Head of Forward Deployed Engineering

The Company is seeking a Head of Forward Deployed Engineering to lead a team that is at the forefront of integrating advanced AI technology into national security and federal mission environments. The successful candidate will be responsible for building and leading a strategic engineering organization, with a focus on recruiting, mentoring, and growing a high-performing team. This role is pivotal in shaping the future of the product and the engineering organization, and the ideal candidate will have a background in leading forward-deployed, solutions engineering, or customer-facing engineering teams in fast-moving environments. The Head of Forward Deployed Engineering will work closely with customers to solve real-world mission problems, requiring a strong ability to understand complex operational issues and translate them into scalable software solutions. Applicants for the Head of Forward Deployed Engineering position at the company should have a minimum of 8 years of software engineering experience, with at least 3 years in forward-deployed or heavily customer-facing environments. A strong software development background in languages such as Python, Go, or TypeScript, and experience in building cloud-native applications on AWS or Kubernetes, is essential. The role also demands the ability to work directly with customers, strong communication skills, and experience in mentoring and growing engineering teams. While not mandatory, experience in a startup or high-growth company, as well as a background in supporting defense, intelligence, or federal government customers, is highly valued. Familiarity with AI/LLMs, agentic AI systems, or machine learning platforms, and a previous association with mission-driven technology organizations, is also desirable.