Backend Platform Engineer – AI for National Security

About the role

You could architect the backbone of an AI platform that helps the U.S. and its allies get critical technology into the field — at Silicon Valley speed, not paperwork speed. Recruiter Drive is hiring a Backend Platform Engineer for a venture-backed AI lab (client name shared in process) rebuilding how the Western world equips itself for the missions that matter.

Over the past year, their platform has helped Global 500 companies — including RTX, BAE Systems, Palantir, and Ukrainian drone manufacturers — win $12B in contracts across 30 NATO nations. They’re the youngest founding team ever to win a U.S. defense contract. You’ll own the core backend — architecture, data pipelines, APIs, deployment, and scale — for an AI platform used in government contract capture. You’ll build LLM-powered agents and workflows that help customers find and win contracts that shape national security outcomes. You’ll work with a small, high-output team (six engineers, founders included) that ships daily — and occasionally sit with operators and forward-deployed engineers on-site (a few days/month) to learn what actually needs to be built.

Responsibilities

• Design and build the core backend architecture for a production AI platform in national security
• Own systems end-to-end — from schema and APIs to infra, observability, and production rollout
• Integrate AI agents and LLM workflows into real customer pipelines
• Partner with product and forward-deployed engineers serving Special Forces units, Fortune 500 defense contractors, and allied programs
• Ship fast in a team where founders write code and everyone owns outcomes

Requirements

• 2–8 years building and owning backend / infrastructure in production
• Strong hands-on experience across several of: Python, Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS/GCP, Linux/Bash, DevOps, LLM/agent tooling
• Systems design instincts — you can architect reliable services from a blank page
• A builder’s mindset: hungry, scrappy, clear communicator, thrives on ownership
• Genuine motivation to work on mission-critical national security problems
• U.S. citizens only (ITAR/EAR) — no visa sponsorship
• Full-time · In-person — San Francisco, CA (5 days/week); DC considered for experienced candidates

Qualifications

• Bonus points: TypeScript / Next.js / React
• Active Secret or TS clearance (clearance not required to apply but is a strong plus)
• Defense/gov experience
• Founding or forward-deployed engineer background

Benefits

• National mission — classified details stay classified; the impact doesn’t
• Build in the room with operators — work alongside Tier-1 Special Forces and defense leaders
• Team that moves — Stanford dropouts, MIT AI scientists, defense veterans, startup operators
• Well-funded & scaling — nine-figure valuation; $3.3M seed (Scout Ventures, True Ventures, Y Combinator, and others)
• Maximum technical depth — you’re laying the foundation everything else runs on

Pay

Compensation: $180,000 – $260,000 base + equity: $50,000 – $500,000 (4-year vest)