Staff C++ Build and Release Engineer (R5673)

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>](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

We’re building intelligent systems that protect service members and civilians. Our autonomy and vision technology is now being adopted across some of the most complex and high-stakes environments in modern defence.

We’ve developed a dedicated software factory for building, optimising, evaluating, and analysing autonomy and vision system solutions - and it’s gaining serious momentum. As demand grows, we’re working closely with partners and customers to solve real warfighting problems and deliver technology that genuinely changes what’s possible.

**This role sits at the heart of that mission.**

This is a build & release engineering role for teams shipping autonomy software to edge-deployed systems, frequently in isolated / constrained environments. You’ll own the engineering “last mile” between C++ development and dependable delivery: reproducible builds, trustworthy artefacts, promotion across environments, and deployable releases that work where they matter most.

If you love modern C++ toolchains, dependency hygiene, artefact provenance, and making CI/CD fast and deterministic—this is for you.

### What you'll do

• Own C++ build and release workflows for autonomy and vision products, from source → build → test → package → release.
• Support and evolve containerised CI/CD pipelines across multiple isolated environments (speed, determinism, promotion, repeatability).
• Build and maintain container images for edge deployment
• Manage JFrog/Artifactory repositories for multi-language and generic artefacts; improve versioning, retention, and promotion practices.
• Strengthen dependency and build reproducibility for C++, reducing “works on my machine” and pipeline flakiness.
• Validate and deploy autonomy and vision-system products, tools, and libraries—focusing on edge delivery and reliability.
• Collaborate with engineers and system admins to ensure integration and stability across real deployment environments.
• Tackle complex, meaningful problems that directly support mission outcomes.

### Required qualifications

• Strong, hands-on experience delivering **modern C++** software in production (not just “supporting” it).
• Demonstrated ownership of **build systems / toolchains / dependency management** (e.g., Conan, CMake, Nix, Ninja, Artifactory —whatever you’ve used to ship real systems).
• Significant recent experience running CI/CD for compiled software and maintaining the surrounding engineering systems (pipelines, runners/agents, artefact stores, promotion gates).
• Significant recent experience in Docker / Podman and containerised workflows
• Strong understanding of **Linux/Unix**systems.
• Experience debugging and troubleshooting.
• Background in air-gapped or isolated DevOps environments (or similarly constrained delivery contexts).
• Experience supporting Python deployment/distribution (for tooling around the C++ core).

### Why Shield AI

• Help shape the future of defence and autonomy in Australia and beyond.
• Be a key voice in a mission-led business redefining what’s possible with emerging technology.
• Join a growing, values-led team headquartered in Port Melbourne, with strong global partnerships and local autonomy.
• Competitive salary, performance-based incentives, and long-term growth opportunities.

### What this role is not

• Not a “cloud-first” DevOps role focused on standing up cloud infrastructure.
• This role is primarily about C++ build & release engineering and edge delivery - making autonomy software shippable, repeatable, and dependable in real environments.