Forward Deployed Mission Engagement Lead

Forward Deployed Mission Engagement Lead
Company: Venture-backed defense AI software company (name disclosed upon mutual interest)
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota. Based locally, with about 75% travel to customer sites across the U.S.
Role Type: Full-Time Employee
Clearance: U.S. Person with an active Top Secret clearance (required)
Compensation: $165,000–$185,000 base, plus equity
About the Client
Our client builds AI-enabled software for high-stakes U.S. military and national security missions. Its software is already in operational use across the armed services, and its people (engineers and product leaders included) work forward, side by side with the units that own the mission, rather than building from a distance. The company is deliberately growing beyond the traditional defense hubs by hiring in communities where its people already live, including Minnesota.
About the Role
You will embed directly with U.S. military customers across the country as part of a mission team of engineers and other mission leads, deploying software against hard problems. You will sit alongside service members and civilian operators, and earn their trust by creating value: understanding what they are trying to do, breaking ambiguous problems into specific mission hypotheses, testing those through workflows in the product, and onboarding users when the workflows prove useful.
This is not a typical customer success, solutions, or product job. Day to day, you will set up workflows in the product, put new releases through their paces, sort out issues as they come up, and partner with product and engineering so the software works better for people in the field. Getting a configuration right can take hours and several tries in a single day. The problems are hard and the goalposts move, but the reward is seeing your work change results for real users.
You will help cultivate new user groups on site, generate wins, and turn those wins into the stories that sustain and grow deployments. For many users, you will be the face of the company. You will often work on your own on site, with support from product, engineering, and leadership. Expect time in secure or classified spaces.
Responsibilities
Get close to users. Spend time on site with military teams until you understand their mission from the inside.
Earn credibility. Win trust by learning what users struggle with and helping fix it, again and again.
Frame the problem. Split messy mission challenges into concrete workflows you can try out.
Configure workflows. Build the workflows that matter most, refining them creatively until they work.
Own release quality. Track down product bugs on fielded government systems and get them fixed with engineering.
Deliver wins. Find what works, bring users on board, and document the impact.
Expand the footprint. Get to know other teams at each site and spot new places the software can help.
Act on your own judgment. Decide what matters most on site and keep work moving without waiting to be told.
Requirements
Must-Haves
Active Top Secret clearance and U.S. Person status.
Based in Minnesota, with about 75% travel out of state to work side by side with users.
Comfort in the field and the ability to build trust with users in operational settings.
High ownership, grit, and persistence through ambiguity and iteration.
Strong mission judgment: you can tell which user problems matter and where software can help.
Technical intuition about how software systems work, break, and can be improved.
Curiosity about agentic AI and applying it to real mission problems.
A professional presence in high-stakes government settings, as a trusted technical partner rather than a vendor.
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary is $165,000 to $185,000, plus equity.
Medical, dental, and vision insurance
401(k) match
Unlimited PTO
Fully paid parental leave
Wellness and lifestyle stipends
Pay support during military reserve duty