Forward Deployed Engineer, Federal

The role

Forward Deployed Engineers embed with federal customers to ensure products work in the field. You will translate mission needs into software, prototype integrations, and provide technical support during live operations.

What you will do

• Own technical delivery of products into federal and national security customer environments
• Embed with customer teams to understand workflows, threat models, and constraints
• Configure, integrate, and tune mobile core capabilities
• Lead customer exercises, pilots, and demonstrations
• Provide direct technical support during live operations and incidents
• Write production-grade code for integrations, tooling, and one-off capabilities
• Prototype new product features in the field
• Translate customer mission requirements into engineering asks
• Advocate for customer priorities with deployment data and operator quotes
• Partner with Business Development on captures and pilots

Required qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in a software engineering or forward deployed engineering role
• Technical competency across multiple domains including coding, debugging networking issues, and systems-level tradeoffs
• Ability to scope ambiguous problems and make prioritization calls
• Excellent written and verbal communication
• High ownership and resourcefulness
• Ability to engage directly with customers to scope and deliver technical requirements
• U.S. citizenship
• Eligibility for a U.S. Top Secret security clearance
• Willingness to travel up to 50% to customer sites, military installations, and partner locations
• Washington, DC or New York-based or willing to relocate

Nice to have

• Active TS/SCI clearance
• Prior military service, government civilian experience, or roles involving communications, signals, cyber, or intelligence
• Experience in a hands-on technical role with significant customer facing responsibilities
• Background in mobile networks, telecom, networking infrastructure, or cybersecurity
• Experience as an early engineer or operator at a high-growth startup
• Experience teaching, mentoring, or onboarding technical teammates
• Track record of taking field-driven feature work into a core product roadmap

Benefits

• 401(k) match
• 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision premiums for you and your dependents
• 12 weeks paid parental leave
• Family-forming stipends
• Gender-affirming care stipends
• Unlimited PTO

Before you apply

• U.S. citizenship required
• Eligibility for a U.S. Top Secret security clearance required

About the company

Cape is America’s privacy-first mobile carrier. They built their own network from scratch to provide secure mobile services to consumers, businesses, and government agencies.