In this role, you are the backend and infrastructure backbone defence and intelligence customers rely on. You deploy ICEYE's intelligence platform into secure (often air-gapped) environments and design the high-performance backend systems that move satellite data at scale — fast APIs, resilient services, tuned databases, automated infrastructure. Our stack: Python and Go services on Kubernetes, PostgreSQL and MongoDB, Terraform and Ansible, CI/CD pipelines that also run offline, cloud (AWS) and on-premises air-gapped clusters, with AI-assisted development as the default. This is a ship-daily role: systems you build run mission-critical workloads analysts use to protect nations.
🏢 About ICEYE
At ICEYE, you’ll join a diverse and highly engaged team united by the ambition to make the impossible possible. As a global scale-up, we combine speed and ambition with the opportunity to take real ownership from
🎯 The Role
Role: Forward Deployed Backend/DevOps Engineer Location: Portugal (Lisbon) Reports to: VP, Forward Deployed Engineering Working type: Hybrid (On-site at customer locations approx. 50% of time) Must be eligible and able to attain relevant national and NATO security clearances. Must be based in-country and native level speaker of the country you're deploying to.
✅ Key Responsibilities
Platform deployment & operations: Deploy ICEYE's intelligence platform into customer secure environments (on-premise, air-gapped networks, classified data centres).
Install, upgrade and operate Kubernetes clusters and containerised applications (Docker) in customer environments — cloud and on-premises.
Build infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible) and CI/CD pipelines that work without external internet access, including offline registries and artifact mirroring.
Troubleshoot deployment and production issues in disconnected environments, from the application layer down to storage and networking.
High-performance backend systems: Design and build APIs, services and data pipelines that handle large volumes of SAR imagery and intelligence data with low latency.
Connect ICEYE systems to customer C4ISR infrastructure and intelligence tools through robust, well-designed integrations.
Own database design and performance at production scale (PostgreSQL, MongoDB): schemas, indexing, tuning, replication and backup.
Apply caching, queueing and horizontal scaling patterns deliberately — and capacity-plan for fixed on-premises hardware where you cannot simply scale out.
Reliability, security & observability: Build monitoring, logging and alerting that work in restricted environments, so problems are found before the customer finds them.
Harden deployments to meet customer security constraints; own backup, recovery and upgrade paths for systems that cannot go down.
Run the infrastructure behind AI workloads shipped by the team — model serving, vector databases, GPU nodes — reliably and repeatably.
Customer engagement & rapid delivery: Work embedded with intelligence analysts, operators and customer IT teams to understand operational and infrastructure requirements.
Rapidly prototype and iterate (working systems first, polish later) to address immediate operational needs.
Conduct hands-on training for customer administrators on platform operations.
Feed deployment experience back to ICEYE's product and engineering teams as concrete technical requirements.
📌 Required Qualifications
5+ years hands-on backend engineering building and operating production systems at scale.
Strong programming skills in Python. You write typed, tested services and you are comfortable with async APIs. TypeScript is a plus.
Proven experience designing high-performance backend systems: APIs, distributed services, messaging, caching and databases under real load. Experience with spatial, search, or vector workloads in Postgres is a plus.
Production experience in both cloud (e.g., AWS) and on-premises environments — this role lives in both.
Deep Docker and Kubernetes: deploy, debug, and upgrade clusters — not only consume them. GitOps and infrastructure-as-code experience. Pipelines that can run offline or on an isolated network are a plus.
Observability as a habit: metrics, logs, and alerts are part of done.
Infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible) and CI/CD experience, ideally including pipelines that run offline or in isolated networks.
PostgreSQL and/or MongoDB at production scale: schema design, tuning, replication, backup and recovery.
Observability as a habit: metrics, logging and alerting are part of done, not an afterthought.
Builder mindset: ship fast, iterate with feedback, and prioritise working solutions over perfect architecture.
Strong communication and customer engagement, able to work embedded with intelligence analysts / military operators.
Strong spoken and written English, able to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
Willingness to travel 40–60% to customer sites within the region.
⭐ Desirable Experience
Experience in defence, intelligence, or government operational environments.
Deploying to on-prem data centres and/or air-gapped networks, including offline artifact and registry management.
Event streaming and high-throughput data systems (e.g., Kafka or similar) at production scale.
Deeper Kubernetes: operators, service mesh, multi-cluster, storage and networking internals.
Security hardening and accreditation experience (system hardening baselines, audit and compliance in classified environments).
Familiarity with geospatial data, satellite imagery, or remote sensing.
Experience running infrastructure for AI/LLM workloads: GPU scheduling, model serving, vector databases.
Active use of AI-assisted development tools as part of your daily workflow.
Experience in defence tech (e.g., Palantir, Anduril, Scale AI, similar startups).
🎁 Benefits
Competitive
🛂 Visa & Eligibility
Must be eligible and able to attain relevant national and NATO security clearances. Must be based in-country and native level speaker of the country you're deploying to.
