Forward-Deployed Defense Engineer

Second Front Systems; Washington (Washington County); On-site; USD 105,000 - 141,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive Salary

Healthcare coverage

401(k) + company contribution

Equity incentive plan

Professional development stipend

Parental leave

Flexible PTO

Job summary

Second Front Systems (2F) seeks an ambitious Forward Deployed Engineer to join our mission-driven team. You will lead deployments and deliver secure, scalable solutions for government customers, collaborating with engineering, DevOps, and security to meet strict standards.

This client-facing role requires hands-on leadership, on-site work at client locations, and willingness to travel. The ideal candidate has 3–5 years in regulated environments and strong Linux/Kubernetes experience.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in systems deployment, engineering, or operations in regulated environments (government, defense).
• Proficiency in Linux server administration.
• Proficiency deploying, maintaining and working with Kubernetes.
• Experience with on-prem and cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Experience in CI/CD pipelines, version control, and automation.

Responsibilities

• Lead deployment and configuration of software solutions in secure, classified environments.
• Serve as the main technical point of contact for government clients and contractors, ensuring requirements are met and security protocols followed.
• Support the Program manager in producing and delivering technical contract CDRLs.
• Provide on-the-ground troubleshooting and hands-on support for client systems.
• Ensure deployments comply with FedRAMP, NIST, and related security standards.
• Collaborate with engineering, DevOps, and security teams to implement secure, scalable solutions.
• Maintain documentation for system configurations, troubleshooting procedures, and security compliance.
• Monitor system performance, troubleshoot issues, and suggest optimizations for efficiency.
• Be on-site at client locations for deployments, updates and troubleshooting; travel up to 50% may be required.

Skills

Linux server administration

Kubernetes

Helm charts

AWS / Azure / GCP

CI/CD pipelines

Networking basics

Scripting

Security best practices

Communication skills

On-site deployments

Tools

AWS

Talos Linux

Docker

Istio

Git

GitLab

Terraform

Relational databases

Job description

Second Front Systems (2F) seeks an ambitious Forward Deployed Engineer to join our mission-driven team. You will lead deployments and deliver secure, scalable solutions for government customers, collaborating with engineering, DevOps, and security to meet strict standards.

This client-facing role requires hands-on leadership, on-site work at client locations, and willingness to travel. The ideal candidate has 3–5 years in regulated environments and strong Linux/Kubernetes experience.