Staff Engineer, DevOps (4797)

Shield AI • San Diego, CA

3d

About The Position

Shield AI is building autonomous aircraft that redefine aviation. The Software Integration & Operations (SIO) team builds the pipelines, tools, and systems that make fast, reliable delivery of complex aircraft software possible. As a DevOps Build Engineer, you will own and maintain the build system for our autonomous aircraft (XBAT/VBAT). This role is primarily focused on Developer Experience (DevEx) and bringing DevOps best practices to our software engineers to accelerate their development cycles.

Requirements

• BS in CS, CE, EE, or related field with 7+ years industry experience (or MS/PhD with 5+ years).
• Deep CMake/C++ expertise or equivalent.
• Strong understanding of dependency management and proficiency with either Conan or CPM.
• 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 - showcasing the ability to navigate through development cycles, overcome obstacles, and deliver high-quality solutions in a fast-paced environment
• Proficiency with CICD tools (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Gitlab).
• Cloud Operations experience (Azure, AWS, GCP).
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible) and monitoring (Grafana, Prometheus).
• Background in robotics, autonomy, or aerospace systems.

Responsibilities

• Be the expert on our native (C++) software build process.
• Improve developer velocity by reducing build/test cycle time and eliminating pipeline bottlenecks.
• Collaborate with Software Engineers to understand their requirements, propose designs, and implement identified 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 related to build system performance for both local development and CI workflows.
• Use agentic solutions to aid in quickly identifying root cause around build failures and getting the appropriate feedback to a Software Engineer.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees