Staff Engineer, XBAT DevOps (R4542) (Dallas, TX)

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

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.