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Swarm Aero is building the world's largest swarming UAV systems and Command & Control software to mobilize thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets. The company is Series A-funded with a team of experienced aerospace engineers from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.
As a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, you will embed directly with U.S. government and military customers to own the technical success of C2 systems in real operational contexts. This is a full-scope engineering role where you build critical software integrations, debug complex distributed systems in the field, and contribute to core service development. You will write code across the full stack—solving customer-specific integration challenges, building monitoring solutions, and shipping improvements that directly impact warfighters and government operators.
Key responsibilities include: deploying and maintaining C2 systems across diverse hardware configurations in austere locations; debugging complex distributed systems issues using logs, network analysis, and performance monitoring; contributing to core service development with field-driven insights; supporting continuous operational environments with non-standard hours and on-call coverage; traveling domestically and internationally (up to 75%) to test sites and customer locations; and collaborating with military and government program offices to translate operational requirements into software solutions.
You should thrive on solving hard integration and deployment challenges independently, be comfortable as the most technical person in dynamic field conditions, and adapt to shifting schedules without losing rigor. This is not a pilot, flight test, or hardware-focused role—it's pure software engineering in high-stakes real-world environments.
Required: Bachelor's in Computer Science or related field; 5+ years professional software engineering; strong proficiency in Python, C/C++, Golang, or Java; solid networking fundamentals (NAT, DNS, UDP/TCP, multicast, firewalls); Linux system administration and shell scripting; proven debugging skills; excellent communication with government/military customers; willingness to travel 60%+ domestically and internationally; eligibility for U.S. Secret security clearance (active clearance preferred).
Preferred: containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and infrastructure-as-code; distributed systems, real-time systems, or robotics software background; CI/CD and deployment automation; customer-facing or technical sales engineering experience; prior defense, intelligence, or aerospace software experience; comfort in non-permissive or resource-constrained environments.
