Forward Deployed Engineer

About the role

We're looking for a Forward Deployed Engineer who is, first and foremost, a software engineer; someone who writes code, reasons about systems, and understands how distributed applications behave in real-world environments. But you're also the kind of person who enjoys rolling up your sleeves and helping customers succeed directly: embedding with their teams, understanding their constraints, and making complex cloud-native systems actually work in the places they need to run. You'll work across cloud and on-prem environments; including secure and classified networks; deploying, adapting, and occasionally adapting our platform to environments that don't always behave as expected.

Responsibilities

• Ship code, build tooling, write automation, debug real distributed-systems failures, and help customers adopt best practices in GitOps, networking, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Must-have: 5+ years professional experience as a software engineer (backend or platform-focused).
• Must-have: Proficiency in at least one modern backend language (TypeScript, Java, Go, Python).
• Must-have: Hands-on experience deploying and operating Kubernetes workloads in production environments.
• Must-have: Practical experience with GitOps tooling (ArgoCD preferred; Flux acceptable).
• Must-have: Experience building and maintaining infrastructure-as-code using Terraform, Helm, and/or Kustomize.
• Must-have: Ability to troubleshoot distributed systems, including: container runtime issues, API failures, microservices communication, misconfigured networking or CNI behavior.
• Must-have: Strong understanding of networking fundamentals (DNS, TCP/IP, firewalls, proxies, service networking).
• Must-have: Experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred; GovCloud is a plus but not required).
• Must-have: Ability to write automation and tooling in scripting languages (Bash, Shell, Python).
• Must-have: Experience working directly with customer engineering or IT/SecOps teams.
• Must-have: Ability to gather requirements, interpret constraints, and adjust implementation plans accordingly.
• Must-have: Strong verbal and written communication skills, including technical explanations for non-experts.
• Must-have: Experience performing technical troubleshooting in unfamiliar or partially-documented environments.
• Must-have: Comfortable working in secure, regulated, or on-prem environments with limited visibility or access.
• Must-have: Active DoD Secret clearance or higher (TS/SCI strongly preferred, but T2 is minimum).
• Must-have: Ability to work within DoD, IC, or government security frameworks and deployment requirements.
• Must-have: Highly self-directed—able to navigate ambiguity, set your own plan of attack, and move work forward without relying on rigid processes, prescriptive task lists, or constant guidance.
• Must-have: Pragmatic problem solver who prefers shipping working solutions to debating theory.
• Must-have: Capable of working through ambiguity without needing fully defined requirements.
• Must-have: Low-ego collaborator who can discuss architecture tradeoffs and accept feedback.
• Must-have: Comfortable balancing "ideal engineering" with "what is practical in this customer environment."

Requirements

• Must-have: Experience delivering software to air-gapped, disconnected, or highly regulated customer environments.
• Must-have: Hands-on experience with AWS EKS, IAM, VPC/networking, or GovCloud.
• Must-have: Familiarity with DoD accreditation processes (RMF, NIST 800-53, STIGs).
• Must-have: Knowledge of service mesh (Istio, Linkerd) or eBPF-based networking.
• Nice-to-have: Prior experience in a forward-deployed, field engineering, or customer-embedded role.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with monitoring/observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, EFK).

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Short and long-term disability coverage for added security
• Basic life insurance provided by the company
• Optional supplementary life insurance policy available for additional coverage
• UKI covers 100% of individual premiums for medical, dental, vision, disability, and basic life insurance
• A 401k plan with a basic safe harbor matching (up to 4% match with a 5% contribution)
• Enjoy 15 days of PTO annually for vacation or sick leave
• Benefit from 12 company holidays, aligning with 11 federal holidays, plus Christmas Eve