A build engineer is a specialist role who performs the function of facilitating the build or integration of the source code. The build engineer advocates for development in the MSF Team Model. By specializing the build and integration skills in a single role, the developer is freed to focus on understanding the product vision and the creation of value. The build engineer will run the build, develop scripts for automation of the build and automated reporting mechanisms such as the build report. Within Visual Studio Team System, the build engineer owns the build functionality.

A person assigned to this role should be added to the Project Administrator permissions group. This allows them to do all that they need to perform their function; such as create new projects, add people to the project team, and start a team build.