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C2 Software Engineer

Forterra

Forterra

Software Engineering
Arlington, VA, USA
USD 115k-140k / year + Equity
Posted on Jan 29, 2026

About Forterra

At Forterra, we are unleashing autonomy at scale to transform the battlefield. Our mission is to build the foundational platforms that enable an intelligent ecosystem to coordinate, adapt, and execute with speed and precision even in the uncertainty and disruption of modern conflict. In an era marked by rapid technological change and evolving threats, we design for flexibility, survivability, and operational dominance.

Forterra delivers weapons, sensors, and battlefield effects through integrated autonomous networks reaching operational areas faster, safer, and without placing human lives at risk. Our systems operate with distributed control, dynamic routing, and real-time responsiveness, enabling sustained advantage across complex mission environments.

About the role

As an extension of our core products in Command, Control, and Communications (C3) we are diving deeper into the EW space to make the systems and platforms we integrate more survivable. We are developing an Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) capability that will provide broad spectrum awareness that can aid national government off-the-shelf assets in the EMS. For communication, this will provide a real time database of inference and unoccupied spectrum to aid maneuver. For Electromagnetic Warfare (EW), this will, in parallel, provide a tip and queue interface to enable current EW and Signals Intelligence systems to more rapidly identify signals of interest driving toward an open “plug-and-play” approach with national government off-the-shelf assets.

We are looking to add to our growing team and add a someone who can work to build on device databases, data flow and command and control capabilities.

What you'll do

  • Develop edge software that runs on deployed devices and supports Command & Control (C2) systems
  • Integrate edge software with radio and communications systems
  • Design & Implement data formats and interfaces to ensure reliable data exchange across systems
  • Design & implement alerts and event-driven logic & architecture that surface important information about sensor detections
  • Develop telemetry software for edge devices that communicate with remote C2 systems
  • Build and maintain on-device data storage for operational and sensor data
  • Work closely with systems, hardware, and integration teams to deliver end-to-end functionality

Qualifications

  • 2+ years of professional experience in software engineering, preferably in edge, embedded, or systems level environments
  • Strong proficiency in C++ and/or Python (or similar systems-oriented languages)
  • Strong communication skills and the ability to work cross functionally across teams
  • Experience developing software for Linux-based systems, embedded platforms, or constrained environments
  • Hands-on experience working with structured data formats and serialization
  • Experience implementing and debugging inter-process or networked communication between software components
  • Familiarity with event-driven or message-based architectures
  • Experience writing maintainable, testable, and well-documented code

Preferred Qualifications

  • Familiarity with transactional (Postgres) and time series (Influx, Timescale) databases
  • Experience developing cloud based applications (both backend servers and frontend SPAs) - hands on Typescript experience is a plus
  • Familiarity with data transport and streaming technologies, such as WebSockets, gRPC, Kafka, Arrow, Flight or similar systems
  • Exposure to radio systems, networking, or low-bandwidth communications
  • Familiarity with distributed systems, state synchronization, and fault tolerance
  • Background in mission-critical, safety-critical, or reliability-focused systems
  • Experience supporting software in fielded or operational environments

US Salary Range
$115,000—$140,000

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full-time, high-demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra’s overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full-time employees including:

  • Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA-eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.
  • Basic Life/AD&D, short and long-term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
  • Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
  • Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
  • A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption.
  • A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
  • Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires.
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after-tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.

Forterra is an equal-opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain. All qualified applications will receive equal consideration for employment.