Vannevar is a defense technology company building AI to deter our adversaries. In the 21st century, conflict moves at algorithmic speed and foresight equals firepower. Our agentic AI is purpose-built to compete with China—from cross-Strait conflict to gray zone coercion. Trained on the most mission-relevant datasets in defense, our technology models adversary behavior, simulates campaigns, and recommends the best course of action to decision makers. Our AI systems are some of the most trusted in the industry and actively used on the front lines of the Indo-Pacific to keep the peace and save lives.
Exceptional technology starts with exceptional people. Vannevar is a small agile team combining world-class engineers with veteran strategists who bring deep expertise in defense and tradecraft. We’re building a company defined by mission impact, user empathy, and disciplined growth. In just three years, we grew from $3M to $80M in ARR, achieved early profitability, and reached unicorn status—proving that disruption doesn’t require an ego, and staying power doesn’t mean standing still.
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.
- 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
- 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
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.
Top Skills
What We Do
Vannevar combines Silicon Valley innovation with former special operators to build AI for real-world national security outcomes. Since our founding in 2019, Vannevar has deployed its technology across 125 missions, safeguarding our service members and improving our country's deterrence. We believe our military service members and intelligence officers deserve access to the best technology American innovation can offer, and we are mobilizing frontier technology for this mission. Our founders have 30 years of combined experience across AI labs, national security strategy, intelligence agencies and special operations. We're supported by a number of leading VCs, including Felicis, DFJ Growth, Point72, Costanoa, and General Catalyst. Vannevar is one of the most capital efficient defense tech companies, reaching early profitability and becoming a defense tech unicorn in 2024.
Why Work With Us
We pride ourselves on being a team of passionate, low-ego professionals who share a commitment to engineering excellence and a genuine concern for the people and AI agents we deliver. Vannevar is a company that truly cares about its people and one of our core principles is "put your wellbeing first".
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Vannevar Offices
Remote Workspace
Employees work remotely.
We are distributed across the map, but united by the mission. We go where the mission takes us and deliver where others can’t. Honolulu, Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C., New York. You decide what's next.
