Staff Engineer, Build & Release (R3937)

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With nine offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Shield AI is building autonomous aircraft that push the limits of aviation. The Software Integration & Operations (SIO) team builds and sustains the release systems that make safe, rapid, and repeatable deployment of aircraft software possible.

As a Staff Build & Release Engineer, you will own packaging, artifact traceability, and release pipelines across the Aircraft Software department. Your mission is to ensure every software build is reproducible, compliant, and ready for fleet deployment — with the tools and reporting to prove it. This is a technical IC role focused on release rigor, security, and reproducibility.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Own build/release pipelines across autonomy, GNC, embedded, and ground software.
• Design and enforce versioning, packaging, and artifact traceability standards.
• Maintain dependency management systems (CMake, Conan, Poetry) to ensure reliable builds.
• Manage release-critical infrastructure (Azure DevOps, Artifactory, Git repos, cloud build agents).
• Collaborate with simulation and HIL teams to validate releases before deployment.
• Implement dashboards and reporting for release quality, compliance, and readiness.
• Enforce security and regulatory standards in build/release workflows.
• Drive continuous improvements in build reproducibility and release reliability.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• BS in CS, CE, EE, or related field with 7+ years industry experience (or MS/PhD with 5+ years).
• Deep expertise in build/release engineering and configuration management (CMake, Conan, Poetry).
• Strong experience with CI/CD and artifact management (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Artifactory, registries).
• Proficiency in scripting (Python, Bash, PowerShell) for automation.
• Experience delivering reproducible builds and secure releases at scale.
• Proven track record shipping software via structured release systems.
• 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

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience with embedded/RTOS build environments or avionics software.
• Familiarity with containers, orchestration, and cloud-based build/test clusters.
• Experience with compliance-heavy release processes (safety-critical, aerospace, or defense) and the expertise to automate them.
• Exposure to infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible) and monitoring tools.
• Background in robotics, autonomy, or aerospace software.

$150,711 - $226,067 a year

Full-time regular employee offer package:

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.