Principal Forward Deployed Engineer
Spruce Systems, Inc. · Remote · United States ·
COMPENSATION
$200k – $225k
Listed on the employer's job board (Ashby)
- Fully remote (US)
- Principal level role
- Public sector focus
- Rust, Go, Java, C#
- Travel required
You will operate at the intersection of technical delivery and strategy, guiding architecture and adoption for government partners. The position involves writing code, designing systems, and ensuring deployments achieve lasting policy and operational outcomes.
Working closely with internal teams and customer executives, you will bridge technical details with business goals. You will also mentor engineers and contribute to global identity standards while managing multi-year projects from prototyping to maintenance.
What you'll do
- Define technical strategy and architecture for public sector deployments
- Act as senior technical representative in executive customer meetings
- Lead end-to-end multi-year projects from prototyping to operations
- Architect backend systems, web apps, and mobile solutions
- Translate government requirements into standards-based solutions
- Mentor forward deployed engineers and set engineering standards
- Drive efficiencies and share knowledge across project teams
- Collaborate with platform teams to influence product roadmap
What you'll need
- 8+ years building production software in statically typed languages
- Experience leading large-scale engineering efforts across teams
- Strong expertise in infrastructure, devops, frontend, and mobile
- Background in public sector or highly regulated industries
- Direct customer engagement experience at executive levels
- Excellent leadership, communication, and consulting skills
- Based in the US and willing to travel as needed
Nice to have
- Experience leading public sector digital transformation efforts
- Familiarity with government procurement and compliance
- Deep knowledge of digital identity and cryptography
- Experience as a Field CTO or similar strategic role
Stack
- Rust
- Go
- Java
- C#
How you'll work
- Fully remote within the United States
- Travel required to support state government partners