Vannevar is a defense technology company building AI to deter our adversaries. In the 21st century, conflict moves at algorithmic speed and foresight equals firepower. Our agentic AI is purpose-built to compete with China—from cross-Strait conflict to gray zone coercion. Trained on the most mission-relevant datasets in defense, our technology models adversary behavior, simulates campaigns, and recommends the best course of action to decision makers. Our AI systems are some of the most trusted in the industry and actively used on the front lines of the Indo-Pacific to keep the peace and save lives.
Exceptional technology starts with exceptional people. Vannevar is a small agile team combining world-class engineers with veteran strategists who bring deep expertise in defense and tradecraft. We’re building a company defined by mission impact, user empathy, and disciplined growth. In just three years, we grew from $3M to $80M in ARR, achieved early profitability, and reached unicorn status—proving that disruption doesn’t require an ego, and staying power doesn’t mean standing still.
About the role:
The Data Platform team is responsible for pipelines, search, and identity systems. Our identity systems include access management, login experiences, and API authentication. The systems we build and manage define and enforce standards for authentication and authorization across a growing suite of 10+ products.
You will be part of a team that is responsible for building and managing this business-critical infrastructure. You will have an opportunity to be a technical leader on the team, and influence security and authentication patterns within the wider organization. You’ll work with our Information Security team to ensure our approach to authentication and authorization meets the strict requirements of DoD environments. You’ll also interface with the Mission team to define and build a variety of user management workflows and experiences. Finally, you’ll have an opportunity to craft the strategy for securing a growing suite of Vannevar Labs’ APIs.
What you’ll do:
- Design, build, deploy, and maintain a complete suite of AuthZ and AuthN systems, leveraging opensource software like Keycloak and OpenFGA
- Help define and shape the team’s direction and roadmap
- Build APIs and UX experiences to support user login, user-management, and access control experiences
- Work closely with the security team to define and implement security practices
- 8+ years of experience in backend software development, with demonstrated ability to work across the stack
- You have a strong foundation in security and authentication systems, including familiarity with opensource products like Keycloak and OpenFGA
- You have significant experience implementing secure authentication and SSO flows using protocols like OIDC and SAML, and integrating with enterprise identity providers such as Okta or Microsoft Entra ID.
- Strong familiarity with authorization paradigms such as Google Zanzibar, UMA, RBAC/ABAC, or ACL-based models
- You have served as a senior engineer, or tech lead, and have demonstrated the ability to mentor and guide more junior engineers
- You have a passion for building reliable and scalable systems, and understand how these systems interact with frontend experiences
- U.S. Person status is required as this position will require the ability to access U.S only data systems
What we offer
The salary range for this position is $ 190,000 - 210,000 + equity + 401K match. Within the range, individual pay is determined by experience, relevant education, and/or training.
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 100% remote first culture. You can work from anywhere in the US and all full time employees have WeWork access
- Unlimited PTO including competitive vacation and holiday schedules
- Lifestyle stipends - Monthly mental health, wellness & fitness stipend, in-home office setup stipend and family planning assistance
- Salary top-up during military reserve duty
- Fully paid parental leave
- Child and pet care reimbursement during travel
We are committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Official emails from the company will come from an @vannevarlabs.com domain. Under no circumstances will a legitimate representative from our company contact you to request passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal data. Please be vigilant of potential scams.
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