaller teams with basic needs may want to evaluate alternatives.
Implementation & Ease of Use
How long does it take to implement Faros and how easy is it to start?
Faros can be implemented and operational within days. Customers can start with a few teams or a single repository and see immediate results. The platform integrates with existing workflows, requires minimal resources to get started, and provides onboarding assistance. For example, Riskified was able to configure dashboards and metrics to fit their team structures and processes. Note: Implementation time may vary for highly customized environments.
What feedback have customers given about Faros's ease of use?
Customers such as Autodesk, Coursera, SmartBear, and Riskified have praised Faros for its user-friendly interface, quick implementation, and ability to integrate with existing workflows. For example, Riskified's engineering leaders highlighted the platform's flexibility in building custom metrics and dashboards, and its role in energizing teams through data-driven retrospectives. Note: User experience may vary depending on organizational complexity and customization needs.
Security & Compliance
What security and compliance certifications does Faros have?
Faros is certified for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and CSA STAR. These certifications cover data security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Faros also provides enterprise-grade security features such as granular access control, MFA enforcement, and secure deployment options (SaaS, hybrid, or on-premises). Note: For the latest certification status, visit the Faros Trust Center.
How does Faros protect customer data?
Faros implements administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure data security and integrity. Customers can tailor security settings (e.g., MFA, password history, session timeout, IP restrictions) and run connectors themselves to avoid sharing system credentials with third parties. Faros complies with export laws and provides an auditable trail for compliance-heavy industries. Note: For detailed security documentation, visit the Faros Trust Center.
Pricing & Build vs Buy
What is Faros's pricing model?
Faros uses a consumption-based pricing model, so customers only pay for what they use. Pricing scales with usage, allowing organizations to adapt as their needs evolve. Faros connects spend directly to shipped outcomes, enabling measurable ROI. Note: For a custom quote, contact Faros sales.
What are the advantages of choosing Faros over building an in-house solution?
Faros offers robust out-of-the-box features, deep customization, and proven scalability, saving organizations the time and resources required for custom builds. Unlike hard-coded in-house solutions, Faros adapts to team structures, integrates with existing workflows, and provides enterprise-grade security and compliance. Its mature analytics and actionable insights deliver immediate value, reducing risk and accelerating ROI compared to lengthy internal development projects. Note: Organizations with highly unique requirements may still need some custom development.
Customer Proof & Case Studies
Who are some of Faros's customers?
Faros is used by organizations such as Riskified (ecommerce fraud and risk intelligence), Autodesk (3D design and engineering software), Coursera (online education), and SmartBear (software testing and development tools). These customers have implemented Faros to improve engineering visibility, throughput, and business alignment. Note: For more case studies, visit the Faros blog.
Can you share specific case studies or success stories?
Yes.
Riskified used Faros to drive continuous improvement, decentralized decision-making, and data-driven QBRs as the organization scaled.
A Fortune 100 bank achieved a 20%+ increase in throughput in one year using Faros to measure AI impact.
An identity verification provider saw a 35% increase in velocity after implementing Faros.
Autodesk and SmartBear improved productivity and outcome measurement with Faros dashboards and metrics.
Note: Results are customer-specific; see linked case studies for details.
Riskified improves agility and DevOps maturity with a data-driven approach powered by Faros
Discover how Riskified’s engineering organization strengthens team autonomy and accountability to achieve outstanding business results in the competitive cybersecurity market.
Riskified improves agility and DevOps maturity with a data-driven approach powered by Faros
Discover how Riskified’s engineering organization strengthens team autonomy and accountability to achieve outstanding business results in the competitive cybersecurity market.
About the Company
Riskified provides an enterprise-grade fraud and risk intelligence solution to help ecommerce businesses grow securely.
A new layer of visibility helps Riskified measure performance and improve consistently as the organization grows.
More predictable, reliable delivery
Tailored dashboards drive retros and planning sessions, improving predictability team by team, sprint by sprint.
Decentralized, confident decision-making
Domain leaders have a clear view of priorities, capacity, and resources — without waiting on centralized reporting.
Engineering tied to business outcomes
Data-driven Tech QBRs help every engineering team connect its work to measurable business results.
Strengthening engineering culture at Riskified, a leader in ecommerce fraud and risk intelligence
Riskified is an enterprise-grade fraud and risk intelligence ecommerce solution that efficiently combats fraud and curbs policy abuse. It boosts merchant revenue by leveraging big data and machine learning to approve transactions that merchants might otherwise decline.
At a time of accelerated growth, the engineering organization doubled in size. The challenge facing its leadership was maintaining the commitment to delivering business value with speed and quality as they scaled. To that end, they sought a solution that would help strengthen the culture of Lean, Agile, and DevOps across the growing team.
Riskified chose Faros to provide the visibility that empowers its highly autonomous teams to optimize their efficiency and effectiveness.
A commitment to business value is a commitment to relentless improvement
Shai Peretz, SVP of Engineering at Riskified, joined the company in 2021. A Lean, Agile, and DevOps enthusiast and mentor, Shai was impressed with Riskified’s existing engineering culture.
“At Riskified, we have a strong DevOps culture, characterized by a mindset of end-to-end ownership. Our teams are responsible for their uptime, quality, performance, and even cost,” describes Shai.
But from his years of experience, Shai also knew that maintaining the culture is hard when you’re growing and hiring extremely fast. “That’s when you need tools to help supplement gut feelings with more scientific, objective data,” says Shai. “Faros adds a new layer of visibility that helps the organization measure itself and continuously improve. It reflects our tenet of relentless improvement.”
Shai strongly believes that decisions should be made by subject matter experts and delegated to the teams. He jokes that if a decision is escalated to him, he conducts a retrospective to understand what went wrong. He never wants to become a bottleneck, and — to that end — he invests in tools like Faros to help decentralize decision-making.
The goal: To improve processes and reduce risk
Tal Levinger is Riskified’s Agile Program Manager, who reports to Shai. Her role is to implement a Lean-Agile culture, help teams thrive, and implement tools and processes that improve their workflows and outcomes. It was natural for her to lead the selection and implementation of a visibility solution.
“Our goal was to first determine the baseline of the organization, get the numbers. Then we would assess the good and the bad, set some action items based on the metrics, and allow each team to track them and improve them independently,” says Tal. “For example, if we didn’t deliver well, we wanted to understand why — was it due to resource constraints, poor definition, or something else?”
Tal evaluated many tools, but Riskified chose Faros for three reasons.
“First, Faros was the only tool that met Riskified’s stringent security and compliance requirements. It was the only solution that could accommodate our data ingestion preferences and allow us to run the connectors ourselves to avoid providing system credentials to a third party,” says Tal.
“Second, Faros was the only software engineering intelligence platform that had the customizability and flexibility to meet us where we are and produce the metrics based on how we work today. All our tools are highly customized and we needed a vendor with the expertise to extract and standardize the data for reporting. For example, the Faros AI team provided a custom connector to ingest events from our bespoke deployment pipeline, so we could link PRs and commits to deployments for a complete picture.
“Third, we wanted to be able to easily build our own metrics and dashboards, beyond what comes out of the box with most vendors,” continues Tal. “Faros gives us the flexibility to create new metrics and views as needed.”
Tal also appreciated that Faros AI let Riskified select the granularity of the metrics. “We use Faros to learn and improve team by team. I like that we’re able to configure our dashboards to look at what the teams are doing, not the individuals.”
Becoming data-driven in retros and planning
Elad Kochavi is an engineering team leader at Riskified. He was one of the earliest domain leaders to run his sprint retrospectives off of Faros dashboards. Elad’s goal is for the team to learn and improve together.
In their retrospectives, Elad's team examines their metrics to ensure they’re focusing on the right priorities, becoming better at estimation, and keeping WIP under control. “Running a retro with concrete data naturally opens the door to more creative and critical thinking,” says Elad.
They also measure KTLO (keeping the lights on) work vs. value-adding feature work, something that was not possible before Faros.
“The biggest benefit we see is that we no longer rely on gut feelings to set our action items,” says Elad. “We now have a combined picture from all the tools we use and can do much more sophisticated analysis in place of the naive and simplified views in Jira. Our transition to data-driven retros has energized and motivated the team; they love seeing the impact of their efforts in the charts.”
Like Tal, Elad loves the flexibility he has to build his own metrics. “The beauty of Faros is that we can keep adding more and more metrics if something comes out of our retros that we want to analyze or improve. It’s pretty simple and intuitive for us to pull together the data from our different sources, build new charts, and add them to our retro dashboard.”
Improving quality of delivery to protect profitability
Reliability and quality are critical to Riskified, as some of the company’s offerings assume the financial responsibility for ecommerce fraud. A bug in production can have significant financial repercussions.
Thus, Tal focuses on how to improve Riskified processes to reduce risk, minimize dependencies, and streamline handoffs. Domain leaders like Elad focus on improving deployment quality, to minimize the number of times a rollback or hotfix is required.
For that reason, Riskified leverages a wide set of metrics on Faros, covering DORA Metrics, engineering productivity, agile health, software quality metrics like test coverage, and lagging indicators like production incidents.
“The ability to connect workflows from all our different data sources from development through production is so significant in understanding our performance. Jira only tells you how a task’s status has changed over time," says Shai.
"The metrics in Faros have more complexity, depth, and dimensions because they draw directly from the code itself—which is always more reliable and preferred. For example, with Faros AI I can understand how many times we deployed to test environments or how many times a task was reopened due to unclear requirements.”
Transitioning to data-driven tech QBRs
Shai introduced Faros at Riskified for the teams to have a mirror for themselves, to drive bottom-up improvement. However, the data is proving valuable to the ELT as well. Today, Faros AI dashboards are used in Tech QBRs.
“In our QBRs, metrics in Faros help map engineering’s work to business value. The excellence with which our engineering teams deliver and operate can be tied directly to the lagging results, like helping the business acquire, retain, upsell or increase customer satisfaction,” says Shai.
Elad also feels more empowered in these discussions with leadership. “Having the insights from Faros has increased my confidence when working with leadership on priorities, capacity, and resources,” he says.
Shai is pleased with how the data-driven mindset is strengthening the engineering function. “When an organization becomes data-driven, they’re more dialed into why they are doing these things and developing these specific features. That helps them learn the language of the business, foster stronger cross-functional collaboration, and become better leaders.”
Riskified’s advice for implementing engineering metrics
Having gone through the implementation and adoption of a software engineering intelligence platform, Shai shares his advice with others embarking on a similar journey.
First, generating visibility is very dependent on the tools you use and how you use them. This is where a lot of human expertise is required, to decide how to best reflect your business processes and workflows in your metrics. “No tool can magically do this on your behalf or create data where none exists, so be prepared to devote some time and thought to these questions,” counsels Shai.
Second, get creative when it comes to motivating teams to improve. For example, the Riskified office has monitors in the kitchenettes and around the office that display company info and announcements. Tal had the idea to display some engineering metrics from Faros on them, to show how the tech org was meeting business goals. “I’ve gone into the kitchen a few times and found people discussing the stats. It motivates them to dive deeper and think about improvements we can make, which is fantastic,” says Shai.
Finally, the entrance of AI-driven development tools like GitHub Copilot demands better visibility into tech productivity and cost. “While tools like GitHub Copilot have the potential to increase productivity, evaluating their impact scientifically will help build the business case for the investment.”
Faros Research
Faros Research studies how engineering teams build, deliver, and improve. From annual reports to customer insights, our analysis helps enterprises understand what's working (and what's not) in AI-native software engineering.
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