Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.

The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.

About the Role

Most software engineers never see their code tested against reality. At Swarm Aero, that's the baseline.

We are looking for a Forward Deployed Software Engineer to embed directly with U.S. government and military customers and own the technical success of our C2 systems in the field. You will be the person who makes our software work -- not in a lab, not in a staging environment, but in real operational contexts across domestic and international deployments. Austere locations, high-stakes timelines, and complex distributed systems are the job.

This is a full-scope engineering role. You will build critical integrations, debug core services, contribute to new development, and ship solutions that warfighters and government operators depend on. If you want to write code that matters and see it run in environments most engineers never touch, this is the role.

What You'll Do

Build and own critical software integrations that bring our C2 systems to life in customer environments -- from initial deployment through production reliability across diverse hardware configurations and operational contexts

Debug complex distributed systems issues in the field, analyzing logs, network traffic, and system performance to resolve failures fast and with minimal support

Contribute to core service development alongside the engineering team, bringing field insight back into the product and shipping improvements that make a direct operational difference

Write code daily across the full stack -- solving customer-specific integration challenges, contributing to core service development, and building monitoring and reliability solutions that hold up in the field

Support continuous operational environments, including non-standard hours, on-call response, and rotational coverage aligned to mission tempo

Travel domestically and internationally (up to 60%) to test sites and customer locations -- deploying software, troubleshooting issues in the field, and feeding hard-won requirements back to engineering

Collaborate with U.S. military and government program offices on-site and remotely, translating complex operational requirements into software solutions

This Role Is For You If

You want to see your code run in high-stakes, real-world environments -- not just pass CI

You thrive on solving hard integration and deployment challenges independently, without a safety net

You're comfortable being the most technical person in the room in dynamic, unpredictable field conditions

You adapt to shifting schedules and operational demands without losing rigor or precision

This Role Is NOT

A pilot position or flight test engineer role

Primarily hands-on hardware work (electronics, wiring, mechanical assembly)

A traditional SRE or DevOps role with predictable hours and controlled environments

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field

3+ years of professional software engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated ability

Strong proficiency in at least one major programming language (Python, C/C++, Golang, or Java)

Solid understanding of networking fundamentals: NAT, DNS/mDNS, UDP/TCP protocols, multicast, and firewall configuration

Experience with Linux system administration and shell scripting

Proven debugging skills across complex software systems -- you know how to read logs, use debuggers, and trace issues systematically