Staff Engineer, XBAT DevOps (R4542)

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 [](https://shield.ai/). Follow Shield AI on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/shield-ai), [X](https://x.com/shieldaitech), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/shield_ai), and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@Shield_AI). ### Job Description: As a DevOps Engineer, you’ll own our CI/CD and automation stack — driving developer velocity, pipeline health, and large-scale test execution from single-agent runs to cluster-orchestrated mission scenarios. This is a hands-on IC role that removes bottlenecks, accelerates iteration, and ensures every engineer can test and ship with speed and rigor. ### What you'll do: - Own and operate the CI/CD system across autonomy, embedded, and ground software. - Improve developer velocity by reducing build/test cycle time and eliminating pipeline bottlenecks. - Scale simulation test execution in CI — from containerized single-agent runs to orchestrated clusters. - Manage infrastructure for builds and tests (Azure DevOps, Git, Artifactory, cloud build agents). - Fully automate common tasks to create a self-service DevOps model allowing developers to be fully empowered. - 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 CI/CD health and performance. - Collaborate with the Developer Ops teams across Shield AI to introduce new technologies, best practices, and shared standards. ### Required qualifications: - BS in CS, CE, EE, or related field with 7+ years industry experience (or MS/PhD with 5+ years). - Strong expertise in CI/CD tools (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions). - Proficiency with containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, cloud build clusters). - Strong scripting skills (Python, Bash, PowerShell). - 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 - showcasing the ability to navigate through development cycles, overcome obstacles, and deliver high-quality solutions in a fast-paced environment - Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired. ### Preferred qualifications: - Experience building simulation or HIL-based test pipelines. - CMake/C++ expertise or equivalent. - Strong understanding of dependency management and proficiency with either Conan or CPM. - Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible) and monitoring (Grafana, Prometheus). - Background in robotics, autonomy, or aerospace systems.