Senior Forward Deployed Engineer
Second Front Systems1 month ago
Remote, United StatesSenior
Base Salary
$160k - $200k/yr
Responsibilities
- Own end-to-end technical delivery for complex government and defense engagements across classified networks, DDIL environments, IL2–IL6, and JWICS.
- Architect, deploy, harden, and sustain Game Warden and integrated customer workloads across cloud and on-premises environments.
- Act as the senior technical escalation point and primary client-facing authority for customer stakeholders.
- Lead and mentor Forward Deployed and DevSecOps Engineers, review designs, and establish scalable technical standards and playbooks.
- Deploy and secure Kubernetes-based Zero Trust infrastructure using Talos Linux, Docker, Istio, GitLab, Helm, and Terraform.
- Translate deployment experience and customer challenges into engineering and product roadmap priorities.
- Drive accreditation and continuous ATO outcomes, including evidence validation, remediation, configuration management, and audit support.
- Respond to critical failures in real time and support penetration-test remediation, incident response, and Day 2 operations.
Requirements
- 7–10 years of experience in systems deployment, DevSecOps, or platform engineering in regulated or classified government environments.
- Demonstrated ownership of complex, mission-critical deployments and customer-facing technical leadership.
- Hands-on experience with AWS GovCloud or Commercial, Microsoft Azure Government, Google Cloud, and infrastructure-as-code such as Terraform or CloudFormation.
- Expertise securing Kubernetes, OpenShift, or equivalent container platforms, including image hardening, admission controls, network policies, and runtime security.
- Experience implementing observability and incident-response stacks such as ELK, Splunk, Prometheus, and Grafana.
- Expert-level Linux server administration, including Talos Linux and Red Hat, plus Kubernetes deployment across cloud platforms and varied compute hardware.
- Strong scripting and automation skills in Go, Rust, Python, or Bash, with experience building internal tooling.
- Active DoD Top Secret/SCI clearance or eligibility, with active clearance strongly preferred.
- U.S. citizenship required.
- Experience mentoring engineers, leading design reviews, or serving as a technical lead is required or preferred.
Benefits
- Full-time position with virtual work available while residing near an approved hiring hub in the DC/Maryland/Virginia, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, Denver/Colorado Springs, or Dallas/Fort Worth areas.
- Travel to Rome, New York is required.
- 100% healthcare, vision, and dental coverage.
- 401(k) with a 3% company contribution.
- Wellness perks, including fitness classes and mental health resources.
- Equity incentive plan, tech and office supplies stipend, and annual professional development stipend.
- Flexible paid time off, federal holidays off, and parental leave.
- Referral bonus.
Tech Stack
Categories
Forward Deployed
About Second Front Systems
Second Front Systems builds a SaaS/PaaS platform that streamlines software accreditation, hosting, and continuous delivery on government and classified networks, helping vendors achieve ATO and FedRAMP/DoD IL compliance. It sells to U.S. defense and civilian agencies and to commercial ISVs entering regulated markets, supporting environments used by the DoD, UK Ministry of Defence, and NATO. The company is privately held and headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.