Vannevar is a defense technology company building AI to deter adversaries. In the 21st century, conflict moves at algorithmic speed and foresight equals firepower. Their agentic AI is purpose-built to compete with China — from cross-Strait conflict to gray zone coercion. Trained on the most mission-relevant datasets in defense, the technology models adversary behavior, simulates campaigns, and recommends the best course of action to decision makers. Vannevar’s AI systems are actively used on the front lines of the Indo-Pacific.

In three years, Vannevar grew from $3M to $80M in ARR, achieved early profitability, and reached unicorn status. The team combines world-class engineers with veteran strategists who bring deep expertise in defense and tradecraft — a company defined by mission impact, user empathy, and disciplined growth.

The Opportunity

Vannevar’s Mission teams operate like small startups within the company. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will serve as the technical owner for a mission and its associated customer engagements — working directly with operators, analysts, and technical stakeholders supporting national security missions.

You will own the architecture, development, deployment, and fielding of software solutions tailored to real-world operational needs. You will act as a senior technical counterpart to customer stakeholders, translating mission requirements into scalable software, navigating government technical environments, and ensuring capabilities are delivered reliably into production. This is a hands-on individual contributor role with genuine technical ownership.

What You’ll Do

• •Architect, build, and own software solutions deployed directly to customer environments in support of mission-critical use cases
• •Serve as the primary technical point of contact for customer stakeholders, engaging with senior technical leaders to understand mission needs and represent Vannevar’s technical approach
• •Own end-to-end technical delivery for your mission workstreams, from requirements gathering and system design through implementation, deployment, and sustainment
• •Contribute hands-on code to improve product capabilities, performance, and scalability across customer use cases
• •Build software that enables users to unlock value from large-scale data holdings including text, multimedia, and geospatial datasets spanning over 46 languages
• •Collaborate with engineers, product designers, and mission domain experts to plan and deliver complex software features
• •Support government-facing technical artifacts as needed, including input to RFIs, RFPs, Statements of Work, and white papers
• •Navigate and integrate with government IT ecosystems, ensuring solutions meet security, compliance, and operational constraints
• •Travel 20-30% to engage directly with mission owners and deliver capabilities in the field

You Should Have

• •5+ years as a full-stack developer including familiarity with relational databases (Postgres), caching technologies (Redis), object storage systems (S3), and modern front-end frameworks (React)
• •Experience developing and deploying software compliant with DoD Risk Management Framework (RMF)
• •Experience interfacing with government-owned IT systems including data platforms, IdAM providers, SIEM, and CDSs
• •Experience working with government IT and program offices to scope technical requirements, architecture, and integrations
• •Experience working with end users to scope mission requirements, conduct user testing, and gather product feedback
• •Active U.S. Top Secret security clearance with SCI eligibility

Compensation and Benefits

Competitive salary. Benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance; unlimited PTO plus shared downtime during federal holidays and company-wide time off at year end; 401(k) match; lifestyle and wellbeing stipends; fully paid parental leave; child and pet care reimbursement during travel; salary top-up during military reserve duty; and WeWork access.