Forward Deployed Engineer, Defense Tech (SJ)

Lavendo Inc.

Job Overview

Location

San Jose

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will be the face of the company on the front line, deploying with defense, government, and industrial customers to build software solutions in air-gapped, austere, or fully disconnected environments where cloud-dependent tools fail, directly multiplying the effectiveness of soldiers, technicians, and operators in mission-critical roles.
• Day to day, you will diagnose and resolve technical problems on the fly—networking failures, firmware bugs, hardware integration issues—using Linux, Android, C, Rust, Python, or the appropriate tool, cycle between customer sites and the office to gather signal and iterate, and act as the company’s ambassador by translating field learnings into product priorities for the core engineering team.
• The company is a two-year-old, 55-person defense tech startup with real U.S. Army contracts and $57.5M in funding, building integrated task systems—mixed reality headsets fused with compute hardware, on-body sensors, AI, and networking—for dismounted soldiers, submarine technicians, aircraft maintainers, and power plant operators operating in environments where traditional software fails.
• You will learn how to ship software that touches the physical world in extreme conditions, earn credibility with commanders and engineers in under five minutes, operate without a playbook, and directly shape product development by bringing real-world signal back to the core team in an early-stage environment with outsized individual impact.

🎯 Requirements

• U.S. citizenship (contractual)
• Active Secret clearance or clear eligibility to obtain one
• 3–5 years of hands-on software engineering experience with demonstrated onsite customer deployment in hardware-integrated or field environments
• Strong Linux fundamentals and networking knowledge applicable in disconnected, field environments without remote technical support
• Proficiency in at least one low-level language (C, Rust) and comfort in Android/Java
• Willingness to travel 35–50% domestically, based out of San Jose, CA

🏖️ Benefits

• Meaningful equity at an early stage — 55 people, $70M raised, U.S. Army contracts in hand
• $165,000–$220,000 base + unlimited PTO
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k), HSA & FSA
• Commuter benefit and AI platform credits
• Catered lunch

Skills & Technologies

Python

Java

Rust

Linux

Android

Remote

$165k-220k

Degree Required

Ready to Apply?

Apply Externally

You will be redirected to an external site to apply.

AI Job Fit Analysis

Pro

See exactly how your profile matches this role — strengths, skill gaps, and what to do about them.

Lavendo Inc.

Visit Website

About Lavendo Inc.

Lavendo is a sales‑specialist recruiting firm that connects startups and scaling companies with U.S.‑based sales talent—providing sourcing, pre‑vetting, candidate matching, and hiring support across roles from SDR to Head of Sales to accelerate go‑to‑market hiring.

View Company Profile

Get more remote jobs like this

Subscribe to the weekly newsletter for similar remote roles and curated hiring updates.

Weekly remote jobs and featured talent.

No spam. Only curated remote roles and product updates. You can unsubscribe anytime.