Senior Network Systems Engineer

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

Forterra is expanding its mission through Vektor, a next-generation, edge-deployed, software-defined communications and smart data-brokering layer built for disrupted, degraded, intermittent, and low bandwidth (DDIL) environments. Joining the Vektor team means helping shape how humans and autonomous systems stay connected when it matters most. 

We are seeking a Senior Network Systems Engineer to deploy, operate, and troubleshoot Vektor's network infrastructure across field sites and cloud environments. You'll be hands-on with routers, switches, radios, and Linux-based appliances — configuring them, automating them, and making sure they perform under real-world constraints. This role requires approximately 50% travel to customer and field locations for site installations, maintenance, and support. 

What you'll do

We're looking for engineers who are equally comfortable behind a terminal and behind a rack, care deeply about uptime and security, and enjoy solving problems that span Layer 2 through the application stack. As a core member of the infrastructure team, you will: 

Design, deploy, and maintain L2/L3 network infrastructure across Vektor's install base — routing, switching, VLANs, trunking, QoS, and VPN tunnels. 

• Configure and operate Linux-based network appliances using systemd-networkd, Netplan, iptables, StrongSwan, and WireGuard. 

• Build and maintain infrastructure-as-code (Ansible, Terraform) to automate provisioning and configuration of network and compute resources. 

• Collect, analyze, and act on network telemetry using Grafana, Telegraf, and related tooling. 

• Deploy and manage AWS GovCloud and Commercial infrastructure (EC2, VPC, Transit Gateway, Security Groups) that supports Vektor's cloud-side services. 

• Travel to customer and field sites (~50%) for installation, commissioning, troubleshooting, and ongoing support of deployed systems. 

• Collaborate across engineering in design reviews and deployment planning, mentor teammates, and drive best practices for network operations and automation. 
  
  

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of hands-on network engineering experience (vendor-agnostic routers and switches) 

• Strong L2/L3 fundamentals — routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, or Babel), VLANs, trunking, QoS, NAT/PAT, multicast, IPv4 + IPv6 

• Strong Linux systems experience — systemd, networkd, Netplan, iptables, SSH, Docker 

• Experience with site-to-site and remote access VPN (IPsec / StrongSwan, WireGuard) 

• Hands-on infrastructure automation (Ansible or Terraform) and scripting (Bash, Python, or Go) 

• Working knowledge of cryptography fundamentals — PKI, IPsec, FIPS compliance requirements 

• AWS experience — VPC design, EC2, Security Groups, Transit Gateway 

• Willingness and ability