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Senior Staff Engineer, ML Ops (R4941)

Shield AISan Diego, CaliforniaEngineering
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Salary
$233K - $350K USD
Job type
Full Time Employee
Posted
14 May 2026
Status
Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

Role Overview

The Senior Staff Engineer, ML Ops position at Defense in San Diego is a full-time engineering role focused on building the AI Factory Reference Architecture. This opportunity suits an experienced engineer passionate about creating scalable, Kubernetes-native platforms for next-generation artificial intelligence applications.

Key Responsibilities

Define and build the Kubernetes-native AI Factory Reference Architecture utilized for developing, training, evaluating, and deploying modern AI systems.
Partner closely with machine learning researchers, platform engineers, and autonomy teams to deliver an exceptional developer experience.
Balance researcher productivity, platform simplicity, operational excellence, and long-term maintainability across the software lifecycle.
Work hands-on across the technical stack to shape both platform architecture and implementation while tracking the evolving artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Power internal autonomy development across Hivemind and related artificial intelligence programs, as well as external reference architectures for customer environments.

Requirements

Experience designing and building complex platforms or distributed systems for machine learning operations.
Strong background collaborating with researchers and cross-functional teams to streamline model training and deployment workflows.
Ability to maintain operational excellence and system scalability across diverse deployment environments, including commercial cloud, on-premise infrastructure, sovereign setups, and air-gapped systems.

Skills and Tools

Kubernetes
Machine Learning Operations (ML Ops)
Distributed Systems Architecture
Cloud and On-Premise Infrastructure

Salary and Benefits

Annual Salary Range: USD 233,000 to 350,000
Employment Type: Full Time Employee

About the Company

Defense, operating as Shield AI, is a venture-backed defense-technology enterprise dedicated to protecting service members and civilians through intelligent systems. The organization creates advanced products such as Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technology. With facilities spanning the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region, the company actively supports global operations.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should visit the official company careers page to submit their application for this position.

Skills and tech stack

Kubernetes

Questions candidates ask

What is the location of the Senior Staff Engineer, ML Ops role?

The position is based in San Diego, California.

What is the salary range for this position?

The annual salary ranges from USD 233,000 to 350,000.

What core technology is the AI Factory built on?

The AI Factory Reference Architecture is built as a Kubernetes-native platform.

What does the AI Factory support?

It supports internal autonomy development across Hivemind and other artificial intelligence programs, alongside external deployments in customer environments ranging from commercial cloud to fully air-gapped systems.

How should I apply for this job?

Candidates can apply directly through the official company careers page.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official Shield AI careers page.

Apply on company site