Forward Deployed Engineer - Oahu (TS/SCI Clearance Required)
Vannevar Labs
$135,000 - $205,000 / year
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Description
Vannevar builds AI systems for the Department of War's most consequential missions. We have 125 deployments across every branch and combatant command spanning our core platform and five distinct products. An an example of how we work, when major combat operations started with Iran, we fielded a new product supporting 24/7 operations and 9,000+ users in three months.
How we build is our advantage: we deploy forward with the people who own the mission. Our engineers, product team, and CTO deploy forward to the point of friction, including visiting units in Ukraine. We focus on embedding directly with operational units supporting great power competition with China, combat operations with Iran, and counter-narcotics missions.
About the role
Our Mission teams operate like small startups within the Vannevar Labs umbrella. As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you will serve as the technical owner for a mission and its associated customer engagements. You will work directly with operators, analysts, and technical stakeholders supporting national security missions, owning the architecture, development, deployment, and fielding of software solutions tailored to real-world operational needs.
In this role, 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. You will collaborate closely with product, design, platform engineering, and mission teammates to deliver high-impact outcomes, while remaining a hands-on individual contributor.
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 cross-functional partners — including 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
- This is a fully remote role, but traveling is required - travel up to 20–30% to engage directly with mission owners and deliver capabilities in the field
What you should have
- 5+ years as a Full Stack Developer including familiarity with relational databases (like Postgres), caching technologies (like Redis), object storage systems (like S3), and modern front-end frameworks (like React)
- Experience developing and deploying software compliant with DoD Risk Management Framework (RMF)
- Experience interfacing with government owned IT systems (for example, data platforms, IdAM providers, SIEM, CDSs, etc)
- 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 gain product feedback
- Excellent communication and teamwork skills
- Must hold an active U.S. TS Security clearance with SCI Eligibility
- This role is hybrid in our Honolulu office
What we offer
Competitive Salary
The salary range for this position is $135,000-$205,000 + equity. Within the range, individual pay is determined by experience, relevant education, and/or training.
Comprehensive Benefits
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- Remote friendly with WeWork access
- Unlimited PTO, shared downtime during the federal holiday calendar, and company-wide off time at the end of each year
- 401(k) match
- Lifestyle & wellbeing stipends
- Salary top-up during military reserve duty
- Fully paid parental leave
- Child and pet care reimbursement during travel
We are committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Official emails from the company will come from an @vannevarlabs.com domain. Under no circumstances will a legitimate representative from our company contact you to request passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal data. Please be vigilant of potential scams.
Benefits
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- Remote friendly with WeWork access
- Unlimited PTO, shared downtime during the federal holiday calendar, and company-wide off time at the end of each year
- 401(k) match
- Lifestyle & wellbeing stipends
- Salary top-up during military reserve duty
- Fully paid parental leave
- Child and pet care reimbursement during travel
About this role
Vannevar Labs deploys AI systems directly into military and intelligence operations across all service branches, and this role puts you at the center of that work. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you'll own the full technical lifecycle—architecture, development, deployment, and sustainment—for mission-critical software serving real operational needs. You'll split your time between the Honolulu office and field deployments (20–30% travel), working embedded with operators, analysts, and government stakeholders to translate their requirements into scalable solutions that handle massive datasets across text, multimedia, and geospatial formats in over 46 languages.
This is a senior individual contributor role that demands both technical depth and leadership presence. You'll serve as the primary technical counterpart to government customers, navigate DoD compliance frameworks and government IT ecosystems, and collaborate across engineering, product, and mission teams to deliver complex capabilities into production. The work requires five-plus years as a full-stack developer with hands-on experience in relational databases, caching, object storage, and modern front-end frameworks, plus demonstrated experience building and deploying software under DoD Risk Management Framework requirements and interfacing with government systems.
You'll need an active TS/SCI clearance to start. The salary range is $135,000–$205,000 plus equity, with benefits including health coverage, unlimited PTO, 401(k) match, parental leave, and travel-related support like child and pet care reimbursement.
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Pay for this role
$135,000 to $205,000 per year
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