Forward Deployed Engineer

About Us Our mission is to bring state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to the tactical edge, enabling the American warfighter to make better decisions faster, to synthesize and understand diverse streams of data, and to work directly with robotic platforms using natural language. We’re researchers, and we perform the full stack of model training, conducting thousands of experiments in order to improve our models. We’re also machine learning engineers, and we bring productized AI directly to the end user. By placing AI models at the tactical edge, the warfighter is empowered with the world’s best AI, even in the most harsh and extreme conditions. Moreover, interactions with the EdgeRunner system are secure by nature, because the data never needs to leave the device. Whether it’s on a laptop, a TAK device, a robotic platform, or in a field-forward location, we achieve frontier-level task performance by specializing each model for the warfighter’s MOS/AFSC and platform-specific needs and by performing aggressive and proprietary quantization, distillation, and compression. Our passion is to build nothing short of the world’s best AI for the edge.

About the Role As a Forward Deployed Engineer, you will be a field "CTO" for key customer engagements and projects. You will work closely with our core engineering, research, and business development teams, directly supporting customers critical to our national security. You’ll own the prototyping, development, and deployment of software solutions that support specific customer needs. You will travel to meet with customers on-site for prototyping, scoping, and implementing new solutions. You will work closely with our engineers, researchers, product leaders, and former military officers to build solutions that increase our chance of winning the fight using AI. Strong candidates will have experience performing experimentation in one or more of the following areas:

• 5+ years of experience building and deploying production software, including desktop applications and/or containerized services

• Experience packaging and distributing desktop software onto government-managed endpoints; experience shipping AI-enabled desktop applications that run locally on edge devices (e.g. laptops and field hardware in limited-connectivity or offline settings) is a plus

• Experience deploying containerized applications (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes, Helm) into government systems and networks (e.g. Iron Bank, Platform One, or IL4/IL5/IL6 environments); experience with GPU-enabled containers (e.g. NVIDIA Container Toolkit, GPU Operator) is a plus

• Familiarity with Large Language Models and agentic workflows, including how they’re served, integrated with tools, and evaluated in real-world use

• Experience developing and deploying software compliant with DoD Risk Management Framework (RMF)

• Experience interfacing with government owned IT systems (for example, data platforms, IdAM providers, SIEM, CDSs, etc)

• Experience working with government IT and PEOs to scope technical requirements, architecture, and integrations

• Experience working with end users to scope user requirements, conduct user testing, and gain product feedback

• Excellent communication and teamwork skills

Candidates must be eligible to receive a TS/SCI clearance, and strong candidates will have an active clearance. Under federal law, U.S. citizenship is required to obtain a security clearance. Travel required up to 50% of time to meet with customers and deliver capabilities. EdgeRunner AI is a Series-A startup, and we move quickly. Preference will be given to candidates who have a track record of taking the initiative, who can understand how business objectives translate into technical solutions, who can interact with customers, and who are comfortable with ambiguity. Though we work as a team, every researcher is a self-starter, a project owner, and can operate independently when needed. We offer competitive salary, equity, and benefits, with individual pay determined by experience, relevant education, and/or training. Benefits include:

• 100% covered health, dental, and vision for employees; 50% for dependents

• 100% remote first culture; you can work from anywhere in the US full-time

• 401K program

• Unlimited PTO

• IT stipend for purchasing new equipment

EdgeRunner AI is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status. Even if you don’t perfectly match our job description and requirements, please still apply if you are passionate about our mission and this technology.