Forward Deployed Engineer
About this role
Spektrum have a wide range of exciting opportunities in several global locations. We are always looking to add great new talent to our team and look forward to hearing from you.
Spektrum supports apex purchasers (NATO, UN, EU, and National Government and Defence) and their Tier 1 supplier ecosystem with a wide range of specialist services. We provide our clients with professional services, specialised aerospace and defence sales, delivery, and operational subject matter expertise. We are looking for personnel to join our team and support key client projects.
Who we are supporting
At Spektrum, we support a wide range of NATO organizations and programmes by providing highly skilled professionals across defence, security, digital transformation, engineering, and information technology. Our teams contribute to projects that strengthen the Alliance's operational readiness, enhance interoperability between member nations, and enable the delivery of critical capabilities across land, air, maritime, cyber, and space domains.
For this opportunity, our client is a private technology company that delivers advanced IT and engineering services in support of NATO programmes. Working alongside NATO stakeholders, the company provides technical expertise, software development, systems integration, and digital solutions that help modernize and sustain mission-critical capabilities. As part of this project, consultants will contribute to the development and support of technologies that underpin NATO's operational effectiveness and long-term digital transformation.
Role ID – DM-001
Role Background
The Forward Deployed Engineer works at the intersection of advanced
technology and customer operations, delivering real-time intelligence
solutions for defence, national security, and NATO environments. The role
is responsible for designing, deploying, and supporting end-to-end
solutions built on Palantir Foundry, integrating real-time intelligence
with operational data to improve situational awareness and decision-
making. The engineer works closely with customer stakeholders,
providing technical expertise while ensuring solutions are reliable,
scalable, and mission-ready.
Role Duties and Responsibilities
- Work directly with defence and security stakeholders to understand
- operational requirements and develop technical solutions.
- Design, develop, and deploy solutions using Palantir Foundry.
- Build and maintain data pipelines, ontology models, and user-facing
- applications.
- Integrate real-time intelligence into customer workflows, command-and-control systems, and common operating pictures.
- Develop and customise widgets and applications to support customer operational needs.
- Take ownership of solutions throughout the full project lifecycle, from design through deployment and operational support.
- Troubleshoot and resolve infrastructure, networking, application, and integration issues.
- Work in secure, restricted, disconnected, or on-premises environments as required.
- Act as a trusted technical advisor to customer engineers and operational users.
- Gather customer feedback and contribute to continuous product and solution improvements.
- Collaborate with cross-functional technical and non-technical teams.
- Travel to NATO sites, customer facilities, and operational locations across Europe as required.
Essential Skills, Experience and Certifications
Skills
- Strong software engineering and solution design skills.
- Expertise with Palantir Foundry, including:
o Data Pipelines
o Ontology
o Compute Modules
o Code Repositories
o Workbooks
o Application Development - Programming experience in one or more of:
o Python
o Java
o SQL
o TypeScript/JavaScript
o Bash
o Go - Linux administration and troubleshooting.
- Networking fundamentals.
- Container technologies including Docker or Podman.
- Container orchestration using Kubernetes or OpenShift.
- System integration and application deployment.
- Infrastructure troubleshooting across networking, infrastructure, and application layers.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Strong stakeholder management and customer engagement skills.
Experience
- Minimum 3 years' professional experience in Software
- Engineering, Forward Deployed Engineering, or Solutions Engineering.
- Hands-on experience developing production solutions using Palantir Foundry.
- Experience designing and implementing data pipelines and operational applications.
- Experience integrating enterprise platforms and operational data sources.
- Experience deploying and supporting production systems.
- Experience working in secure, on-premises, or restricted environments.
- Experience collaborating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Ability to work in fast-paced, mission-critical environments.
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering,
- Mathematics, Physics, or another related technical discipline.
Desirable
- Experience deploying software in classified, air-gapped, or disconnected environments.
- Defence, intelligence, national security, or emergency management experience.
- Experience with geospatial platforms such as Esri or ArcGIS.
- Experience with command-and-control systems.
- Experience developing front-end applications and data-rich user interfaces.
- Understanding of NATO or national defence environments, accreditation processes, and compliance requirements.
- Proficiency in an additional European language.
- Working Location
- Primary Location: NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium.
- On-site attendance is required unless otherwise agreed.
- Regular travel to NATO sites, operations centres, and customer locations across Europe.
- Estimated travel requirement: 25%–75%.
Working Policy
- Employment Type: Contract
- Working Days: Monday to Friday
- Working Hours: 09:00 – 17:00 (8-hour day with a 1-hour unpaid lunch break)
- Primarily on-site with customer and NATO facilities.
- Travel across Europe as required for customer engagements.
- Travel to customer sites is reimbursed when pre-approved in accordance with company travel policies.D
- Daily commuting to the primary work location is the contractor's responsibility.
- Must hold an active NATO Secret security clearance before the start of the engagement.
- Must comply with all applicable NATO and customer security policies and procedures.
Start date: ASAP
Travel
- Some travel to other NATO sites may be required
- Valid National or NATO Secret personal security clearance
We never know what new opportunities might be just over the horizon. If this opportunity isn't for you, please feel free to send us your resume anyway and be the first to know if something suitable for your skills and experience comes up.