Backend Engineer

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

The Data Platform team is responsible for the pipelines, search, and identity systems that are foundational to Vannevar’s flagship platform and agentic workflows. The systems we build and operate define and enforce standards for data processing, storage, access, and retrieval across a growing suite of 10+ products.

You will be part of a team that builds and manages this business-critical infrastructure. In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to serve as a technical leader—shaping patterns for enterprise-grade performance, scalability, reliability, quality, and security across the broader organization.

You’ll partner closely with product engineering teams to standardize and centralize shared infrastructure, reducing duplication and improving developer velocity. You’ll also collaborate with our Information Security team to ensure our systems meet the stringent security and compliance requirements of DoD environments. Finally, you’ll have an opportunity to craft the long-term strategy for the platform, guiding architectural decisions and investments that enable the company to scale safely and sustainably.

What you’ll do

• Drive the design, implementation, and evolution of core data platform infrastructure and shared services.
• Lead mission-critical projects to build and scale foundational platform capabilities.
• Partner closely with engineers across the organization to develop and standardize data platform solutions that solve cross-product challenges.
• Collaborate with Security and Mission stakeholders to define and enforce standards for access control, data protection, and system integrity.
• Influence architecture, technology selection, and engineering standards across the company.
• Grow your engineering skills by solving complex, high-impact problems in data platform and infrastructure systems.

What we’re looking for

• You have 7+ years of hands-on experience building and operating data platform primitives (storage, retrieval, and processing pipelines) that other product teams rely on.
• You have strong system design skills and can make thoughtful tradeoffs across performance, reliability, scalability, and cost.
• You have led cross-team technical initiatives spanning multiple systems, and driven adoption through influence.
• You bring a security-first mindset and are comfortable operating in environments with high operational discipline and sensitive constraints.
• You communicate complex technical concepts clearly to a broad audience, including engineers, cross-functional partners, and end users.
• U.S. Person status is required, as this role requires access to U.S.-only data systems.

What we offer

The salary range for this position is $150,000 - $215,000 + equity + 401K match. Within the range, individual pay is determined by experience, relevant education, and/or training.

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

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 100% remote first culture. You can work from anywhere in the US and all full time employees have WeWork access
• Unlimited PTO including competitive vacation and holiday schedules
• Lifestyle stipends - Monthly mental health, wellness & fitness stipend, in-home office setup stipend and family planning assistance
• 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.