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Watchtower Labs
AI-native decision environment for military planning
- 30
- SCRCSGFF
- Seattle
- AI
Open roles at Watchtower Labs
5 positions we're tracking, re-checked daily
- Apply ↗
Backend Engineer, Simulation and Distributed Systems (Seattle, $150K–$200K)
Seattle, USAMid-levelFirst seen today - Apply ↗
AI/ML Engineer, Agents and Simulation Modeling (Seattle, $165K–$220K)
Seattle, USAMid-levelFirst seen today - Apply ↗
Mission Engineer (Seattle / Honolulu / Burlingame / NCR, Secret clearance, $160K–$215K)
Seattle, USAMid-levelFirst seen today - Apply ↗
UX Developer, Frontend Systems
Seattle, USAMid-levelFirst seen today - Apply ↗
Mission Lead
Seattle, USASeniorFirst seen today
Tracking Watchtower Labs
Last checked October 22, 2026Know when Watchtower Labs is hiring before anyone else
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window, and where we put you in it.
- Live
- +2h+2hRole spotted & verified1 applicant
- +4h+4hYou get the alert1 applicant
- Day 3Day 3You've applied~8 applicants
- Day 7+Day 7+Hits the job boards250+ applicants
The product
What Watchtower Labs is building
Watchtower is building what it calls a decision environment, not a dashboard. Its own framing is the cleanest summary: a system of record stores what happened; Watchtower computes what happens next. The platform models the constraints that bind a force (fuel, munitions, spare parts, transport, routes and time), then generates executable courses of action and stress-tests each one against hundreds of possible futures in a continuous loop. Planners ask in plain language (GeekWire's example: "Can we sustain operations in this theater for three more weeks with limited fuel resupply?") and get options that show the required transport, delivery schedules, likely delays, and the assumptions and tradeoffs behind each. The technical bet is that this is not an LLM problem with a chat box on top. Akhil Iyer told GeekWire you can't "LLM your way" through complex optimization; the core is simulation and operations-research math, with agentic AI as the interface and orchestration layer. The job posts confirm the shape: a multi-agent simulation engine in C# and .NET, running in AWS Secret environments on Docker and Kubernetes, with a Python/LLM team building agentic workflows on top. The starting wedge is logistics and sustainment, which is where a plan most visibly becomes executable or not. In January 2026 the Defense Innovation Unit selected Watchtower for a prototype under the Joint Sustainment Decision Tool program, whose partners per GeekWire include INDOPACOM, NORTHCOM and the Defense Logistics Agency. The platform has been shaped since 2025 with the Naval Postgraduate School.
The money
Why this matters
Military planning staffs still reconcile plans largely by hand, and Watchtower's whole pitch is that the tempo of modern operations has outrun that process. Sarah Guo put it bluntly in the launch release: logistics is "the backbone of our military's power, and yet we're stuck in the Stone Age." The timing argument is that DoD is now actually buying this category through competitive prototype programs like DIU's JSDT, rather than funding studies about it, and a team that has already won one of those awards gets to shape the requirements for everything that follows. Note the honest gap: the company has disclosed neither benchmark results nor contract values, so the product is still proving itself in the field.
Investors: Shield Capital (Raj Shah), Conviction (Sarah Guo), Founders Fund
The outlook
Hiring outlook
Explicit and public. Five open roles on the careers page with posted pay ranges, the release names team growth as the first use of funds, and GeekWire reports Watchtower is moving to a larger Bellevue office and plans to double headcount.
Working at Watchtower Labs
Watchtower Labs is AI-native decision environment for military planning, and now <50 people. For a AI company this size, the reality is broad remit, direct access to founders, and equity that still means something if the company works out.
Most Watchtower Labs jobs are based in Seattle, USA.
How to actually get hired at Watchtower Labs
Why applying the normal way doesn't work
With only <50 employees, Watchtower Labs doesn't have dedicated recruiters. Founders review applications between running the company. The challenge isn't competition — it's visibility. Direct outreach wins.
Who to contact at Watchtower Labs
- Who decides
- a founder or department head
- Best channel
- LinkedIn or direct email
Founding team
Served as a U.S. Marine Corps infantry and special operations officer from 2011 to 2019, including as a Marine Special Operations Team Commander with MARSOC. After active duty he worked on counter-drone technology and then joined Shield Capital as an investor in defense and frontier-tech startups. Educated at Stanford, Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School; he co-founded Watchtower inside Shield.
A longtime Microsoft engineering leader who spent years building large-scale distributed systems, including work on fraud protection. He leads Watchtower's technical architecture, the simulation engine and secure deployment stack.
Another longtime Microsoft engineering veteran with a background in large-scale distributed systems and fraud protection. He runs engineering out of Watchtower's Bellevue office, its largest hub with more than a dozen people.
What to show them
Build a small discrete-event logistics simulator in C#/.NET: a few supply nodes, constrained transport, stochastic delays. Run a Monte Carlo over a few hundred futures and output, for two competing resupply plans, the probability each stays executable for N days. Put it on GitHub with a short writeup of how you'd distribute the runs.
A cold email that works at Watchtower Labs
What Watchtower Labs screens for
This round was built, not shopped. Shield Capital incubated the company in-house, its founder Raj Shah is Watchtower's chairman, and Akhil came from Shield's own investing team. Conviction adding a co-lead and Founders Fund participating means two of the most AI-native seed firms think this is a frontier-AI company that happens to sell to the military, not a services shop. $35M at seed for a ~30-person team that plans to double is the hiring window: the engine, the agent layer, and the deployment playbook are all being staffed right now, and the people who join this year own those systems. The C#/.NET stack is a real edge for Microsoft-ecosystem engineers, which fits a team whose CTO and head of engineering came out of Microsoft.
Don't send a generic CV to Watchtower Labs. Mirror the job posting's language to get past automated screening.
Avoid
Don't make these mistakes
Akhil was a Marine infantry and special operations officer (MARSOC team commander) and then a defense investor at Shield Capital. He has heard every civilian's "I want to support the mission" line and every pitch that treats defense as a growth market. Don't lead with patriotism or with how excited you are about AI. And don't pitch an LLM-first solution: he has said on record that you can't "LLM your way" through these optimization problems. Lead with constraint math, simulation, or a distributed system you've made reliable under uncertainty.
Mistakes that kill Watchtower Labs applications
A recycled CV gets rejected fast at Watchtower Labs (<50 people). They notice.
Lead with their problem, not your ambition. Watchtower Labs is focused on Military planning staffs still reconcile plans largely by hand, and Watchtower's whole pitch is that the tempo of modern operations has outrun that process — show you understand that.
Don't apply and wait. The median AI application gets no response ever. One follow-up at day five roughly doubles reply rates.
Tracking Watchtower Labs
Applying to Watchtower Labs? Get the contact, not the form.
The Watchtower Labs interview process
3 stages over about 7 days, including a take-home task. See each stage, what it tests and how to prepare.
Watchtower Labs jobs, frequently asked questions
How many jobs does Watchtower Labs have open?
Watchtower Labs currently has 5 open roles, last verified October 22, 2026.
Does Watchtower Labs hire remotely?
Currently, Watchtower Labs only has in-office roles in Seattle, USA.
What roles is Watchtower Labs hiring for?
Watchtower Labs is hiring across Engineering, Other. The most recent opening is Backend Engineer, Simulation and Distributed Systems (Seattle, $150K–$200K).
How do I apply for a job at Watchtower Labs?
Apply directly through the links above, or read our guide on how to actually get hired at Watchtower Labs.
Does Watchtower Labs respond to cold emails?
We're still collecting cold email data for Watchtower Labs.
Who is the hiring manager at Watchtower Labs?
At this size, hiring is usually run by a founder or department head.
How competitive is it to get hired at Watchtower Labs?
Typical applicant count for AI roles (<50 people): 50-100 in two weeks. Apply fast.
Where is Watchtower Labs based?
Watchtower Labs is headquartered in Seattle, USA.
Tracking Watchtower Labs
Last checked October 22, 2026Get Watchtower Labs roles before they're posted
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window, and where we put you in it.
- Live
- +2h+2hRole spotted & verified1 applicant
- +4h+4hYou get the alert1 applicant
- Day 3Day 3You've applied~8 applicants
- Day 7+Day 7+Hits the job boards250+ applicants
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