Shield AI

Builds autonomous aircraft for defense

DevOps Build Engineer

DevOps EngineeringPosted on Nov 11

Full-timeIn-person

About the Job

Requirements

A BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with at least 7 years of industry experience, or an MS or PhD with at least 5 years of industry experience.
Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret clearance.
Hands-on experience provisioning and administering physical servers and on-premises infrastructure.
Understanding of and hands-on experience using AI tools, including large language models, coding assistants, and agentic workflows, to improve engineering productivity and automate workflows.
Strong understanding of dependency management, artifact repositories such as Artifactory and Nexus, and package managers such as Conan, CPM, and pip.
Proficiency with containers and orchestration, including Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud build clusters.
Strong scripting skills in Python and Bash.
Hands-on experience integrating automated testing into CI pipelines.
Demonstrated success improving developer productivity at scale.
A track record as a primary project contributor, working through development cycles, overcoming obstacles, and delivering high-quality solutions in a fast-paced environment.
Proficiency with CI/CD tools such as Azure DevOps, Jenkins, and GitLab.
Cloud operations experience with Azure, AWS, or GCP, including government cloud regions such as Azure Government and AWS GovCloud.
Familiarity with infrastructure as code, including Terraform and Ansible, and monitoring tools such as Grafana and Prometheus.
A background in robotics, autonomy, or aerospace systems.
Ability to obtain an S//SAR-level security clearance is desired.

Responsibilities

Extend and mirror build and CI/CD capabilities into classified and air-gapped environments, keeping them aligned with unclassified development workflows.
Design, stand up, and maintain on-premises physical build infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking, and build clusters; select, rack, install, and provision hardware and manage its lifecycle.
Architect and support deployments across multiple classification levels, including controlled transfer of source code, dependencies, artifacts, and containers across network boundaries.
Work with Security, IT, and ISSM/ISSO teams to ensure build systems meet accreditation and compliance requirements, including RMF, DISA STIGs, and NIST 800-53/800-171.
Become an expert in the software build and delivery process, from developer workstations through CI and deployment.
Improve developer velocity by reducing build and test cycle time and removing pipeline bottlenecks.
Work with Software Engineers to understand their requirements, propose designs, and implement solutions.
Partner with developers to resolve build and test failures quickly and establish integration best practices.
Integrate CI pipelines with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and simulation environments for automated validation.
Implement monitoring, dashboards, and alerts for build-system performance across local development, CI, and classified environments.
Use agentic solutions to identify the root cause of build failures and route feedback to the responsible Software Engineer.

Desired Qualifications

Experience building or operating CI/CD pipelines in classified or air-gapped environments.
Experience with cross-domain solutions (CDS) and data-transfer processes between networks of different classification levels.
Familiarity with RMF/ATO processes, STIG hardening, and secure software supply-chain practices, including software bills of materials (SBOMs) and artifact signing.

Salary Range: 125000 to 200000 (Currency: USD) (Pay period: per-year-salary)

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Job Description:

Shield AI is building autonomous aircraft that redefine aviation. The Foundation Engineering team builds the pipelines, tools, and systems that make fast, reliable delivery of complex aircraft software possible.

As a DevOps Build Engineer, you will extend our build and delivery infrastructure for our autonomous aircraft (XBAT/VBAT) into classified environments. You will stand up and maintain physical build infrastructure and support software deployments across multiple classification levels. You will also apply DevOps best practices to improve Developer Experience (DevEx) and speed up our software engineers' development cycles.

What you'll do:

Extend and mirror build and CI/CD capabilities into classified and air-gapped environments, keeping them aligned with unclassified development workflows.
Design, stand up, and maintain on-premises physical build infrastructure (servers, storage, networking, and build clusters), including hardware selection, rack/install, provisioning, and lifecycle management.
Architect and support multi-classification deployments, including controlled transfer of source, dependencies, artifacts, and containers across network boundaries.
Work with Security, IT, and ISSM/ISSO teams to make sure build systems meet accreditation and compliance requirements (e.g., RMF, DISA STIGs, NIST 800-53/800-171).
Be an expert on our software build and delivery process, from developer workstations to CI to deployment.
Improve developer velocity by reducing build/test cycle time and removing pipeline bottlenecks.
Work with Software Engineers to understand their requirements, propose designs, and implement solutions.
Partner with developers to resolve build/test failures quickly and set best practices for integration.
Integrate CI pipelines with HIL and simulation environments for automated validation.
Implement monitoring, dashboards, and alerts for build system performance across local development, CI, and classified environments.
Use agentic solutions to quickly identify the root cause of build failures and route the right feedback to the responsible Software Engineer.

Required qualifications:

BS in CS, CE, EE, or related field with 7+ years of industry experience (or MS/PhD with 5+ years).

Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret clearance.

Hands-on experience provisioning and administering physical servers and on-prem infrastructure.

Understanding of and hands-on experience using AI tools (e.g., LLMs, coding assistants, agentic workflows) to improve engineering productivity and automate workflows.

Strong understanding of dependency management, artifact repositories (e.g., Artifactory, Nexus), and package managers (e.g., Conan, CPM, pip).

Proficiency with containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, cloud build clusters).

Strong scripting skills (Python, Bash).

Hands-on experience integrating automated testing into CI pipelines.

Demonstrated success improving developer productivity at scale.

Demonstrated track record of excellence as a primary contributor on projects, with the ability to work through development cycles, overcome obstacles, and deliver high-quality solutions in a fast-paced environment.

Proficiency with CI/CD tools (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitLab).

Cloud operations experience (Azure, AWS, GCP), including government cloud regions (e.g., Azure Government, AWS GovCloud).

Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible) and monitoring (Grafana, Prometheus).

Background in robotics, autonomy, or aerospace systems.

Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired.

Preferred qualifications:

Experience building or operating CI/CD pipelines in classified or air-gapped environments.
Experience with cross-domain solutions (CDS) and data transfer processes between networks of different classification levels.
Familiarity with RMF/ATO processes, STIG hardening, and secure software supply chain practices (SBOMs, artifact signing).

#LI-AA1

Full-time regular employee offer package:

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

About the Company

Shield AI

Builds autonomous aircraft for defense

Shield AI builds autonomous aircraft and flight software for military and allied defense customers, with a focus on operations where conventional remote control breaks down. Its Hivemind AI pilot handles decisions during a mission, while the V-BAT aircraft gathers intelligence and locates targets. Aircraft makers use its software tools to develop and test their own autonomy, and its Aechelon business supplies visual and sensor simulation for pilot training. The company earns money from aircraft sales, autonomy software and contracted engineering and operational services. Shield AI was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Company size: 1,001-5,000
Company stage: Series H
Total funding: $4.8B
Headquarters: San Diego, CA
Founded: 2015

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