Forward Deployed Software Engineer

Forward Deployed Software Engineer

Location: Onsite/Hybrid | Rosslyn, VA; Austin, TX; Honolulu, HI; Seattle, WA
Work Authorization: U.S. Citizen
Clearance: Active U.S. Secret required; Top Secret preferred
Employment Type: Full-time, salaried, with full benefits

The Company & Mission:

Our client is revolutionizing military logistics and sustainment through the deployment of AI-enabled solutions. Combining elite Silicon Valley software expertise with deep operational experience working in and with the Department of Defense, our client builds cutting-edge software to solve the most critical logistics challenges faced by the U.S. military and its allies.

Their flagship product is an advanced software platform that enhances logistics at tactical and operational echelons, providing unified, comprehensive management of inventory, personnel, equipment, and distribution. The platform integrates critical information for holistic, data-driven logistics decisions, leveraging AI for decision support, predictive analytics, and optimization at machine speed. Their mission is to support and enable the military logistics and sustainment communities with software to meet the needs of the next fight.

What This Role is All About:

Our client is seeking Forward Deployed Software Engineers to operate at the front lines — building and deploying software directly alongside military users in real operational environments. This is a hybrid technical and customer-facing role that requires deep ownership from concept to deployment.

You will work in small teams with minimal supervision, diagnosing ambiguous technical problems, translating field feedback into product requirements, and closing the loop between customer missions and engineering. If you are energized by field conditions, real users, and the kind of problems that don't come with a defined playbook, this role is built for you.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Work side-by-side with end users and military stakeholders to understand their toughest operational challenges, then design and deliver software solutions that directly address those needs
• Take full ownership of features from concept to deployment, including prototyping, system integration, and ensuring performance in demanding real-world environments
• Deploy, configure, debug, and support TyrOS in operational settings — including field exercises, constrained networks, edge hardware, and classified infrastructure
• Translate user feedback and field observations into product requirements, bug reports, and engineering priorities
• Collaborate across engineering, product, design, and mission success teams to build scalable systems and drive complex projects to completion
• Continuously monitor and improve system reliability and performance by instrumenting code, analyzing metrics, diagnosing issues, and iterating on fixes
• Balance short-term urgency with long-term maintainability, making thoughtful tradeoffs that keep solutions practical and mission-focused
• Travel roughly 25-40% to deploy, field test, and support software systems, gathering feedback directly from users in operational settings

What You Bring:

• Active U.S. Secret clearance required; Top Secret preferred
• 3-8+ years of technical experience in software engineering, systems engineering, solutions engineering, field engineering, or forward deployed engineering
• Strong coding skills with demonstrated proficiency in Go, C++, TypeScript/JavaScript, or similar languages
• Meaningful hands-on technical work across coding, scripting, debugging, deployment, system integration, infrastructure, networking, data pipelines, or edge/cloud systems
• Experience working directly with customers or end users in defense, government, logistics, autonomy, robotics, or other operational environments
• Demonstrated ability to diagnose ambiguous technical and workflow problems and drive them to resolution without a fully defined playbook
• Comfort operating in deployed and field environments with intermittent connectivity, constrained hardware, security requirements, and non-standard infrastructure
• High ownership mindset and bias to action — motivated to assume responsibility for all aspects of development and deployment
• Strong communication skills, with the interest and aptitude to lead customer-facing engineering interactions

Bonus Points:

• Background at Palantir, Anduril, Vannevar, Shield AI, Scale AI, Rebellion Defense, or other defense tech field and customer engineering organizations
• Military service, especially in logistics/sustainment, operations, signal, intelligence, or deployed technical roles
• Experience running customer pilots, field exercises, demos, or operational deployments with limited support
• Familiarity with logistics, supply chain, or sustainment challenges in military contexts
• Experience deploying software to production environments including cloud (AWS, Kubernetes) and edge infrastructure
• Exposure to data engineering, analytics, or machine learning in operational contexts
• Familiarity with Linux, Docker/Podman, Kubernetes, ATAK, C4ISR, or geospatial systems

Benefits:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans; premiums 100% covered for all employees; exceptionally low premiums for spouses and dependents
• Basic life insurance and disability 100% covered for all employees; option to purchase additional life insurance
• "Take the time off that you need, when you need it" paid time off policy — not accrual based
• Generous company holiday calendar including a December shutdown
• Supportive leave of absence program including military service, medical events, and parental leave
• Full 401(k) retirement plan for all full-time eligible employees
• Company-funded commuter benefits
• Free access to on-site gym at office
• Highly competitive equity grants included in the majority of full-time offers as part of total compensation