Senior Forward Deployed Engineer

Second Front Systems, Inc.; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 160,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive Salary

Healthcare coverage

401(k) + company contribution

Wellness perks

Equity incentive plan

Tech + office supplies stipend

Annual professional development

Flexible PTO + federal holidays off

Parental leave

Virtual work near hubs

Referral Bonus

Job summary

Second Front Systems, Inc. seeks a Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to lead high-impact deployments within government and defense engagements.

You will own end-to-end technical delivery, architect solutions across JWICS environments, and mentor a team of Forward Deployed and DevSecOps engineers. You will work closely with Engineering, Security/Compliance, and Product leadership to align field lessons with the product roadmap, ensuring accreditation outcomes and secure, resilient operations in

Qualifications

• 7–10 years of experience in systems deployment in regulated/classified government environments.
• Active DoD Top Secret/SCI clearance (or eligibility; active clearance preferred).
• Hands-on experience with multi-cloud government infrastructure and JWICS environments.
• Proficient in Go, Rust, Python, or Bash for automation.
• Strong leadership, mentoring, and customer-facing technical leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end technical delivery for government and defense engagements across IL2–IL6, including JWICS environments.
• Serve as senior escalation point and primary client-facing authority; make on-site architectural and risk decisions.
• Lead and mentor Forward Deployed and DevSecOps Engineers; establish technical standards and playbooks.
• Deploy and harden secure Kubernetes-based infrastructure (Talos Linux, Docker, Istio, GitLab, Helm, Terraform).
• Translate field experience into product and platform improvements; influence roadmap decisions.
• Drive accreditation and cATO activities with RMF, NIST 800-53, and FedRAMP, addressing findings from assessments.
• Maintain configuration management, security documentation, and audit-ready evidence across engagements.
• Travel to client sites for deployments, updates, and operational exercises.

Skills

Field deployment experience

Government/classified deployments

Leadership

Go/Rust/Python scripting

Kubernetes security

Terraform/CloudFormation

Talos Linux

Docker

Istio

GitLab

Helm

Terraform

JWICS

Tools

Talos Linux

Docker

Istio

GitLab

Helm

Terraform

JWICS

Job description

• Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC

Second Front Systems is looking for a senior technical leader with field deployment experience Senior Forward Deployed Engineer to strengthen our Federal Sales engineering organization.

Operating at customer sites ranging from connected networks to classified SCIFs with DDIL constraints, you will be responsible for owning technical relationships for high-visibility defense and intelligence community missions, leading deployments into denied environments, and mentoring forward deployed engineers across the bench.

You will set architectural direction for Game Warden integration into customer networks, resolve mission-critical issues in zero-connectivity scenarios, and translate field realities into product roadmap priorities, ensuring that 2F's most sensitive engagements deliver on technical commitments and customers achieve operational objectives.

We need someone capable of managing complex deployments in classified environments with full accountability for technical outcomes, diagnosing and resolving critical failures in real-time without escalation paths or external dependencies, and mentoring junior engineers and establishing technical standards that scale across customer engagements.

As a key partner to engineering, Security/Compliance, and Product leadership, you will feed customer operational challenges and platform gaps directly into development priorities, ensure 2F's platform serves warfighter needs, serving as the senior technical authority for 2F's most demanding customer relationships.

Note: Candidates must reside in one of our approved hiring hubs:

• DC/Maryland/Virginia
• Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC
• Denver/Colorado Springs, CO
• Dallas/Fort Worth, TX

What You'll Do

• Own end-to-end technical delivery for 2F's highest-complexity government and defense engagements — architecting, deploying, and sustaining Game Warden and integrated customer workloads across classified networks, DDIL environments, and multiple Impact Levels (IL2–IL6) and JWICS.
• Serve as the senior technical escalation point and primary client-facing authority, representing 2F to senior customer stakeholders (program managers, ISSOs/ISSMs, mission owners) and making real-time architectural and risk-tradeoff decisions on-site.
• Lead and mentor other Forward Deployed and DevSecOps Engineers — setting technical standards, reviewing designs, and building the playbooks that let the team scale to new missions faster.
• Deploy and harden secure Kubernetes-based infrastructure (Talos Linux, Docker, Istio, GitLab, Helm, Terraform) to sustain a Zero Trust (ZT) environment across customer cloud and on prem environments.
• Translate field experience into product and platform improvements, working directly with Engineering and Product leadership to prioritize the roadmap based on real deployment friction.
• Drive accreditation and continuous ATO (cATO) outcomes in partnership with the security/compliance team — producing and validating evidence against NIST 800-53, RMF, STIGs, and FedRAMP controls, and owning remediation of findings from 3PAO assessments and penetration tests.
• Maintain rigorous configuration management, security documentation, and audit-ready evidence across all engagements, and supporting the 2F team in customer security reviews and audits.
• Travel to client locations as needed for complex system deployments, updates and troubleshooting during high impact operational exercises, integration and training events.

What You Bring

• 7-10 years of experience in systems deployment, DevSecOps, or platform engineering in regulated/classified government environments, including demonstrated ownership of complex, mission-critical deployments (not just support/execution).
• Multi-cloud, government-authorized infrastructure: Hands-on experience deploying and hardening workloads across AWS GovCloud/Commercial, Microsoft Azure Government, and Google Cloud, including Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or equivalent) tailored to DoD Impact Level 2–6 and JWICS environments.
• Container & orchestration security: Expertise securing Kubernetes/OpenShift or equivalent container platforms — image hardening, admission controls, network policies, and runtime security — within accredited enclaves.
• Observability & incident response: Skilled in implementing logging, monitoring, and alerting stacks (ELK, Splunk, Prometheus/Grafana) to support 24/7 incident response, penetration test remediation, and Day 2 operations.
• Expert level proficiency in Linux (Talos, RedHat) server administration, along with deploying and maintaining Kubernetes on cloud platforms and disparate compute hardware.
• Demonstrated leadership: experience mentoring engineers, leading technical design reviews, or acting as a technical lead on customer-facing engagements.
• Strong scripting/automation ability in Go, Rust, Python, or Bash, with a track record of building internal tooling to remove manual toil from security and operations workflows.
• Active DoD Top Secret/SCI clearance (or eligibility, with active clearance strongly preferred); U.S. citizenship required.

Preferred

The base salary for this position will fall between $160,000 and $200,000. Your ultimate compensation will be determined by professional background, technical proficiency, seniority, and regional cost factors. Furthermore, this opportunity includes potential eligibility for equity awards and discretionary bonuses, rounding out a comprehensive total rewards offering.

Success at 2F Looks Like

• Viewing obstacles as opportunities for growth
• Having a bias toward action and tangible, measurable results
• Striving to be both compassionate and direct with your feedback
• Being team-oriented and inclusive with your action

Perks & Benefits

This role is a full time position. As a public benefit corporation, we’re a team of purpose-driven trailblazers transforming the future of U.S. national security. We hire the best to do their best and, as such, we are committed to providing the perks and benefits you need to be successful—both in- and outside the workplace.

• Competitive Salary
• 100% Healthcare, vision and dental coverage
• 401(k) + 3% company contribution
• Wellness perks (Fitness classes, mental health resources)
• Equity incentive plan
• Tech + office supplies stipend
• Annual professional development stipend
• Flexible paid time off + federal holidays off
• Parental leave
• Virtual work, but located near one of our hubs
• Referral Bonus

Who We Are

At Second Front Systems (2F), we empower defense and national security professionals to stay ahead in the ongoing race to leverage emerging technologies effectively and securely. Founded by three former U.S. Marines with firsthand experience of the dangers outdated technology poses in combat, our team is dedicated to fast-tracking government access to disruptive, commercially-proven technology for U.S. national security missions.

Our Game Warden product, a fully managed and compliant DevSecOps platform, accelerates the process for accrediting software as a service (SaaS) applications for government use.

Learn how 2F can help you make an impact on national security missions at www.secondfront.com

One last thing

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

State notices

Colorado:

In accordance with Colorado law, applicants may redact their date of birth, dates of attendance, and dates of graduation from any uploaded documents.

Maryland:

Under Maryland law, an employer may not require or demand, as a condition of employment, prospective employment, or continued employment, that an individual submit to or take a polygraph examination or similar test. An employer who violates this law is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine not exceeding $100.

Compensation Range: $160K - $200K