Forward Deployed Engineer

Our client, a defense robotics hardware manufacturing startup, seeks Forward Deployed Engineers.

We are looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer with 1 7 years of experience to embed directly with U.S. military and government customers and own the technical success of our client's C2 systems in live operational environments. You'll be equal parts software engineer and field operator writing production code, debugging distributed systems under pressure, and deploying software in high-stakes contexts most engineers never touch.

What will you be doing?

Deploying and integrating C2 software on-site with military operators across domestic and international locations (50 75% travel to coastal/water-adjacent sites)

Break-fix troubleshooting and rapid code development in the field gathering requirements directly from uniformed operators and shipping solutions same-day

Working hand-in-hand with drone operators, potentially flying assets in the air, water, or on land during live missions

Feeding hard-won field insights back to the core engineering team to improve the product

Operating autonomously in ambiguous, resource-constrained environments sometimes hooking up hardware, sometimes cranking out code, sometimes doing technician work

What we're looking for:

1 7 years of experience in full-stack software engineering and/or forward-deployed engineering roles

Senior archetype (5 7 yrs): prior FDE lead or senior forward deployed role; mentor junior FDEs and own customer relationships independently

NO visa sponsorship

Must be willing to travel 50+% domestically and internationally

Eligible to obtain U.S. Secret security clearance

Junior archetype (1 2 years): strong internships, early promo trajectory at a top company, or founding engineer at a YC-backed startup

Early high-signal differentiator (e.g., well-known hackathon winner, math olympiad (ICPC, IMO), or top 25 school)

Strong full-stack engineering experience proficient in Golang and React

BS in Computer Science, Math, Economics, or a related technical field

Strong system design and architecture ability

High agency, comfortable operating in ambiguous environments