Software Engineer, Backend (Platform)

Vannevar is a defense technology company building AI to deter our adversaries. In the 21st century, conflict moves at algorithmic speed and foresight equals firepower. Our agentic AI is purpose-built to compete with China—from cross-Strait conflict to gray zone coercion. Trained on the most mission-relevant datasets in defense, our technology models adversary behavior, simulates campaigns, and recommends the best course of action to decision makers. Our AI systems are some of the most trusted in the industry and actively used on the front lines of the Indo-Pacific to keep the peace and save lives.

Exceptional technology starts with exceptional people. Vannevar is a small agile team combining world-class engineers with veteran strategists who bring deep expertise in defense and tradecraft. We’re building a company defined by mission impact, user empathy, and disciplined growth. In just three years, we grew from $3M to $80M in ARR, achieved early profitability, and reached unicorn status—proving that disruption doesn’t require an ego, and staying power doesn’t mean standing still.

About the role

We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to build and refine our data collection and processing applications. You’ll be in charge of scraping the web for mission critical data and then building out pipelines for those data. We also do something common in Silicon Valley tech companies but radical in the defense space: we develop and test products side-by-side with our users, including on US military bases and remote locations abroad. Our engineering culture is about empathizing with users and building software products that deliver maximum mission impact.

Your decisions today will have a large impact on the company today and into the future. We believe that simple systems are easier to understand, maintain, and scale - we prefer pragmatic, product-centric solutions.

You are innovative: willing to take risks, think critically about novel solutions, and advocate for your ideas while seeking feedback and collaboration. You will be making trade-offs as you work to ensure that our systems are prepared to scale — being able to effectively communicate these trade-offs with your teammates is a must.

What you’ll do

• Develop innovative solutions collecting data from various online sources

• Work side-by-side with our mission team and product managers to ideate software solutions

• Design client-side and server-side architecture

• Develop and manage well-functioning databases and applications

• Write effective APIs

• Test software to ensure responsiveness and efficiency

• Write technical documentation

• Collaborate with analysts to improve software

You might be a fit if you

• 4+ years as a Backend Engineer or similar role

• Experience with Python

• Familiarity with relational databases

• Excellent communication and teamwork skills

• Experience scraping data or a strong desire to learn

• U.S. Person status is required as this position will require the ability to access U.S. only data systems with the ability to obtain security clearance

Nice to haves

• Experience with AWS

• Experience with ElasticSearch

• Experience with Docker

• Experiences with caching databases (e.g. Redis)

What we look for

• Grit and creativity to keep going when faced with a roadblock.

• Success in working problems to conclusion and trying different approaches until one works.

• Ability to work autonomously.

• Demonstrated bias towards achieving an outcome even if it requires helping or doing the job of someone else on another team.

• Active TS / SCI Clearance is a plus but not needed

What we offer

We’re proud to offer competitive benefits that support our employees. Some key highlights of our benefits package include:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance

• Remote friendly with WeWork access

• Unlimited PTO, shared downtime during the federal holiday calendar, and company-wide off time at the end of each year

• 401(k) match

• Lifestyle & wellbeing stipends

• Salary top-up during military reserve duty

• Fully paid parental leave

• Child and pet care reimbursement during travel

Vannevar 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.

We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply, even if you don't feel like you're a perfect fit. If you're passionate about contributing to our mission, we'd love to hear from you!

IMPORTANT NOTICE
We are committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Official emails from the company will come from an @vannevarlabs.com domain. Under no circumstances will a legitimate representative from our company contact you to request passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal data. Please be vigilant of potential scams.