About Forterra

Forterra is a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world. Amongst some of the earliest innovators in the field of driverless technology, Forterra is focused on building systems that protect front-line soldiers and enable civilian workers in our industrial base. Forterra is the go-to provider of ground autonomy solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, which harnesses the technology for asymmetric warfare in critical conditions.

About the Role

Forterra is seeking an experienced ML Platform Engineer to own and scale the infrastructure that powers our perception systems. You will be the steward of the pipelines, tooling, and cloud infrastructure that allow our perception researchers to ship reliable deep learning models into latency-constrained, safety-critical environments.

You will partner closely with perception scientists, but your core craft is building robust, reproducible ML systems. The ideal candidate has a strong background in ML platform engineering, data pipelines, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, and production ML tooling, along with fluency in data science workflows and hands-on experience with AWS SageMaker and Metaflow platforms. This fluency allows you to collaborate effectively with researchers, debug training pipelines across multiple sensor domains, and make architectural decisions that span the full model lifecycle, from experimentation through production.

What You'll Do

Your work will center on the platform and infrastructure that makes perception development possible:

• Own and evolve the AWS infrastructure and Kubernetes platform that supports perception training and inference workloads.
• Design, deploy, and operate Metaflow pipelines for large-scale data processing and model training
• Build and maintain the Perception Data Processing database and its unit test architecture, including test asset management
• Enhance the Deep Learning Training Pipeline dashboard and support observability across the stack
• Develop and validate CI/CD workflows and tooling for third-party data annotation (upload/download, validation, QA)
• Support AWS infrastructure and platform reliability across perception environments
• Build, optimize, and distribute production model debians for deployment to edge hardware

What We're Looking For

Mission-Focused Technical Stewardship. You understand the critical importance of reliable data infrastructure, reproducible pipelines, and high-integrity tooling in autonomy and perception systems. You recognize that our platforms, datasets, and models must be trustworthy, maintainable, and consistently improving to support downstream mission needs.

Deep Ownership of Complex Systems. You have a demonstrated ability to take full responsibility for multifaceted environments, from AWS resources and Kubernetes clusters to Metaflow pipelines, dashboards, and CI/CD systems. You proactively identify problems, trace them across layers of the stack, and implement durable fixes rather than temporary workarounds.

Architect's Mindset for ML Systems. You think holistically about data ingestion, annotation, pipeline orchestration, and model deployment. You understand that data quality, reproducibility, and model lineage are foundational, and you design processes that uphold these principles across environments.

Collaborative Partner & Cross-Functional Influencer. You work effectively with perception engineers, infrastructure, MLOps, IT, and security partners, navigating govcloud constraints, modifying setups, coordinating dashboard access, or working with upstream owners of tooling. You can guide others through intricate workflows, mentor teammates, and build trust across organizations.

Minimum Qualifications

• BS in computer science, software engineering, or related field, or equivalent industrial experience
• 4+ years building and operating production ML infrastructure or data platforms
• Strong experience with AWS (or comparable cloud), Kubernetes, and containerization (Docker)
• Proven track record with CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, and test-driven development
• Proficiency in Python and experience with workflow orchestration tools (Metaflow, Airflow, Kubeflow, or similar)
• Hands-on experience with AWS SageMaker or comparable managed ML platforms, with working fluency in data science workflows
• Working familiarity with deep learning frameworks (PyTorch or TensorFlow) sufficient to collaborate effectively with ML researchers and debug training pipelines
• Excellent core software engineering skills: system design, containerization, unit testing, and debugging
• Experience delivering production-quality software in a continuously integrated environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience deploying ML models to latency-constrained or edge environments (Nvidia Jetson or similar)
• Experience with ML model optimization, quantization, or compilation toolchains
• Familiarity with ROS or robotics middleware
• Excellent programming skills in C++
• Experience operating in regulated or govcloud environments
• Background supporting computer vision or perception teams

US Salary Range
 $150,000—$175,000
 

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full-time, high-demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra’s overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full-time employees including:

• Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA-eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.  
• Basic Life/AD&D, short and long-term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
• Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
• A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption. 
• A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
• Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires. 
• 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after-tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.  

Forterra is an equal-opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain. All qualified applications will receive equal consideration for employment.