A small team building systems that surface critical signals before they become emergencies.

Forward Deployed Engineer

Washington DCOn-site$180K - $220K4 - 7 years
We build software that helps defense and national security operators see what matters before the alarms go off. As our first Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll embed directly with users inside government facilities in DC, translating raw mission needs into working Python solutions that run against real data, on real timelines. This is not a demo-and-disappear role—you'll own the full loop from problem discovery through technical implementation, iterating alongside analysts and operators who can't afford latency or guesswork. You'll also shape our early engineering culture, setting the patterns for how we deploy, support, and harden software for environments where failure isn't abstract.

What they're looking for

  • 4–7 years writing production Python, with a strong instinct for shipping working code over perfect slideware
  • Comfortable walking into a secure government facility, asking operators what's actually broken, and building the fix that same week
  • Fluency in gluing together APIs, data pipelines, and lightweight frontends without needing a large supporting team
  • Active U.S. security clearance (Secret or higher) or eligibility and willingness to obtain one immediately
  • Resilience under ambiguity: you thrive when requirements are scribbled on a whiteboard, not handed down in a 60-page spec

Tech stack

Python

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This role is one we're recruiting for on behalf of a client company; the client's identity is kept confidential at this stage. A Fluency recruiter will follow up with details.