About Ditto:
Ditto is redefining how data moves at the edge. Our mission is to make it seamless for developers to build resilient, real-time applications, regardless of network conditions. Whether you're in a stadium, airplane, or remote military base, Ditto's peer-to-peer sync engine ensures devices stay connected and data stays consistent, even without internet. With more than $145 million in funding and trusted by organizations like Chick-fil-A, Delta Airlines, and the U.S. military, Ditto powers mission-critical experiences across aviation, retail, travel, hospitality, defense, and more. As a globally distributed, fast-growing startup, we’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive team that reflects the wide range of perspectives needed to solve the world’s hardest connectivity problems.
About the Role
We're building the FDE function at Ditto. This is the person who stands it up.
You'll hire and lead a team of forward deployed engineers who embed directly with our most critical customers. Your team ships production code in the field, owns the technical outcome end-to-end, and brings what they learn back to shape the product. They don't file tickets and wait. They solve the problem.
This is a player-coach role. You will be hands-on, particularly early. You'll deploy alongside your team, debug distributed systems in constrained environments, and prototype solutions with customers before handing patterns back to core engineering. As the team grows, you'll shift toward hiring, developing talent, staffing engagements, and building the playbooks that turn one-off wins into repeatable delivery.
The challenges are unpredictable. The environments range from MANET-connected tactical edges to enterprise aviation infrastructure. You'll need to be comfortable with ambiguity, austere conditions, and making decisions without asking permission.
Responsibilities
Build the team. Hire, develop, and retain FDEs across Public Sector and Commercial. Set a high bar. We'd rather have 3 exceptional people than 6 average ones. Look for engineers who move fast because they care, not because someone set a deadline.
Own customer outcomes. Staff and run engagements across your team's portfolio. Your team owns the technical delivery for their customers, not just their assigned tickets. When something breaks at a customer site, your team fixes it. When a customer needs a capability that doesn't exist yet, your team prototypes it.
Stay technical. Lead discovery sessions. Prototype in the field. Debug complex distributed systems alongside your team. Review architectures and code. You don't have to be the best engineer on the team, but you need to understand the system well enough to make good calls under pressure.
Feed the product. Serve as the voice of the field in product and engineering planning. What your team sees in disconnected environments, constrained transports, and CRDT edge cases should directly shape the roadmap. If the product team is building the wrong thing, you're the one who knows it first.
Build the playbooks. Create starter repositories, integration patterns, deployment guides, and an internal knowledge base. The goal: the next FDE engagement ramps in days, not weeks. Capture what works so it compounds.
Run the operation. Define team OKRs tied to customer outcomes. Run cadences that keep the team aligned without drowning them in process. Minimum effective coordination. Your team should spend most of their time with customers, not in internal meetings.
You May Be a Good Fit If
8+ years building software or delivering technical solutions in complex environments. At least 2 of those managing customer-facing or forward deployed engineers.
You can read and review production code across backend and systems layers. Rust, Go, C++, Python, or equivalent. You don't have to write it daily, but you need to know when something is wrong.
Experience with distributed systems, edge computing, or infrastructure deployment in constrained environments. You understand what eventual consistency and disconnected sync actually mean when the network drops.
You build trust through directness and truth. If we can't do it, you build it, or you tell them what would solve their problem. Customers trust Ditto because of interactions with people like you.
You're comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and owning the consequences.
Nice to Have
Experience with DoD, IC, or federal customers and familiarity with classified or air-gapped network environments.
Hands-on experience with ATAK, TAK Server, or MANET deployments.
Familiarity with CRDTs, local-first architectures, or peer-to-peer sync technologies.
Background in solutions engineering, consulting, or pre-sales technical roles.
What we don't need:
Someone who manages from a desk. If you haven't been in front of a customer in the last month, something is wrong.
Someone who needs a fully built process before they can operate. There is no existing playbook. You write it.
Someone who optimizes for looking busy. We measure outcomes: did the customer succeed? Did the product get better? Did the team grow?
Clearance: Active TS/SCI
We offer competitive salaries and meaningful equity. We believe everyone on the team should have a stake in what we’re building. Benefits vary by region to make sure you're covered in the ways that matter most. In the US, that includes health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, plus a 401(k) and flexible spending accounts.
Regardless of where you live, everyone at Ditto can utilize flexible time off. And while we work remotely, our Atlanta and San Francisco offices are open if you ever want a place to work or meet up with teammates.
At Ditto, we know game-changers don’t always come wrapped in a “perfect” resume. Years of experience? Every single bullet point checked? Meh. That’s not what drives us.
What does matter?
Grit.
Curiosity.
Adaptability.
And a genuine spark for what we’re building.
So if you’re fired up about our mission but not sure you tick every box - hit that apply button anyway. Use your application to show us how you’ll make an impact here.
We’re always on the lookout for exceptional humans who want to grow, stretch, and build something meaningful with us.
Ditto is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Ditto is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please let us know.