Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
Forward deployment roles sit at a distinctive intersection in SaaS, bridging product engineering and real-world customer environments. In Snowflake’s case, the focus on public sector deployments adds a layer that is uncommon in mainstream cloud software work: building and operating cloud data platform capabilities under strict compliance, auditability, and data residency constraints, sometimes in air gapped settings.
For a SaaS career, this kind of remit builds durable platform instincts. It develops fluency across the control plane and the operational surface area that enterprise customers actually experience, from Kubernetes and infrastructure automation to delivery pipelines and SLO driven reliability. The work also sharpens the ability to translate customer constraints into product aligned architecture, a skill that transfers across cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and security sensitive SaaS domains.
This role tends to suit engineers who enjoy ambiguity at the boundary between core engineering and deployment reality, and who prefer hands on ownership from design through production operations. It is a strong match for professionals who want customer proximity without leaving engineering, and who are comfortable operating within clearance and government screening requirements that shape day to day execution.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
Snowflake is about empowering enterprises to achieve their full potential — and people too. With a culture that’s all in on impact, innovation, and collaboration, Snowflake is the sweet spot for building big, moving fast, and taking technology — and careers — to the next level.
Running Snowflake in public sectors in different countries and regions, even in different industry verticals, requires us to build a compliant, secure, and auditable infrastructure. Many key design decisions are deeply rooted in the Snowflake product architecture. As a Forward Deployed Software Engineer, you will be responsible for leading several key areas and collaborating with various engineering groups in addition to the Public Sector team. To be successful in the area, you will need to have (and continue to build) a broad and in-depth knowledge base on cloud infrastructure, privacy, and governance, compliance controls, data security and data residency in various aspects of Snowflake.
AS A FORWARD DEPLOYED SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT SNOWFLAKE YOU WILL:
Solve real business needs at large scale by applying your software engineering and analytical problem solving skills.
Design, implement and maintain scalable distributed systems for our cloud automation platform that include cloud control plane, Kubernetes container platform and traffic and networking.
Work directly with customers to quickly understand their critical problems and design and implement solutions.
Deploy and maintain availability of cloud compute servers and Kubernetes clusters that power the Snowflake platform in sensitive (sometimes air-gapped) production environments using automation.
Implement software delivery pipelines that support continuous delivery and automatic compliance in sensitive runtime environments.
Ensure operational readiness of the services and meet the commitments to our customers regarding security, reliability, availability, and performance.
Collaborate closely with product teams on requirements & SLOs for deploying software into air-gapped environments.
Identify, troubleshoot, and solve network & systems issues.
Use AI-driven tooling to automate operational tasks.
OUR IDEAL FORWARD DEPLOYED SOFTWARE ENGINEER WILL HAVE:
7+ years of industry experience designing and supporting large-scale distributed systems in production, with recent experience in deploying at public sector customers
In-depth experience with container orchestration, cloud infrastructure and IaC tools such as Terraform or Pulumi.
Strong CS fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems
In-depth development skills in Java, C++, Golang or Python
Experience with public cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP
Experience with database systems and database internals preferred
Advanced degree in Computer Science or related field
Requirements:
Security Clearance
Required: Active TS/SCI clearance with Polygraph.
Condition: Must be willing and able to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI with Polygraph.
Verification: Proof of clearance is required prior to an offer of employment.
Citizenship & Screening
U.S. Citizenship: Required due to federal law and government contract restrictions; verification via valid passport or approved documentation is mandatory.
Compliance: Candidates must meet all applicable customer and government security screening requirements.
Every Snowflake employee is expected to follow the company’s confidentiality and security standards for handling sensitive data. Snowflake employees must abide by the company’s data security plan as an essential part of their duties. It is every employee's duty to keep customer
Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.
How do you want to make your impact?
For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com
