Responsibilities:
- Infrastructure Architecture — Own the design and evolution of Merlin's cloud and on-premises infrastructure across AWS and Azure. Make architectural decisions that balance cost, reliability, security, and compliance.
- Infrastructure as Code — Lead Terraform-based IaC initiatives across the organization. Establish standards, review infrastructure changes, and drive the team toward fully code-managed environments.
- CI/CD Platform Ownership — Set the technical direction for CI/CD pipelines across multiple interdependent systems using GitHub Actions. Drive reliability, performance, and maintainability improvements at the platform level.
- Security & Compliance — Own DevSecOps tooling — security scanning (SAST, SCA, container scanning), SBOM generation, and artifact integrity. Ensure pipelines meet contractual and regulatory obligations including export control and CDRL requirements.
- Cloud Environment Management — Manage cloud infrastructure across commercial and government-aligned environments, including Azure GCC High or equivalent FedRAMP/DoD-compliant platforms.
- Deployment Automation — Design and improve deployment pipelines to test systems, bench hardware, and flight test aircraft using Docker, Debian packaging, Ansible, and JFrog Artifactory.
- Cross-Team Collaboration — Partner with flight software engineers, systems engineers, IT, and leadership to ensure infrastructure supports program priorities. Communicate clearly and document your work to drive adoption across teams.
Qualifications:
3–5 years of experience in DevOps, Platform Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering, or a related role
Deep expertise with Infrastructure as Code — Terraform required; CloudFormation or Pulumi also acceptable
Strong hands-on experience with AWS and Microsoft Azure — AWS is our primary cloud for engineering infrastructure; both platforms are active parts of the role
Strong experience with CI/CD platforms — GitHub Actions preferred; Jenkins, GitLab CI, or CircleCI also acceptable
Solid experience with Linux system administration (Ubuntu preferred)
Proficiency with Docker for building, publishing, and deploying container images
Strong scripting skills in Python and Bash
Experience with security and compliance tooling — SAST, SCA, SBOM generation, container scanning, or artifact signing
Experience with configuration management tools — Ansible preferred; Chef, Puppet, or similar also acceptable — including managing software and configuration state across physical systems and embedded hardware targets (e.g., bench hardware, flight test aircraft), not just cloud or server infrastructure
Familiarity with artifact repositories — JFrog Artifactory, Nexus, or similar package/container registries
Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to work independently with minimal direction
Excellent communication and documentation skills
Nice to Have:
- Experience with government-aligned cloud environments — Azure Government, GCC High, or equivalent FedRAMP/DoD-compliant platforms
- Experience working in GCC High (Microsoft Azure Government Community Cloud) or other FedRAMP/DoD-compliant cloud environments
- Experience with Debian packaging (dpkg, dch, Launchpad PPAs, or S3-hosted APT repos)
- Experience with software products that include a physical systems component — aircraft, robotics, medical devices, autonomous vehicles, or similar
- Familiarity with distributed pub/sub frameworks (e.g., ROS2) and underlying middleware such as DDS and Zenoh
- Knowledge of networking fundamentals and network security best practices
- Experience working in a regulated environment (aerospace, automotive, medical, defense) where traceability and process compliance matter
- Familiarity with SITL (Software-in-the-Loop) or HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) simulation infrastructure
- Familiarity with dev containers and containerized development environments
- Familiarity with orchestration techniques for automated regression and simulation-level integration testing (e.g., ReSim or similar frameworks)
What We Do
All of the sky, none of the limits. Merlin Labs is building the autonomous infrastructure for the sky above us, enabling goods, and eventually people, to fly without pilots. The Merlin Labs team is building the definitive autonomy system for all things that fly. We’re creating sophisticated software and hardware that fulfill the functions of a human pilot.
