Founding Forward Deployed Engineer

Praetori builds sovereign AI software for European defence, intelligence, public security and critical-infrastructure organisations. We are looking for an engineer who will sit beside operators, understand their hardest problems, and turn them into software that holds under pressure.

About the role

This role sits at the seam between what our customers need and what Praetori builds. Requirements documents do not capture how mission-critical work actually happens. The truth lives in the operations room and the field, in the workarounds people have built around the gaps in their tools. Your job is to go there, see it, and close the gap in code.

You deploy into a customer's environment, earn the trust of the people doing the work, and become the technical partner they call first. You prototype fast, ship into real operations, and carry what you learn back to the core product.

What you'll do

• Deploy on-site with defence, intelligence, public security and critical-infrastructure customers to understand their operations in depth.
• Translate messy operational reality into clear problems, then into working software.
• Prototype quickly against real workflows and data, iterating directly with the operators who will use it.
• Ship production capabilities into live, high-consequence environments, and stand behind them.
• Integrate with the customer's existing systems and constraints, including secure and offline environments.
• Carry field insight back into the roadmap. Shape it with evidence, not opinion.

What you bring

• You can show software you shipped into real use, and explain the operational problem it solved.
• Strong, versatile engineering ability. You build end to end and move fast through unfamiliar systems.
• A record of shipping working software against ambiguous, fast-changing requirements.
• Exceptional communication with non-engineers.
• Comfort working on-site, travelling often (50%+), and operating in demanding environments.
• Right to work in the EU and eligibility for security clearance. Fluent English.

Nice to have

• Experience in a forward deployed, solutions or field engineering role.
• Background in defence, intelligence or critical infrastructure.
• Familiarity with secure, air-gapped or edge deployments.
• An additional European language.

Pay

EUR 60,000 to 100,000 gross per year, plus meaningful equity and a performance bonus.

Process

Three interviews: a 60 minute first interview, a 90 minute live technical session worked together (no take-home), and a conversation with the co-founders. Then references and EU security screening.

Full description: https://www.praetori.ai/company/careers/founding-forward-deployed-engineer