Careers · Multipolar Defense
Build things worth building, for customers who need them.
Multipolar Defense builds simulation, decision-support, and analysis products. About half of our customers are commercial companies; the other half are government programs. We are a small team on purpose, which means the work you do here ships — and you see it used.
How we work
Three beliefs that shape how this company operates day to day.
Ship, then improve
A working product in a customer’s hands teaches more than a perfect plan. We keep the distance between an idea and something usable as short as we can.
Ownership is real
When something is yours, it’s yours — the decisions, the mistakes, and the win. We don’t add layers between people and their work.
Side projects are welcome
The ideas nobody asked for are often the interesting ones. We’ll work with you to build, iterate, and test them — and if one is worth commercializing, we’ll help you do that, inside Multipolar Defense or as a venture of your own.
Why here is different
Small companies are not for everyone. We would rather be honest about the trade now than lose someone to it in month three.
What you get
- Scope that would take years to earn elsewhere
- Direct contact with customers in both commercial and government markets
- Equity in the company, for every full-time role
- Short feedback loops — work ships in weeks, not quarters
- Remote-first flexibility — most roles work from anywhere in the US
What we’ll ask of you
- Self-direction, without much structure handed to you
- Comfort deciding with incomplete information
- Fewer colleagues to hide behind — or to learn from
- A high bar, applied from your first week
- Clear communication — write things down, and when you’re stuck or unsure, say so early. Asking for help is how work moves here
Where would you fit?
Eight questions, about a minute. We’ll point you at the kind of work where you’d do your best — even if we haven’t posted that role yet. Either way, you’ll leave with a straight answer.
It’s Monday morning. Which problem would you most want on your desk?
No open roles right now
We hire in small, deliberate waves — when the mission demands a role, we open it. Here’s what’s coming:
Nothing published yet
Check back soon, or introduce yourself through our contact page.
How we hire
Four steps, and you know where you stand at each one.
A conversation, not a screening
Thirty minutes with someone who does the work you’d be doing — on both sides’ terms.
A deep-dive with your future team
Sixty to ninety minutes on real problems from our current work. No brainteasers, no trivia.
A small, realistic exercise
Scoped to a few hours. We compensate you for anything longer — we respect your time.
An answer, fast
A decision within a week of the final conversation, with a clear reason either way.
End to end, the process usually takes two to three weeks.
Questions people ask
Where is the work located?
Our office is in the Washington, DC area. Several roles are remote-friendly; each role page says which.
Do I need a security clearance?
Only if the role requires one, and it will say so on the role card and role page. Where a role allows it, we sponsor.
What about pay and equity?
Market salary plus meaningful equity for every full-time role. We share the band early in the process, because surprises waste everyone’s time.
How big is the company, really?
Small, and growing in deliberate waves as we raise capital and add customers. That’s why a role you match with may not be posted yet.
What are the “coming soon” roles?
The roles we expect to hire for next — across the executive team (CFO, CLO, CTO, COO), technical (AI Architect, wargame design, security engineering), growth, and advisory. They’re roadmap roles in our system, so they can’t take applications yet — but the fit quiz and a short introduction put you on our radar first.
Half your customers are commercial — what does that mean for my work?
Most of what we build serves both markets. The same product might reach a corporate operations team and a government program in the same quarter.
I don’t see my role, but I’m interested.
Take the eight-question fit quiz above, then introduce yourself through our contact page. We read everything, and we reach out to people we’ve met before we post a role publicly.
No role that fits? Tell us what you’d build.
We open positions when the mission demands them — sometimes for people we haven’t met yet. Introduce yourself and make the case.
Introduce yourself