Forward Deployed AI Engineer, Defense Unicorns

• 3+ years of engineering or technical deployment experience (backend or full-stack), ideally in customer-facing or government environments (DoD, intelligence, public sector) or analogous high-assurance contexts
• Strong backend engineering skills: production-grade code in Python or TypeScript; deep familiarity with designing services, APIs, data pipelines, integrations, and backend frameworks
• Familiarity with LLMs or generative AI systems — be able to explain the fundamentals of Context Engineering and understand how model behavior connects to product/mission experience, and how AI capabilities integrate into larger system architectures
• Strong ability to work in ambiguity: define scope, sequence work, make trade-offs between speed, quality, and scope; remove blockers; deliver under pressure in dynamic mission-driven settings
• Excellent communication skills: able to translate complex technical details into clear messaging for non-technical stakeholders; work cross-functionally; build relationships with customers and internal teams
• Mission-oriented mindset. Have an understanding that our work is supporting the defense and freedom of the nation

Desirable

• Department of War builds, buys, delivers, and sustains software. We deliver secure, scalable software and AI solutions that function in cloud, on-prem, and tactical edge / air-gapped environments — making software a strategic deterrent for warfighters
• In this role you will join a team building the backbone of modern defense software delivery — helping ensure warfighters can deploy the latest capabilities rapidly, securely, and reliably
• Embed with strategic customers as a technical partner, working from problem discovery to solution implementation and customer adoption
• Architect, build, deploy, and operate agentic Generative AI systems: APIs, data processing ETL pipelines, integration layers, Retrieval Augmented Generation, and context engineering
• Work in cloud, on-prem, and edge/air-gapped environments to ensure software can run where the mission demands
• Prototype and deploy systems leveraging the core products and design patterns of the Unicorn Delivery Service (UDS); bring back insights from the field for continuous product improvement
• Scope, sequence, and lead delivery of solutions: define living roadmaps, set priorities, trade off speed vs quality vs scope, work across internal teams and customer stakeholders to drive clarity and remove blockers early
• Codify reusable patterns for mission environments: build tools, internal frameworks, playbooks so future deployments are faster, safer, and repeatable
• Act as the technical face to customer leadership: communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, build trust, manage expectations, and ensure successful scale and mission adoption. This is a customer-facing role
• Ability and interest to travel up to 25%, as needed to client sites, but flexible based on personal preferences
• As a Forward Deployed AI Engineer at Defense Unicorns, you will directly contribute to accelerating warfighter capability
• By working at the intersection of backend software engineering, secure delivery platforms, and mission-driven deployments, you’ll help deliver software updates in minutes instead of months — enabling operational advantage, agility, and freedom for the nation
• You will not just build code — you’ll deploy impact where it matters most
• What We Work On:
• Kubernetes
• Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
• Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
• Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
• GitOps
• Containers
• CNCF projects and open source products and packages
• Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
• Building and improving security delivery
• Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications