$123K – $167KSeniorFull Time
Defense Unicorns is veteran-founded and mission-driven. The company’s vision is to advance freedom and independence globally by transforming how the U.S. Department of War builds, buys, delivers, and sustains software. We deliver secure, scalable software and AI solutions that function in cloud, on-prem, and tactical edge / air-gapped environments — making software a strategic deterrent for warfighters.
In this role you will join a team building the backbone of modern defense software delivery — helping ensure warfighters can deploy the latest capabilities rapidly, securely, and reliably.
We are seeking a skilled and adaptable Forward-Deployed Autonomy Engineer to provide direct technical support to our Peat and UDS teams operating in dynamic, field-based environments. In this role, you will be embedded alongside mission heroes during integration events, exercises, and operational demonstrations, working shoulder-to-shoulder with other engineers to ensure success.
This role requires a strong software engineering background paired with hands-on experience in autonomous systems, distributed architectures, and tactical communications. You will be a critical technical resource in the field — diagnosing issues under pressure, integrating systems across platforms, and enabling the effective deployment of robotics and drone technologies in complex, real-world environments.
You will work closely with customer engineering teams, program leads, and cross-functional internal stakeholders to ensure our autonomy solutions perform reliably and meet mission objectives.
Travel: Up to 25-50%, including domestic and international travel to customer sites, test ranges, and exercise locations.
Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience. Compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States.
Remote - USA$123,250—$166,750 USDDefense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.
We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.
Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.
Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed.
At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
