Staff Software Engineer, Build & Release (R3007)

Introduction to Shield AIFounded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company whose mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. In pursuit of this mission, Shield AI is building the world’s best AI pilot. Its AI pilot, Hivemind, has flown a fighter jet (F-16), a vertical takeoff and landing drone (V-BAT), and a quadcopter (Nova). The company has offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington DC and abroad. Shield AI’s products and people are currently in the field actively supporting operations with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. allies.

As a Build and Release Engineer on the Hivemind team at Shield AI, you will play a pivotal role in the development, integration, and distribution of our cutting-edge autonomy SDK. This SDK serves as a core foundation for AI-powered autonomy solutions deployed across specialized platforms. Your work will ensure our developers have a streamlined, reliable, and efficient development process, enhancing developer velocity and deployment confidence. Working closely with autonomy engineers, you’ll focus on optimizing our build systems, managing complex dependencies, and refining release processes to meet the unique demands of autonomy development.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Build System and Dependency Management
• Architect, optimize, and maintain C++ build systems using tools like CMake and Makefiles, focusing on reproducibility and scalability across development and production environments.
• Manage and integrate dependencies effectively with Conan, ensuring a consistent and secure package management strategy that aligns with SDK requirements.

• Work with package management tools like Debian to handle cross-platform dependencies, making the SDK accessible to a wide range of developers and systems.

• Optimization and Profiling

• Identify and address build performance bottlenecks through profiling tools and techniques, implementing optimizations like caching and precompiled headers to reduce build times and improve efficiency.

• Apply best practices in compiler and linker configurations for GCC and Clang, ensuring compatibility across various platforms and improving build reliability.

• Linux Expertise

• Leverage expertise in Linux-based development to troubleshoot and enhance SDK builds, deploying across distributions like Ubuntu and RHEL.

• Develop scripts in Bash or ZSH for automation and build process improvements.

• Version Control and Branching Strategies

• Collaborate closely with autonomy engineers to support codebase management, continuously improving workflows to reduce development friction.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Typically requires a minimum of 7 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s degree; or 4 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
• 5+ years in build and release engineering, ideally within C++-based environments.
• Proficiency with CMake and Linux development.
• Experience with some C++ package management tool (like Conan).
• Experience working with CI/CD tools, automated pipelines, and virtualized environments.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Deep Conan expertise.
• Adaptable problem solver - able to learn new skills quickly and can hop into many different projects quickly.
• Working in large mono-repo or poly-repo projects with 100+ developers.