The Hivemind Development Platform team seeks to improve the development velocity of Hivemind teams and customers by building the core tooling, package management, build systems, and developer workflows used across the Hivemind SDK ecosystem. This team owns the customer-facing developer experience for installing, building, packaging, releasing, and consuming Hivemind SDK components.
The team owns a standardized package manager built within Nix that is used to ship the SDK and enable customers to build their own packages against the SDK. This includes ownership of SDK package definitions, reproducible toolchains, target platforms, package distribution, developer environments, and the CLI experience. This also includes ownership of the licensing mechanism for developer seats and edge devices. The team also owns service-backed platform components including the build cluster service, telemetry and authentication services, and package hosting and distribution services. These services require clear operational ownership, reliability targets, observability, support workflows, and customer-facing expectations.
The Hivemind Development Platform Manager will lead this team as they work with product teams, internal engineers, and customers to identify friction in SDK development workflows and turn those needs into scalable product-facing platform features and self-service capabilities. These decisions impact all Hivemind SDK users, both internal and external. This manager will complement deep individual contributor expertise in build systems, packaging, licensing, and distributed systems by developing the operating model, processes, and service-readiness practices required to stand up and run these product components reliably.
What you'll do:
- Lead and grow the Hivemind Development Platform team - coach and develop engineers, manage performance, and foster a culture of technical excellence, user empathy, ownership, and continuous improvement.
- Set strategic direction for the Hivemind developer platform, in partnership with Product, Architecture, Software Operations and engineering leadership.
- Own the developer platform roadmap, including SDK package management, Nix-based build infrastructure, developer environments, toolchains, target platforms, package distribution, and release workflows, including the operational readiness of service-backed components such as build clusters, package hosting, telemetry, authentication, and licensing.
- Own the customer-facing SDK developer experience, including how users install the SDK, activate licenses, pull packages, build their own packages, and integrate with supported target platforms.
- Drive cross-functional collaboration with Pilot, EdgeOS, Forge, SoftOps, and customer-facing teams to understand friction points and convert them into clear platform requirements.
- Oversee architecture decisions for the standardized Hivemind package manager, CLI, package repository services, toolchain definitions, and reproducible build environments with a practical understanding of distributed systems, service reliability, observability, and operational tradeoffs.
- Ensure the platform supports multi-language SDK development across C++, Python, Go, and TypeScript.
- Define metrics and signals for SDK developer productivity, package reliability, build reproducibility, release quality, and customer adoption.
- Represent the voice of SDK developers in engineering planning by championing ease-of-use, reproducibility, reliability, and clear ownership across the Hivemind ecosystem.
- Establish lightweight operational excellence practices for developer platform services, including ownership models, runbooks, monitoring and alerting, service-level expectations, incident response, escalation paths, and release readiness.
Required qualifications:
- 6+ years of experience in Software Engineering, Platform Engineering, Developer Infrastructure, or equivalent engineering roles
- 2+ years of people leadership experience
- 3+ years of strong understanding of C++, Linux, CMake, build systems, and software packaging in production systems.
- Strong technical judgment and ability to guide architecture across complex multi-team systems
- B.S. or Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
- You are organized and methodical
- You have a demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others
Preferred qualifications:
- Deep experience with Nix, flakes, binary caches, remote builders, cross-compilation, or custom Linux target platforms
- Experience building production-ready developer tools, package managers, SDKs, CLIs, or artifact distribution systems from scratch
- Experience with Python, Go, TypeScript, or multi-language package ecosystems
- Experience with building production webservices
Skills Required
- 6+ years of experience in Software Engineering, Platform Engineering, Developer Infrastructure, or equivalent engineering roles
- 2+ years of people leadership experience
- 3+ years strong understanding of C++, Linux, CMake, build systems, and software packaging in production systems
- Strong technical judgment and ability to guide architecture across complex multi-team systems
- B.S. or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Organized and methodical work habits
- Demonstrated record of teamwork, trustworthiness, high standards, and kindness
- Deep experience with Nix, flakes, binary caches, remote builders, cross-compilation, or custom Linux target platforms
- Experience building production-ready developer tools, package managers, SDKs, CLIs, or artifact distribution systems from scratch
- Experience with Python, Go, TypeScript, or multi-language package ecosystems
- Experience building production webservices
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
-
Healthcare Strength — Company materials describe excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside a mental‑health EAP. Site perks such as an onsite gym in DC and a gym discount in San Diego support a health‑focused offering.
-
Retirement Support — Careers materials highlight a 401(k) with company match as part of the standard package. A Total Rewards overview emphasizes retirement features within a broader, transparent compensation view.
-
Career-Linked Recognition & Rewards — Compensation for in‑demand technical and senior go‑to‑market roles is described as competitive, with visible engineering ranges and top‑end packages. This points to meaningful upside tied to role, level, and scarce skills.
Shield AI Insights
What We Do
At Shield AI, you won't wait years to see your work reach the field. You'll build hardware and software that operates in the real world right now, in the hands of the people who depend on it. Hivemind, our AI pilot, has been flying since 2018. It has flown more than 30 platforms, including an F-16, and it now sits under a U.S. Air Force production contract for Collaborative Combat Aircraft. When you write code or shape a system here, you contribute to technology with a proven flight record and a clear production future. V-BAT flies intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions with an operational record that stretches from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. It delivers eyes where they matter most, in the most demanding conditions on earth. The teams behind it watch their work get tested where the stakes are real. X-BAT takes its first flight this year. It's an AI-piloted fighter that needs no runway, built to operate where traditional aircraft can't. Join now and you help shape a program at its earliest, most formative stage. That's the kind of ground-floor work that defines a career. Do the most impactful work of your life, on problems that matter. Autonomy at this level asks a lot of you. You'll take on problems in perception, planning, and control that few teams anywhere are equipped to solve. You'll work across disciplines, from aerospace and robotics to machine learning and systems engineering, alongside people who hold themselves to an exacting standard and expect the same from you. Our mission is clear: protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. That purpose runs through every decision, every design review, and every deployment. It's why the work here carries a weight you can feel. Ready to join our mission? Explore our open roles and find where you fit.
Why Work With Us
Founded in 2015 by a former Navy SEAL, Shield AI builds AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft. Veterans aren't an afterthought here, they're at every level. It's why the work carries weight: AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft flying real missions, from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, protecting service members and civilians.
Gallery
%203.jpg)
Shield AI Teams
.jpg)
Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
