Forward Deployed Engineer

Remote · 3+ years experience · Full-time · Remote · Posted Oct 15, 2026

At a glance

Onebrief builds collaboration and AI-powered workflow software for military planning and operational coordination.
Military planning is complex by nature, requiring teams to coordinate information, people, and decisions across systems and locations. Onebrief brings planning, collaboration, simulation, and AI into one connected environment, helping teams test strategies, adapt to changing conditions, and make decisions with greater clarity when the stakes are real.
We are a distributed team of builders from military, operational, and technology backgrounds who care deeply about improving how important work gets done. Some team members work remotely, while others work directly alongside customers in operational environments around the world.
Founded in 2019, Onebrief is backed by leading investors including General Catalyst, Battery Ventures, Insight Partners, Sapphire Ventures, and Human Capital. Valued at more than $2 billion, we continue to invest in product innovation, AI capabilities, and team growth.

Forward Deployed Engineers at Onebrief bridge the gap between core software capabilities and real-world mission outcomes by working directly with military operators. This role involves deploying alongside command staffs to write production-grade code, debug distributed systems, and translate mission requirements into technical solutions.

Sit with operational users during field embeddings to translate mission friction into software solutions.
Inspect schemas, write integration scripts, call REST APIs, analyze logs, and debug systems in restricted environments.
Collaborate with Product and Core Engineering to convert field workarounds into generalized platform capabilities.
Connect Onebrief Core and Atom Engine with partner C2 systems, databases, and military data structures.
Conduct failure-domain isolation in the field to protect core development teams.
Package technical escalations with reproduction steps, logs, and root hypotheses.
Brief senior military leaders and command staff on operational impact.
Whiteboard distributed software architecture with engineering teams.

3+ years of progressive software engineering, solutions engineering, or field software engineering experience.
Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, C++, C#, TypeScript, or Go.
Hands-on experience with REST/gRPC APIs, relational databases, data modeling, JSON/XML schemas, microservices, and cloud/edge infrastructure.
Ability to parse application logs, diagnose network or authentication failures, and isolate root causes.
Exceptional ability to explain technical trade-offs and lead interactive working sessions with users.
Active Secret clearance.
Willingness to travel 25-50% of the time.

Prior experience as a Forward Deployed Engineer or Field Software Engineer at enterprise software or defense-tech companies.
Direct experience building, deploying, or debugging software inside air-gapped DoD networks or classified environments.
Experience with DoD software delivery, C2 systems, combatant command structures, operational planning workflows, or military data systems.
Active Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility.
Hands-on experience leveraging modern AI-assisted development tools.

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