Forward Deployed Engineer, Infrastructure

At Sift, we're redefining how modern machines are built, tested, and operated. Our platform gives engineers real-time observability over high-frequency telemetry—eliminating bottlenecks and enabling faster, more reliable development.

Sift was born from our work at SpaceX on Dragon, Falcon, Starlink, and Starship—where scaling telemetry, debugging flight systems, and ensuring mission reliability demanded new infrastructure. Founded by a team from SpaceX, Google, and Palantir, Sift is built for mission-critical systems where precision and scalability are non-negotiable.

As an early engineer at Sift, you won't just write code—you'll help define the architecture, shape the product, and influence the culture of a company focused on solving real engineering problems. If you're looking for complex technical challenges and the opportunity to build foundational systems supporting complex machines from the ground up, we want to hear from you.

About the Role

The Forward Deployed Infrastructure team is responsible for maintaining our cloud, private VPC, and on-premise deployments. We have an increasing number of environments to deploy and maintain. As a Forward Deployed Engineer, Infrastructure, you'll bridge the gap between Sift's cutting-edge infrastructure capabilities and our customers' complex deployment challenges. You'll work directly with customer teams to deploy and maintain scalable, resilient infrastructure solutions while partnering with customers to understand their technical challenges and adapt Sift's deployment to meet their needs.

You will report to our Forward Deployed Engineering Lead and play a critical role in delivering infrastructure solutions that enable our customers' success with next-generation machines.

In This Role, You'll:

• Deploy and maintain scalable, resilient infrastructure solutions to support our growing platform and customer base

• Collaborate with forward deployed software engineers to optimize application performance and reliability

• Partner with customers to understand their technical challenges and adapt Sift's deployment to meet their needs

• Implement monitoring, alerting, and logging systems to ensure proactive identification and resolution of issues

• Reduce manual deployment processes and streamline infrastructure management using modern DevOps tools and methodologies

• Troubleshoot production issues, ensuring timely resolution and minimal impact on operations

• Participate in an on-call support schedule

• Build strong, trust-based relationships with customers, acting as a technical partner and advocate

The Skillset You'll Bring:

• 3+ years of relevant distributed systems experience focusing on designing and managing cloud-based (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and on-prem environments

• Hands-on experience with containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) and container orchestration platforms

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and version control systems

• Knowledge of automated testing best practices and frameworks, ensuring software reliability through integration, performance, and end-to-end testing in distributed systems

• Experience with our tech stack: AWS, Docker, Flink, Go, Java, Kubernetes, React, Redpanda, Rust, TypeScript, and Terragrunt (or equivalent technologies)

• Good knowledge of cloud, on-prem, networking, and service architecture in multi-region multi-cloud setups

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts to diverse audiences

• Strong problem-solving skills with a keen attention to detail

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, engineering, math, physics, or a STEM discipline

What We're Looking For:

• Someone who's excited by the ambiguity and high-ownership culture of early-stage startups

• An engineer who is pragmatic, solution-oriented, and scrappy

• A collaborative team player who can work effectively with customers, engineers, and go-to-market teams

• Someone comfortable interfacing directly with customers, particularly during deployment and operational support, and can communicate technical concepts clearly and professionally

• Willingness to travel up to 50%

• Willingness to obtain a U.S. security clearance

Engineering At Sift:

You'll have the opportunity to help evolve and scale our platform because we're still in the early stages of building the product. Relevant technologies include:

• Web frontend & backend: ECharts, Go, gRPC, PostgreSQL, Protobuf, Radix, React, Redux, and TypeScript

• Data: Arrow, DataFusion, Flink, Parquet, and Rust

• Infrastructure: Argo CD, AWS, Docker, GitHub Actions, Grafana, Kubernetes, Kustomize, Linux, Prometheus, and Terragrunt

Location:

The Sift team is based in El Segundo. We collaborate in person two times per week, Monday and Thursday. We work closely with hardware companies, many of which are based in LA, building everything from autonomous vehicles to spacecraft. As a customer-centric company, being nearby for site visits and collaboration is essential. Sift is open to relocating you to LA.

Salary range: $150,000 - $200,000 per year. Plus equity and benefits.

Eligibility:

US Person Required: Must be a U.S. Citizen or Green Card Holder due to ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) / EAR (Export Administration Regulations) compliance requirements.