Company Overview
Allen Control Systems (ACS) is a cutting-edge defense startup founded by two former Navy electrical engineers with a proven track record in robotics and software. We are developing a small, autonomous gun turret that employs advanced computer vision and control systems to precisely target and neutralize small drones and loitering munitions. Our innovative approach requires overcoming significant technical challenges, making this an exciting and dynamic environment for experienced engineers.
With an engineering-first culture, ACS values technical excellence and innovation. Backed by our founders’ successful exits from two previous ventures acquired for a combined $180M in 2022, we are committed to ensuring that the groundbreaking technologies we develop have a real-world impact.
Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Platform Engineer to design, build, and own the infrastructure powering the development of ACS’s autonomous counter-drone systems. You will manage a 130+ GPU bare-metal Kubernetes cluster, own our CI/CD pipelines, and ensure our systems run reliably in both lab and field environments.
What You’ll Do
- Deploy and operate Kubernetes clusters on bare-metal infrastructure hosting 130+ NVIDIA GPUs, with hybrid burst capability to AWS for scalable compute and storage workloads.
- Manage NVIDIA GPU clusters for ML training.
- Own the full CI/CD pipeline from source to deployment, including artifact signing, build automation, and version pinning, ensuring repeatable delivery to cloud and edge targets.
- Build and maintain the observability stack, including log aggregation, metrics collection, alerting, and dashboards providing real-time visibility into cluster health and system performance. Collaborate with computer vision, robotics, and software engineering teams to build low-friction developer tooling that accelerates iteration on the ACS turret platform.
- Define and enforce infrastructure-as-code practices using Terraform, Helm, or Ansible across on-prem and cloud deployments.
- Manage network configuration, storage provisioning, and security hardening for the bare-metal cluster in compliance with applicable defense security requirements.
What You’ll Need
- Skill at Python programming and Bash scripting
- 2+ years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps, or infrastructure engineering, with hands-on experience in production Kubernetes environments.
- Deep expertise in bare-metal Kubernetes administration, including CNI configuration, storage backends, node management, and cluster upgrades.
- Hands-on experience with NVIDIA GPU infrastructure, including CUDA, device plugins, GPU scheduling in Kubernetes, and KubeFlow or similar ML orchestration tooling.
- Strong CI/CD experience including Debian packaging, build automation, artifact management, and pipeline tooling (e.g., GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or equivalent).
- Proficiency with observability tooling (e.g. ELK) for log aggregation, metrics, and alerting in distributed Linux environments.
- Experience building C++ and Python toolchains on Linux using CMake, with familiarity with cross-compilation for ARM targets such as NVIDIA Jetson.
- Strong Linux systems knowledge (Debian/Ubuntu preferred), including networking, storage, kernel tuning, and security hardening for production environments.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary
- Health, Dental, Vision Insurance
- Paid Time Off
Allen Control Systems is an Equal Opportunity Employer, providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment. Allen Control Systems prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
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Skills Required
- Python programming and Bash scripting
- 2+ years experience in platform engineering, DevOps, or infrastructure engineering with production Kubernetes
- Deep expertise in bare-metal Kubernetes administration (CNI configuration, storage backends, node management, cluster upgrades)
- Hands-on experience with NVIDIA GPU infrastructure including CUDA, device plugins, and GPU scheduling in Kubernetes; Kubeflow or similar ML orchestration
- Experience managing large GPU clusters and hybrid burst compute to AWS
- Strong CI/CD experience including Debian packaging, build automation, artifact management, and pipeline tooling (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, Jenkins)
- Proficiency with observability tooling (ELK) for log aggregation, metrics, and alerting in distributed Linux environments
- Experience building C++ and Python toolchains on Linux using CMake and cross-compilation for ARM targets (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson)
- Strong Linux systems knowledge (Debian/Ubuntu preferred) including networking, storage, kernel tuning, and security hardening
- Define and enforce infrastructure-as-code practices using Terraform, Helm, or Ansible across on-prem and cloud deployments
- Manage network configuration, storage provisioning, and security hardening for bare-metal cluster in compliance with defense security requirements
What We Do
Allen Control Systems is a defense technology company for a new era of drone warfare and to completely change battlefield economics. ACS is developing counter-drone robotic gun systems targeted at neutralizing attacking drone swarms, drones that are pre-programmed with AI, and drones that are non-jammable. ACS was created to lower the cost per kill of a drone to a few dollars. We do this by combining cutting-edge hardware and software that allows us to point an inexpensive gun that already exists in the field more accurately than anyone ever has before. ACS is a remote organization, with our HQ in Austin, Texas, and an office in Alexandria, Va. If you're passionate about our mission, we’d love to hear from you.
