Senior DevOps Engineer

Merlin Labs • Boston, MA

20h

About The Position

You are a senior DevOps engineer with a track record of designing and owning infrastructure at scale. You don't just improve existing systems — you identify what's missing, architect the solution, and see it through to production. You're equally comfortable writing Terraform modules, debugging a flaky CI pipeline, and leading a cross-team initiative to improve deployment reliability. You've worked in environments where the stakes are high and the systems are complex. You understand that in regulated or safety-critical domains, how you ship software matters as much as what you ship. You can take ownership of a problem end-to-end and deliver without needing a playbook handed to you. You want to work on something more interesting than a typical SaaS platform — at Merlin, the infrastructure you build supports software that flies real aircraft. And unlike most senior DevOps roles, there is no on-call rotation — nights and weekends are yours.

Requirements

• 3–5 years of experience in DevOps, Platform Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering, or a related role
• Deep expertise with Infrastructure as Code — Terraform required; CloudFormation or Pulumi also acceptable
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS and Microsoft Azure — AWS is our primary cloud for engineering infrastructure; both platforms are active parts of the role
• Strong experience with CI/CD platforms — GitHub Actions preferred; Jenkins, GitLab CI, or CircleCI also acceptable
• Solid experience with Linux system administration (Ubuntu preferred)
• Proficiency with Docker for building, publishing, and deploying container images
• Strong scripting skills in Python and Bash
• Experience with security and compliance tooling — SAST, SCA, SBOM generation, container scanning, or artifact signing
• Experience with configuration management tools — Ansible preferred; Chef, Puppet, or similar also acceptable — including managing software and configuration state across physical systems and embedded hardware targets (e.g., bench hardware, flight test aircraft), not just cloud or server infrastructure
• Familiarity with artifact repositories — JFrog Artifactory, Nexus, or similar package/container registries
• Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to work independently with minimal direction
• Excellent communication and documentation skills

Nice To Haves

• Experience with government-aligned cloud environments — Azure Government, GCC High, or equivalent FedRAMP/DoD-compliant platforms
• Experience working in GCC High (Microsoft Azure Government Community Cloud) or other FedRAMP/DoD-compliant cloud environments
• Experience with Debian packaging (dpkg, dch, Launchpad PPAs, or S3-hosted APT repos)
• Experience with software products that include a physical systems component — aircraft, robotics, medical devices, autonomous vehicles, or similar
• Familiarity with distributed pub/sub frameworks (e.g., ROS2) and underlying middleware such as DDS and Zenoh
• Knowledge of networking fundamentals and network security best practices
• Experience working in a regulated environment (aerospace, automotive, medical, defense) where traceability and process compliance matter
• Familiarity with SITL (Software-in-the-Loop) or HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) simulation infrastructure
• Familiarity with dev containers and containerized development environments
• Familiarity with orchestration techniques for automated regression and simulation-level integration testing (e.g., ReSim or similar frameworks)

Responsibilities

• Own the design and evolution of Merlin's cloud and on-premises infrastructure across AWS and Azure. Make architectural decisions that balance cost, reliability, security, and compliance.
• Lead Terraform-based IaC initiatives across the organization. Establish standards, review infrastructure changes, and drive the team toward fully code-managed environments.
• Set the technical direction for CI/CD pipelines across multiple interdependent systems using GitHub Actions. Drive reliability, performance, and maintainability improvements at the platform level.
• Own DevSecOps tooling — security scanning (SAST, SCA, container scanning), SBOM generation, and artifact integrity. Ensure pipelines meet contractual and regulatory obligations including export control and CDRL requirements.
• Manage cloud infrastructure across commercial and government-aligned environments, including Azure GCC High or equivalent FedRAMP/DoD-compliant platforms.
• Design and improve deployment pipelines to test systems, bench hardware, and flight test aircraft using Docker, Debian packaging, Ansible, and JFrog Artifactory.
• Partner with flight software engineers, systems engineers, IT, and leadership to ensure infrastructure supports program priorities. Communicate clearly and document your work to drive adoption across teams.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed