Principal Forward Deployed Engineer

VIQU IT; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 129,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Morela is seeking a Principal Forward Deployed Engineer for a London-based contract role. You will own the technical relationship with defence and government customers, deploying and accrediting a GCP-native AI platform across diverse environments, from Kubernetes to air-gapped networks.

You will write production code when needed and engage senior stakeholders with a pragmatic, high-ownership delivery mindset. Requires active DV clearance and hands-on leadership.

Qualifications

• Active DV clearance required.
• Architected and scaled complex products from scratch; hands-on.
• Strong GCP expertise: Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, IAM, networking, Workload Identity Federation.
• Experience with Terraform, GitLab CI/CD, Docker and container orchestration.
• Deploying across Kubernetes, OpenShift, VMs, bare metal, on-premises and sovereign cloud.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical workshops, demos and discussions with senior MOD, engineering and security stakeholders.
• Own delivery end to end: requirements, planning, deployment, troubleshooting and handover.
• Adapt the platform's GCP architecture to customer infrastructure, including air-gapped environments.
• Integrate the platform with customer data sources, APIs and systems.
• Own test strategy, accreditation support and technical documentation for customers.

Skills

DV clearance

Hands-on architect

Technical leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Tools

Terraform

GitLab CI/CD

Docker

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Cloud Run

Cloud SQL

Job description

Principal Forward Deployed Engineer
Contract | Outside IR35 | London, Hybrid | DV Cleared

This is a contract role, 6 months with a view to extend, Outside IR35, with the day rate to be confirmed. It is hybrid, with 2 to 3 days a week on site in London plus travel to customer sites, requires active DV clearance, and starts ASAP.

About the Client

Morela is proud to be supporting a fast-growing, venture-backed UK AI company building sovereign AI for defence, government and other highly regulated sectors. Their core product is an AI operating system built for secure, air-gapped environments. The client's identity will be shared on introduction.

The Role

You will own the technical relationship with the client's defence and government customers, taking a GCP-native product and getting it deployed, integrated, tested and accredited in whatever environment the customer runs, from Kubernetes and OpenShift to bare metal and air-gapped networks. From the first workshop with a security authority through to acceptance and handover, it's yours. It suits a former technical founder or Principal Engineer who still writes code and is comfortable working independently with senior MOD stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical workshops, demos and discussions with senior MOD, engineering and security stakeholders


• Own delivery end to end, from requirements and planning through deployment, troubleshooting and handover


• Adapt the platform's GCP architecture to each customer's infrastructure, including restricted and air-gapped environments


• Integrate the platform with customer data sources, APIs and systems


• Own test strategy, acceptance and the technical documentation customers and accreditors need


• Lead technical assurance, including architecture reviews, threat modelling and accreditation support


• Write production code where delivery needs it and feed field insight back to engineering

Essential Requirements

• Active DV clearance


• Has personally architected, built and scaled complex products from scratch, and is still hands-on


• Strong GCP (Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, IAM, networking, Workload Identity Federation)


• Terraform, GitLab CI/CD, Docker and container orchestration


• Deploying across Kubernetes, OpenShift, VMs, bare metal, on-premises and sovereign cloud


• Full stack: TypeScript, Node.js, React, Next.js, PostgreSQL


• Security engineering, test strategy and accreditation-grade documentation


• Confident leading technical engagements with senior stakeholders, with a pragmatic, high-ownership delivery mindset

Desirable Experience

• MOD or defence delivery, including air-gapped or classified environments


• Familiarity with MOD standards, information assurance and accreditation


• AI/LLM engineering, including agentic workflows and evaluation


• Data engineering and integration with complex customer data


• AWS or Azure, GPU workloads or on-premise model serving

Working Environment

Some work takes place in secure facilities without personal devices or internet access. You will be part of a small, senior team working at the front line of sovereign AI in defence.