Forward Deployed Software Engineer

Title of Role: Forward Deployed Software Engineer
Location: Remote (United States)
Company Stage of Funding: Early-stage (venture-backed defense startup)
Office Type: Remote with High Travel (~75%)
Salary: $175,000 – $220,000 + Equity

Company Description

Our client is an early-stage defense technology company building advanced command-and-control software and autonomous systems for next-generation unmanned aircraft operations. Their mission is to enable scalable, real-world deployment of autonomous systems in high-stakes environments.

Led by experienced founders with strong technical backgrounds, the company is rapidly gaining traction through government programs and is scaling to meet increasing demand. This is a unique opportunity to work on mission-critical systems that operate in real-world scenarios, bridging software and field deployment.

What You Will Do

• Serve as the technical bridge between engineering and real-world deployments in high-stakes environments
• Travel up to 75% to field sites, working closely with operators and stakeholders during live deployments
• Debug and resolve complex issues in distributed systems, including networking, performance, and system failures
• Build deployment and integration tooling to improve system reliability and scalability
• Write production code daily to solve integration challenges and improve system performance
• Analyze logs, network traffic, and system behavior to diagnose and fix issues in real time
• Collaborate with customers to understand requirements and translate them into technical solutions

Ideal Candidate Background

• 3+ years of software engineering experience
• Strong proficiency in Golang, Python, or C/C++
• Experience working with distributed systems and networking fundamentals (TCP/IP, DNS, etc.)
• Background in customer-facing or deployment-oriented engineering roles
• Ability to debug complex systems in real-world environments under pressure
• Comfortable with high travel requirements and working in field environments
• U.S. citizenship and eligibility for security clearance required

Preferred

• Experience in defense tech, aerospace, robotics, or autonomous systems
• Prior experience working with military personnel or in field deployments
• Background at defense-focused or high-performance engineering companies (e.g., Palantir, Anduril, etc.)
• Familiarity with systems integration, monitoring, and reliability engineering
• Strong problem-solving ability in ambiguous, high-pressure environments

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive base salary: $175,000 – $220,000
• Equity in a high-growth defense technology company
• Opportunity to work on mission-critical systems with real-world impact
• High ownership role with direct exposure to customers and deployments
• Work alongside experienced founders and engineers in a rapidly scaling organization
• Unique opportunity to see your code operate in live environments

This role is ideal for engineers who want to move beyond traditional software development and work directly in the field—solving real-world problems in high-impact, mission-critical environments.