Software Engineer - TS/SCI

Forward Deployed Engineer (Cleared)

Location: Washington, DC

Clearance: TS/SCI

Salary: $180k-$250k + Equity

Our client builds the vendor-neutral operating system for agentic AI in high-consequence environments. In their first ten months they won four U.S. Government prime contracts in open competition, all deploying into classified spaces, and they are live on JWICS. They were selected from a field of more than 200 companies, beat two established defense primes head to head, and have earned the follow-on that is now in execution. The team is made up of engineers and operators from the intelligence community, special operations and frontier AI research, with backgrounds at Palantir, Anduril, Northrop Grumman, Onebrief, JSOC, NSA and CIA.

The Role

Our client is hiring two Forward Deployed Engineers to embed with IC and DoD customers who decide whether the platform becomes essential to the mission or just another tool they tolerate. You deploy the platform against real data and real workflows, in front of the people whose decisions you enable. Think of it as being the CTO inside the SCIF. Your work affects national security directly, and you own part of the company early, when it matters.

You will work alongside intelligence officers, MIT engineers, Special Operations veterans and applied AI engineers from frontier labs like Anthropic and Google.

What You'll Own

• Embed with IC and DoD analyst teams in classified spaces, deploying the platform against real production data and mission workflows, shipping code in the environment where the work happens
• Build integrations and MCP servers for restricted intelligence streams and customer systems
• Own onsite deployment, integration and reliability for assigned programs, from first install through accreditation to sustained operations
• Run the customer-to-product feedback loop, surfacing what analysts actually need and working with HQ to decide what becomes a platform feature and what stays a customer-specific extension
• Troubleshoot in fully disconnected environments where standard tooling and internet access do not exist, and write code that holds up anyway
• Hold the line on security discipline in classified work, including credential handling, audit-readiness, and turning an ATO into operational reality

What We're Looking For

• Active TS/SCI clearance
• Based in the National Capital Region
• Prior FDE, deployment strategist or cleared software engineering experience (Palantir, Anduril, Vannevar or similar)
• Strong Python in disconnected environments, including offline package management and offline registries
• Self-sufficient in the field, able to debug and ship without internet, vendor support or a fallback team
• Comfortable with significant travel and extended TDYs to customer sites

Bonus Points

• Knowledge of IC tools, data formats and workflows (STIX/TAXII, OSINT platforms, imagery pipelines)
• Experience with the Model Context Protocol or similar tool-use frameworks
• Experience running Temporal or similar durable workflow orchestration
• Experience running Helm, Rancher, ArgoCD or Harbor in restricted environments

Benefits

Comprehensive medical, dental and vision with premiums 100% covered for employees and low premiums for spouses and dependents. Company-paid basic life and disability insurance, with the option to buy additional life cover. Non-accrual paid time off, a generous holiday calendar including a December shutdown, and a supportive leave program covering military service, medical events and parental leave. Full 401(k), company-funded commuter benefits, free access to an onsite gym, and equity.

If you are open to learning more about this, please apply below and I will be in contact to discuss the role further.