Founding Defence SW Engineer - Noctra AS

NOCTRA · FOUNDING ENGINEERS

Defence AI and Mission Systems

------------------------ Please read the full role description before applying.---------------------------

Security clearance and eligibility (please read first)

Because of the defence nature of our work, security clearance is a hard requirement of the journey. We are looking exclusively for candidates who are citizens of, and resident in, an EEA or NATO verified country, and who are eligible for, and willing to undergo, Norwegian security clearance.

To be fully clear and to respect everyone's time: applicants who fall outside these eligibility requirements will not be considered, regardless of technical strength or circumstances. This is not a judgement of ability, it is a non-negotiable condition of building in this sector. If you are unsure whether you qualify, reach out and we will look at it together before you invest time.

ABOUT NOCTRA

We build sovereign, AI native software for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) in the Arctic and maritime domain. Our customers are defence and security actors in Norway, the Nordics and NATO.

We are on our way to our pre-seed round, based in Oslo, with two full-time founders and an engineering team being built out now. We are looking for our first developers to help shape the company from the inside.

Our technology is IRONLIGHT: a tactical real-time platform that fuses data from multiple sensors, runs AI based detection, tracking and threat assessment, and delivers NATO interoperable outputs. IRONLIGHT is built to operate fully autonomously at the edge, in operational environments defined by degraded and denied communications (D/DIL), where most systems lose the ability to function. In parallel we are building a strategic analytics platform for civil authorities and critical infrastructure.

This is Norwegian technology in a market where the large international players face real sovereignty limitations in Europe. The window is open now, and we need sharp people to seize it.

THE ROLES

We are hiring for two founding engineering profiles. Depending on your background, you would own one of these areas from day one, working directly with the CTO and leadership team, before the architecture is set, on real technology going into production.

1.⁠ ⁠Perception / ML Engineer. Multi-sensor perception and detection, edge AI under real performance and resource constraints, sensor fusion and real-time situational understanding, decision support and reasoning under uncertainty, robust training pipelines and MLOps.

2.⁠ ⁠Edge / Deployment Engineer. Deploying AI to constrained edge hardware, low-level and performance optimisation in critical code paths, sovereign security and audit architecture, systems engineering, operator interfaces and voice-driven interaction.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Core requirements, regardless of background: sharp technical instincts and a real ability to deliver, self-driven and able to take ownership without micromanagement, honest about what you can and cannot do, and building for production, not just demos.

Backgrounds we value highly: experience from the armed forces, the defence industry or allied defence actors, AI and ML on edge hardware, systems engineering, low-level optimisation and MLOps, and experience from serious software or defence technology environments.

No direct defence background but believe your experience is relevant, and you meet the eligibility requirements above? Apply anyway. We assess talent broadly.

Recent graduate? This is potentially one of the most formative first roles you can take. You come in before the architecture is set and build real technology from day one. We hire for potential, not just experience.

CONPENSATION

We are on our way to our pre-seed round. For the first months, compensation is equity only. We cannot offer salary until the round has closed, and once it is in, salary will follow.

This means you need to be in a life situation where you can carry a few months without income, and you need to truly believe in what we are building. In return you get founding-team equity, a position no one joining later will have.

Timing not right just now? Reach out anyway, and we will figure it out.

WHAT YOU GET

Founding-team equity with meaningful vesting. Direct collaboration with the CTO and the rest of the early-stage team. Real ownership over architecture and direction, not ticket handling. A path toward significant responsibility as we grow.

In the first phase the role is remote. Work is done from home, with visits to us in Oslo as needed and wanted, so we welcome applicants from across Norway.

HOW TO APPLY

We appreciate a short message. We would like to know: what you have built that you are most proud of, why this sector and why now, and what your ambition and goal are with a role like this at Noctra.

CONTACT:

Message here on LinkedIn or email [email protected]