Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.
Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.
As a Forward Deployed Program Lead you will own Harmattan’s first partnership built on our data platform, from strategy to delivery. You will embed deeply with the customer organization to understand their operational needs, map and win over the key stakeholders, and turn that understanding into AI use cases that get built and used. You will coordinate a team of Forward Deployed Software Engineers, prioritize their work, and make sure what they ship meets the quality bar. You will also own the multi-year roadmap of the partnership. You are early enough to project to shape both the product and the organization around it.
Responsibilities
Own the project partnership end-to-end: grow our footprint with the customer through new use cases, and build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders and sponsors.
Define and own the multi-year roadmap for the partnership: a prioritized list of use cases, the architecture to deliver them, and the pitch to support them.
Run joint governance with the customer: communicate outcomes, prepare monthly steering committees and demos, and keep the customer team aligned.
Coordinate development across use cases: prioritize the work of the Forward Deployed Software Engineers, collect and remove blockers, and review their work against the quality bar.
Work with the customer’s IT teams to unblock data access and the technical dependencies of the development team.
Meet the customer’s operational teams to understand their pain points, and refine the value proposition of each use case.
Analyze operational data in the project platform to understand the problem at hand before building.
Define use case deliverables and requirements with the customer-side project manager.
Feed what you learn back to the Product and R&D teams to shape the platform.
Requirements
A product mindset: you can understand a user’s need, work through high ambiguity, and turn it into clear requirements for a use case.
Project leadership: a track record of managing delivery end-to-end in fast-paced environments, against ambitious deadlines.
Forward-deployed experience: you know how to navigate large organizations, open doors, and grow a footprint with a customer.
An analytical and engineering mindset: you are comfortable working with data and AI, and credible with engineers.
Self-starter with a high degree of autonomy.
Humility: you will represent an agile startup inside a large, well-established organization, and you know how to do it without ruffling feathers.
Frequent on-site presence with the customer.
Proficiency in English is mandatory.
Nice to have
Experience in defense, public sector, or other large regulated organizations.
Experience delivering AI or data-platform projects with a customer.
Prior experience coordinating software or data engineers.
We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.
Skills Required
- Product mindset with the ability to understand user needs, work through ambiguity, and define clear use-case requirements
- Track record of managing end-to-end project delivery in fast-paced environments against ambitious deadlines
- Experience working in forward-deployed roles, navigating large organizations, opening stakeholder relationships, and expanding customer footprint
- Analytical and engineering mindset with comfort working with data and AI and credibility with engineers
- Self-starter with a high degree of autonomy
- Ability to represent an agile startup within a large established organization diplomatically
- Frequent on-site presence with the customer
- Proficiency in English
- Experience in defense, public sector, or other large regulated organizations
- Experience delivering AI or data-platform projects with a customer
- Prior experience coordinating software or data engineers
Harmattan AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Harmattan AI and has not been reviewed or approved by Harmattan AI.
-
Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay ranges are publicly shown for multiple U.S. roles (e.g., $140k–$200k base) and appear broadly in line with late‑stage startup/defense‑tech expectations based on the postings cited.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is repeatedly referenced in several job postings as part of total compensation, which can increase upside potential at a recently funded, high‑valuation company.
-
Strong & Reliable Incentives — Sign‑on bonuses are explicitly mentioned in a hiring post for candidates who can start quickly, indicating the use of cash incentives in at least some hiring situations.
Harmattan AI Insights
What We Do
Harmattan AI is rising as a next-generation defense prime, building the future of autonomous warfare. We leverage AI-driven autonomy, real-time intelligence, and conflict-ready production to deliver attritable systems and autonomous mission management software. Designed for the real-world needs of warfighters, our solutions enable faster deployment, sharper decision-making, and battlefield dominance.
