Forward was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D.s, building the industry's first network digital twin: a mathematically accurate model of the production network. It's the foundation for autonomous networking, giving engineers and AI agents the ability to know the impact of every change before it touches production. That founding instinct still defines how we work. We're accurate and evidence-driven, relentless about clarity, and we'd rather be certain than comfortable, building a groundbreaking platform that transforms how teams run and secure networks across every major cloud and vendor environment.
Global leaders like Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell trust Forward, alongside fast-growing enterprises and government agencies, realizing an average of $14.2 million in annual benefits, according to IDC. Backed by top-tier investors, including A. Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Omega Venture Partners, Section 32, and Threshold Ventures, and headquartered in Santa Clara, we're most proud of our team: curious people who'd rather build what doesn't exist than accept how things have always been done.
Forward is looking for a Senior Technical Support Engineer (Senior Customer Care Engineer).
Do you want to create a category and help build a special company?
Join a company that has been in the market 6+ years and has some of the top Federal agencies and F500/Global 2000 already buying and referenceable.
We are building a special team and hope you consider us if you want to have the experience of changing the networking world as we know it.
What you'll do:
As a Senior Customer Care Engineer (Federal), you will serve as a trusted technical advisor and escalation engineer for strategic Federal customers operating highly complex production networks.
Responsibilities:
Providing triage, prioritizing, and resolving technical issues for our top customers.
Requirements:
• Serve as the primary technical interface for assigned Federal customers
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues across networking, infrastructure, data collection, modeling, and analytics workflows
• Perform deep technical triage and root cause analysis for customer- reported issues
• Recreate customer environments and scenarios to identify software defects and validate fixes
• Work directly with Engineering and Product Management to drive bug resolution, feature enhancements, and customer success outcomes
• Analyze network configurations, routing behavior, security posture, and infrastructure telemetry
• Support onboarding, deployment validation, upgrades, and operational health checks
• Leverage APIs, scripting, and automation to improve customer workflows and operational efficiency
• Assist customers with advanced use cases, including: network verification, path analysis, outage prevention, vulnerability and exposure analysis, configuration compliance, intent validation, security posture analysis, operational troubleshooting
•Develop and maintain technical documentation, knowledge transfer materials, and operational guidance
•Participate in after-hours escalation support as required for mission-critical customer environments
•Support classified customer engagements and on-site activities when necessary
What We’re Looking For
If you possess the TS/SCI with FSP and a strong networking foundation, we encourage you to apply.
Required Qualifications
• Active TS/SCI with Full Scope Polygraph (FSP)
• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills
• Experience supporting production enterprise or service provider environments
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to both engineers and executive stakeholders
• Strong customer-facing communication and professionalism
• Ability to work independently in fast-paced operational environments
• Understanding of networking fundamentals, including: TCP/IP, Routing and Switching, VLANs, BGP, OSPF, ACLs ,NAT, DNS, network segmentation
Up to 20% travel within a 2-hour radius of Washington DC required
Ability to participate in after-hours on-call rotation
Preferred Qualifications:
The following are preferred but not required:
• Experience supporting Federal or classified customer environments
• Familiarity with Linux administration and troubleshooting Python, Bash, or other scripting experience
• API integration and automation experience
• Experience with network security technologies and operations
• Familiarity with large-scale vendor environments, including: Cisco, Juniper Networks, Arista Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet
• Exposure to cloud networking and hybrid infrastructure environments
• Experience with automation, telemetry, SNMP, REST APIs, or infrastructure-as-code concepts
• Understanding of cybersecurity frameworks, compliance validation, or vulnerability management workflowsWhy Forward Networks?
One of the Best Places to Work in Networking
At Forward Networks, you’ll work alongside some of the brightest minds in networking, security, and software engineering, including Stanford PhDs, industry veterans, and technical leaders who are redefining how modern networks are operated and secured.
We foster a highly collaborative culture where innovation, technical excellence, customer impact, and professional growth are valued. This is a place where engineers solve real problems, influence product direction, and work on technology that genuinely changes the industry.
Mission Impact That Matters
Our Federal customers support some of the most critical missions in the United States Government. The networks they operate directly impact national security, mission readiness, operational continuity, and cyber defense.
As part of the Federal Support organization, your work will help ensure these environments remain secure, resilient, compliant, and operational when it matters most.
Category-Defining Technology
Forward is the leader in Network Digital Twin technology, delivering a mathematically accurate model of the network that enables organizations to verify behavior, reduce outages, improve security posture, and modernize operations.
Our platform models the entire hybrid multi-cloud network, giving customers unprecedented visibility and confidence across their infrastructure. You’ll work directly with cutting-edge technology that is transforming how the world’s largest organizations manage and secure their networks.
Customers Speak for Themselves
Organizations using Forward have reported significant operational and business benefits through improved visibility, automation, verification, compliance validation, and outage prevention.
Growth and Opportunity
This role provides the opportunity to grow both technically and professionally while working directly with advanced enterprise and Federal environments.
You’ll gain exposure to:
• large-scale hybrid and multi-cloud networks
• advanced network security operations
• automation and API-driven workflows
• network verification and digital twin technologies
• cross-functional collaboration with Engineering and Product teams
• mission-critical Federal customer operations
At Forward , your work will directly influence customer success, platform evolution, and the future of network operations and security.
The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience, and work location. For candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the starting base salary +bonus is expected to be between $200,000/yr and $230,000/yr. The offered compensation may also include stock.