Forward Deployed Software Engineer

AI Chopping Block; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 200,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Harmattan AI is seeking a Forward Deployed Software Engineer in Abu Dhabi to design and build mission-critical defense software. You will translate real-world military requirements into deployed solutions, owning the full lifecycle from architecture to deployment, often under tight timelines.

You will work closely with partner teams and end users, deploying on site, collecting operator feedback, and iterating quickly. Travel to sites worldwide will be frequent.

Qualifications

• 4+ years building and shipping production software in Python and at least one lower-level language.
• Experience defining end-to-end systems and deploying solutions.
• Own software end-to-end — design, build, debug, deploy — including on Linux in field conditions.
• Confidently communicate with client technical teams and senior stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel frequently on site with partners, domestically and internationally.

Responsibilities

• Design and build software applications that solve specific operational problems for our partners, owning them end-to-end from architecture through deployment.
• Take loosely defined, real-world requirements from partner militaries and organizations and turn them into working software, often on tight timelines.
• Build interfaces and connectors between our platforms and partner systems, and validate data flows end-to-end in the field.
• Deploy your solutions on site, gather feedback directly from operators, and iterate quickly based on what you see working (or not) in practice.
• Spot patterns and capabilities worth building into the core product, and work with our platform engineering team to get them there.
• Debug issues in live operational settings, drive them to resolution, and document what you learn along the way.
• Build real working relationships with client technical teams and end users so you understand their problems well enough to solve them properly.

Skills

Python

C++

Rust

Go

End-to-end software

Linux

Communication

English

Problem solving

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

About Us

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 Software Engineer, you'll spend your time writing code. You'll work with partner technical teams and end users to understand what they actually need, then design and build the solution yourself: architecture, implementation, testing, deployment. You'll be close enough to the mission to see why the problem matters, and you'll ship fast, because what you build gets used in the field almost immediately. Once a solution proves itself, you'll work with our core platform team to fold the durable parts back into the product, so your work keeps paying off beyond the deployment you built it for.

Responsibilities

• Design and build software applications that solve specific operational problems for our partners, owning them end-to-end from architecture through deployment.

• Take loosely defined, real-world requirements from partner militaries and organizations and turn them into working software, often on tight timelines.

• Build interfaces and connectors between our platforms and partner systems, and validate data flows end-to-end in the field.

• Deploy your solutions on site, gather feedback directly from operators, and iterate quickly based on what you see working (or not) in practice.

• Spot patterns and capabilities worth building into the core product, and work with our platform engineering team to get them there.

• Debug issues in live operational settings, drive them to resolution, and document what you learn along the way.

• Build real working relationships with client technical teams and end users so you understand their problems well enough to solve them properly.

Requirements

• 4+ years building and shipping production software, in Python and at least one lower-level language (C++, Rust, Go).

• A track record of defining and building end-to-end systems: projects, internships, or early-career work where you took an ambiguous problem to a working, deployed solution.

• Comfortable owning software end-to-end — design, build, debug, deploy — including on Linux, in operational or field conditions.

• Confident and clear communicating with client technical teams and senior stakeholders, with a bias to action

• Practical under constraint: ill-defined problems, tight deadlines, and a working solution over a theoretically perfect one.

• Travel: frequent on site with partners, domestic and international.

• Proficiency in English is mandatory.

Nice to have

• Prior forward-deployed, solutions engineering, or customer-facing engineering experience.

• Depth in computer vision, deep learning, mission planning, robotics, or embedded software.

• Degree from a leading engineering school.

We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.