> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Deployment Strategist (TS/SCI Clearance Required) Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/ad89b186e784f610 Lumbra posts a FDE role to plan what the customer deploys first in Arlington, VA, at $90,000–$250,000 base, above the mid-level FDE median of $149,000 across 106 postings with pay. Map analyst workflows and elicit undocumented mission knowledge. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Lumbra](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/lumbra) Posted Aug 4, 2026 by Lumbra · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026 **$90,000–$250,000** + equity Arlington, VA On-site Full-time Map analyst workflows and elicit undocumented mission knowledge. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fad89b186e784f610&placement=top) - [View posting at Lumbra](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/lumbra/51ffbaaf-723e-417d-b1ce-f33734912325/application) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $90K–$250K Above the median Midpoint $170K · median $149K This job $90K to $250K. Mid-level FDE postings, 106 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $123K to $162K, median $149K. ### The work Plans what the customer deploys first Balance **Mixed** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations Travel **Required, amount not stated** - **Coding**: Configuration only - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Mid - **Role**: Individual contributor ### What they ask for Experience - **2+ years** hands-on mission experience as an analyst, operator, or targeteer in the relevant mission space (typical, not a stated minimum) *Preferred* ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting reads as a mid-level role. What level are you at now? The job is in Arlington, VA. Could you work there? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: Arlington, VA - **Work arrangement**: On-site - **Remote work restrictions**: Client site in Arlington, Virginia 80–100% of the time; not eligible for remote or hybrid work. - **Employment type**: Full-time - **Travel**: Travel required, amount not stated - **Pay**: ## More like this [Vantor](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/vantor) ### [Deployment Strategist (Secret)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/361f25424cfd6a08) Herndon, VA 1mo ago $137,000–$182,000 [Promise](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/promise) ### [Deployment Strategist](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8da695f7930f36ad) Washington, DC Hybrid 5w ago $150,000–$210,000 [Kaizen](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/kaizen) ### [Deployment Strategist (Cleared) ](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9093865765c199ab) New York, NY · Washington, DC Hybrid 5w ago $140,000–$180,000 - [Other jobs at Lumbra (5)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/lumbra) ## The job description from Lumbra Posted by Lumbra on Aug 4, 2026 ### Deployment Strategist (TS/SCI Clearance Required) ### About Lumbra Lumbra builds the vendor neutral operating system for agentic AI in high consequence environments. In our first ten months we won four fully competed prime contracts across the U.S. Government, every one of them deploying into classified spaces. We are live on JWICS. We were selected from a field of 200+ companies for a defense innovation challenge and won it. We beat two established defense primes on the same program and earned the follow-on, now in execution. ### About the Role Deployment Strategists are the mission experts on Lumbra's field teams. Nebula, our agentic harness, is deployed in classified environments across the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense, and your job is to make it produce work that meets mission standards. You map how analysts and operators actually work, capture institutional knowledge that has never been written down, and encode it into Nebula as agents, workflows, and skills. You are the person accountable for whether the platform gets adopted. This is a technical role. You will not own connectors or infrastructure, but you will build in Nebula every day, configuring agents, building workflows, and scripting in Python, and you are expected to develop genuine depth in how AI agents are designed, prompted, and evaluated. This role requires genuine domain expertise in the customer's mission space, earned by having done the work. You report to the lead for your engagement and work alongside the Forward Deployed Engineers on the same team. This role is on client site 80 to 100% of the time in Arlington, Virginia. It is not eligible for remote or hybrid work. ### How the Role Is Structured We publish the time allocation because this role is more technical than the title suggests: - **~50% building in Nebula.** Configuring agents, designing and evaluating workflows, and scripting in Python. - **~30% analyst engagement.** Workflow mapping, elicitation interviews with experienced analysts, and hands-on training and coaching. - **~20% documentation and feedback.** Reusable workflow documentation, and carrying analyst feedback on platform behavior back to product and engineering. ### What You'll Own - **Mapping current analyst workflows** before platform configuration begins. - **Tribal knowledge capture.** You interview experienced analysts and operators to surface SOPs, undocumented practice, and exception to policy patterns. - **Encoding that knowledge into Nebula** as agents, workflows, and skills, owning whether the output is mission correct and not only technically valid. - **Agent quality.** You apply prompt and workflow design, evaluation, and failure analysis to make agent output reliable. - **The partnership with your Forward Deployed Engineers**, who own the connectors, integrations, and infrastructure your workflows depend on. - **Adoption.** You drive it through hands-on training and coaching, and it is this role's primary metric. - **Analyst feedback on platform behavior.** You are the main point of contact for it. - **Reusable workflow documentation** that shortens every deployment after yours. ### You'll Work Alongside CIA officers, MIT engineers, Special Operations combat veterans, and applied AI engineers from frontier labs including Anthropic and Google. You will make decisions that immediately affect national security. You will own part of a company early and when it matters. ### What This Role Is Not - **A pure training role.** Training is one output. The core function is capturing mission knowledge and encoding it. ### A project management or customer success role. - **A generalist consulting role.** Domain credibility is the basis of the position. - **A connector or infrastructure engineering role.** You build in Nebula and script in Python. Forward Deployed Engineers own production integrations and infrastructure. - **A lead or management role.** You are an individual contributor on a small team, reporting to the engagement lead. ### Required Qualifications - Direct, hands-on experience as an analyst, operator, or targeteer in the relevant mission space. We care about the depth of experience you bring, not a year count; roughly 2+ years of real mission experience is typical. - Demonstrated ability to become a power user of complex analytic tooling and to teach it to experienced users. - Working Python proficiency, including scripting and data wrangling, and comfort reading and modifying code. - Practical understanding of AI agent concepts, including prompting, workflow and evaluation design, and where agents fail, or a clear track record of picking up new technical tooling fast. - Strong interviewing and listening skills, with experience eliciting process knowledge from subject matter experts. - Clear written communication. - Willingness to work on client site 80 to 100% of the time in Arlington, Virginia, plus periodic CONUS and OCONUS travel to supported units. - U.S. citizenship and an active TS/SCI clearance. ### Preferred Qualifications - Experience writing SOPs, tradecraft standards, or training curricula. - Hands-on experience with AI assisted or agentic analytic tooling. - Strong Python. - An active professional network in the relevant analytic community. - Experience supporting a J2 or joint or component intelligence staff, including JIPOE and the targeting cycle (Joint Targeting Cycle and F2T2EA). - Experience across the intelligence cycle and all source fusion, from collection through finished production and targeting support. - Experience with DoD and J2 intelligence tooling such as i2 Analyst's Notebook, MARS/MIDB, PROTON, ArcGIS Pro, TAC, FADE/MIST, VOLTRON, and OSINT platforms such as Babel Street, Maltego, Dataminr, or Recorded Future. ### Compensation The base salary range for this role is **$90,000 to $250,000**, plus equity and benefits. Where an offer lands depends on scope, autonomy, and technical capability, which we assess through the interview process rather than by years or title. Our ranges are a real guide, and we are flexible for the right person: if your experience clearly exceeds this role's scope, we will consider you at a higher level, with that level's range. Base salary is one part of total compensation, alongside equity and the benefits below. **What We Offer** ### What We Offer - **Health, dental, and vision insurance.** 99% of your premiums covered, and 100% of your dependents' premiums. - **Optional HSA plan.** Lower premium, HSA eligible, fully portable, self directed or managed. - **Health Reimbursement Account** for qualified healthcare expenses. - **Life insurance** of $150,000 plus AD&D, 100% company paid. - **401(k) with a 100% match on the first 6%, immediately vested.** No cliff, no waiting period. Yours from day one. - **Wellhub Gold.** Everything from Gold's Gym to Lifetime, fully covered, plus [solidcore], F45, and hundreds of other studios. - **Unlimited PTO.** Real time off, not accrual based. Take what you need, no counting required. - **Every federal holiday**, plus additional paid days off over the winter break. - **Supportive leave of absence program**, including time off for military service, medical events, and parental leave. - **Breakfast, lunch, and endless snacks** every day you are in the office. ### Pre-tax commuter benefits. - **Company phone plan.** A new iPhone, fully company paid. [View posting at Lumbra](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/lumbra/51ffbaaf-723e-417d-b1ce-f33734912325/application) ## Similar jobs [Thomson Reuters](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/thomson-reuters) ### [Senior Solutions Manager, Tax & Audit AI FDE](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/6acafc2ec22e682f) Frisco, TX · New York, NY · +7 more Hybrid 7w ago $100,100–$214,100 [Usul](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/usul) ### [Deployment Strategist](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/fc9099f16c8dfd11) San Francisco, CA · Washington, DC On-site 3mo ago $140,000–$200,000 [GovSignals](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/govsignals) ### [Senior Federal Deployment Strategist](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/b12521324312a352) Washington, DC Hybrid 4w ago $140,000–$200,000 [Rivet Industries](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/rivet-industries) ### [Deployment Strategist, Integration Partnerships](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/cc3c894b1d4fada1) Washington, DC On-site 2mo ago $140,000–$200,000 [TRM Labs](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/trm-labs) ### [Deployment Strategist, Public Sector (Embedded Account)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/84f8ba07367558f7) Washington, DC Hybrid 5w ago $127,000–$156,000 - [Compare mid FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/mid-level) - [Similar jobs in Washington, DC area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=dmv) - [Similar jobs that plan what the customer deploys first](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=strategist) Hiring at Lumbra and want this page changed or removed? 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