Head of Forward Deployed Engineering

Job description

ABOUT CAPE Cape is America’s privacy-first mobile carrier. Our mission is to be a force for good in global wireless. Cape was founded in 2022 by people who believe privacy is a fundamental right, not a luxury to be traded away. Our journey began when our founder recognized a critical vulnerability in our modern world: everyone relies on the same stagnant cellular infrastructure and legacy systems that track our every movement, monitor and profile our connections, and lose and sell our personal data. Instead of accepting the status quo, we decided to fix it. National security professionals, journalists, parents, and everyone in between can stay connected and have privacy. We didn’t just build a layer on top of old tech; we built America’s most private and secure mobile carrier from the ground up. By building our own network from scratch, we are able to design and build a suite of privacy and security features that no other carrier on the planet can offer. Today, Cape provides our secure network to consumers, businesses, and government agencies alike. We closed our Series C in March 2026, and we are scaling rapidly, with the goal of giving people back control of their most personal information. THE TEAM At Cape, we are the architects of a privacy-centric movement that is just getting started. We are relentless builders, constantly innovating at the edge of what's possible in telecommunications. We operate on a foundation of high trust and high expectations. Our structure is flat, and collaboration matters more than hierarchy. As a member of our team, you will collaborate with world-class engineers, architects, and visionaries, and work across organizational lines to solve "impossible" problems and deliver mission-critical results for our users every single day. THE PROBLEM The commercial cellular network represents trillions of dollars in private investment worldwide. It is performant, highly available, near ubiquitous, and the spec is mature and well understood. It’s the perfect transport layer for government use cases, if only they could trust the network. But they cannot: that infrastructure is easily disrupted and surveilled, and existing solutions are typically clunky, proprietary, and fail at the first sign of a contested RF environment. Cape started at first principles to build a secure network architecture that operates through assumed compromised physical infrastructure. Now we need to solve operational capabilities at scale. How do we provide security-first, resilient communications for operators at the tactical edge? How do we ensure connectivity without compromise when the backhaul is being actively jammed, intercepted, or physically severed? We are moving from validated technology to mission-critical infrastructure that works in contested environments when failure is not an option. Leading this team of engineers is a high stakes, critical role and will be deeply rewarding for the right person. THE ROLE Cape’s platform gives customers end-to-end control of their digital identity, even as they connect to untrusted networks, optimizing for resiliency, privacy, and security at every turn. As the Head of Federal Engineering, you will gain rare insight into the world’s most challenging environments. You will own the technical execution of the federal business, partnering with Business Development and Product to bridge the gap between our core technology and the specific, demanding requirements of our government partners. You will cultivate a high-performing technical team, providing the mentorship needed to deliver outcomes in highly regulated spaces. Your charge is to grow the business and empower your engineers to work autonomously in remote locations, making great technical decisions to build the most overlooked yet critical components of modern Command and Control (C2)--the transport layer. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES - Architect and execute the technical vision for our federal engineering organization, building the secure, resilient, and scalable network and platform that our nation's most critical missions depend on. Your leadership will directly translate our privacy-first ethos into capabilities that protect and empower those in public service. - Lead, mentor, and inspire a world-class team of engineers dedicated to solving the nation's toughest Command and Control challenges. You will foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and unwavering integrity, empowering your team to deliver solutions that meet the highest standards of excellence and impact. - Serve as the key technical partner to our federal customers, translating their complex mission requirements into tangible, deployed solutions. You will build and nurture deep relationships, ensuring that we are not just a vendor, but a trusted partner in advancing national security and public trust. - Take complete ownership and serve as the technical owner for our federal customers. You will ensure that our engineering practices, security protocols, and delivery timelines set a new standard for what is possible in government technology. - Steer our engagement with the unique challenges and opportunities of the federal landscape. You will be the bridge between our core technology and the specific, demanding requirements of our government partners, ensuring our solutions are always at the vanguard of innovation and mission-ready. WHAT WE VALUE - Proven ability to learn continuously, work independently, and make decisions with minimal supervision. - A belief that the best leaders empower their teams to achieve the impossible. You are a mentor and a force-multiplier, dedicated to growing the next generation of engineering leaders and fostering a culture where every individual can do their best work in service of the mission. - The ability to take a thoughtful, practical approach to problem-solving that considers tradeoffs and avoids over-engineering. - Skill and comfort working in a constantly evolving environment with dynamic objectives and iteration with users. - The ability to work collaboratively in teams of technical and non-technical individuals and understand how technical decisions impact the customer. - Understanding of cryptographic systems and how to design privacy conscious solutions. - The ability to learn new technology and concepts, even without in-depth experience. - The ability to balance a forward-looking vision with the concrete realities of government requirements and constraints. You find creative yet practical paths to deploy modern technology within highly regulated environments, ensuring solutions are not just innovative, but also accreditable and effective. - You are more than a technical leader; you are a diplomat and a strategist. You excel at building strong, collaborative relationships with government partners and internal stakeholders, translating mission needs into technical reality with clarity and conviction. WHAT WE REQUIRE - Engineering background in Computer Science, Mathematics, Computer Engineering, Physics or similar field. - Demonstrated success leading engineering teams that have built, deployed, and sustained software solutions for U.S. government, defense, or intelligence community customers. - Understanding of modern software architecture, particularly for secure, scalable, and distributed systems. Experience with both cloud (e.g., AWS GovCloud, Azure Government) as well as air-gapped environments, and familiarity with federal security compliance standards (e.g., FedRAMP, RMF, STIGs) is helpful. - Proven ability to define a technical strategy and execute against it, aligning engineering efforts with both customer mission objectives and broader business goals. - The ability to articulate complex technical concepts with authority and clarity to a wide range of audiences, from your own engineers to senior government officials and non-technical stakeholders. - An active U.S. Top Secret (TS) security clearance is strongly preferred. At a minimum, you must have the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance. We offer competitive compensation that is geo-adjusted based on your location, along with meaningful equity so you share in the value you help create. Salary range for this role in New York, New York is $200,000-$275,000 depending on experience and interview performance. Our benefits include: - 401(k) match - 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision premiums for you and your dependents - 12 weeks paid parental leave (for all parents, no waiting period) - Stipends for - Family-forming needs - Gender-affirming care OUR CULTURE & VALUES - We hire excellent people, give them outsized responsibility, and trust them to execute. Every person at Cape has a proven track record of tackling hard problems and winning. - We believe that personal privacy and national security are not at odds, and that they can be reconciled through strong technology. - We believe companies exist to build awesome things and take care of the people who build them, so we offer top-tier healthcare, 401(k) matching, and a generous vacation policy that our team actually uses to recharge. - We believe that a stronger company and a better product are built by people from all walks of life. We hire without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, disability, or Veteran status. If you are great at what you do, you belong here. HOW TO APPLY Click the link below to apply. We reserve the right to make use of any unsolicited resumes received from outside recruiting agencies and / or individual recruiters without being responsible for payment of any fees asserted from the use of unsolicited resumes. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, and without regard to disability or status as a protected veteran, or any other status protected by law.