Systems Engineer (Forward Deployed)

Systems Engineer (Forward Deployed)
About Anvil
Anvil is a trusted partner in the defence industry, delivering cutting-edge solutions that enhance military capabilities and operational effectiveness. We extend our expertise to public safety, law enforcement, and national security organizations, accelerating mission-critical decision-making through analytical tools, automations, and game-changing machine learning capabilities. ANVIL helps organizations discover, manage, enrich, fuse, and exploit the information available to them in support of Information Dominance and Decision Advantage.
Job Type: Full Time (Ottawa / Hybrid / up to 30% Travel)
Total Compensation: CAD $140,000 - $180,000 - Placement within range based on experience and qualifications
Vacancy Status: This posting is for an existing vacancy at Anvil. We are actively hiring for this role
The Role
We are seeking a versatile Systems Engineer to join our team, focused on delivering mission-critical software to our defence, public safety, and national security customers. You will install, configure, and deploy our software on secure, government-operated infrastructure, and design the integrations and data pipelines that connect our platform to the systems our customers depend on. This role owns both sides of the deployment lifecycle - the infrastructure it runs on and the data flowing through it.
Working closely with defence contractors, military personnel, and technical authorities, you will architect and deploy foundational infrastructure, implement secure containerized deployments, build integration pipelines, and stand up reliable production systems end to end. You will own the technical deployment process for our professional services team, from setting strategy through validating functionality, catching issues early, and keeping documentation current.
At Anvil, we are fundamentally in the relationship business. Technical excellence is table stakes. What sets our team apart is the ability to build trust with customers, communicate with clarity and confidence, and represent Anvil with professionalism in every interaction. Exceptional customer-facing communication skills are not a nice-to-have in this role; they are essential to your success and to ours.
This is a full-time position based in Ottawa with up to 30% travel (domestic and international). Candidates must either possess or be eligible to obtain a Government of Canada Top Secret security clearance.
Required Qualifications
Security Clearance
Eligible for Government of Canada Top Secret security clearance
Experience
Minimum of 4+ years of software deployment, infrastructure, or systems integration experience, preferably in defence or related industry
A minimum of 2+ years of experience with containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes/OpenShift)
A minimum of 2+ years of experience with Linux server deployment and administration, or building integrations against external systems (REST APIs, message queues, streaming interfaces)
Demonstrated experience deploying, securing, or integrating production-level systems in government or enterprise environments
Demonstrated experience or strong aptitude for leading customer-facing technical discovery sessions, including requirements gathering, solution scoping, and value-driven conversations that build customer trust
Skills & Competencies
Strong knowledge of Linux server deployment, networking, logging, and troubleshooting tools (e.g., ssh, tcpdump, iproute2)
Working knowledge of Docker, Kubernetes/OpenShift, and hypervisors (e.g., KVM, VMware ESXi)
Familiarity with pipelines that ingest data from diverse sources (flat files, databases, APIs, message queues, streams)
Working understanding of TLS, HTTP/2-3, and PKI as they relate to secure deployment and data exchange
Working knowledge of IAM standards and protocols (e.g., OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SAML)
Strong analytical mindset with exceptional attention to detail
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to explain technical issues to technical and non-technical audiences
Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across development teams and customer stakeholders
Strong organizational skills; able to manage multiple deployment and integration initiatives simultaneously
Proven ability to troubleshoot complex infrastructure or data/interface issues and drive efficient resolution
Nice to Have…
Familiarity with software systems used by defence organizations such as SitaWare HQ, TAK, Esri AllSource, and others
Experience packaging, templating, and deploying applications with Helm charts for Kubernetes/OpenShift Proficiency in Python and web frameworks (e.g., Django, Flask)
Experience with message brokers and streaming platforms (e.g., Kafka, Redpanda)
Experience with data and storage technologies such as SQL, Elasticsearch, and S3
Experience deploying and monitoring machine learning models in cloud-hosted and on-premise networks
Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code and configuration management tooling for repeatable deployments
Proficiency in scripting for automation (e.g., Bash, Python) Prior experience working with or for defence, public safety, law enforcement, and national security organizations
What You’ll Do
Deployment & Integration Strategy and Planning
Partner with customers and internal teams to understand infrastructure and data requirements, and develop comprehensive deployment and integration strategies
Create and maintain detailed deployment plans, integration designs, and documentation to ensure successful implementations across all customer environments
Document deployment and integration approaches based on security assessments, data sensitivity, and regulatory requir

Employment type
Full-Time

Work arrangement
No