Senior Software Engineer, Embedded Linux Platform (R5718)

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies.

With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Job Description

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer, Embedded Linux Platform to help build and own the operating system and software platform that turns our edge compute hardware into reliable, deployable autonomous systems.

This role sits at the boundary between hardware and application software. You will own the Linux platform and software delivery foundations of our edge compute systems, from hardware bring-up and operating system configuration through reproducible builds, packaging, deployment and operation in the field.

NixOS is our primary deployed operating system and a core technology for this role. You will help evolve and maintain our NixOS-based platform, while also supporting and improving other Linux distributions and environments used across our edge systems.

You will develop C++ software and platform tooling, package software and hardware dependencies, integrate vendor BSPs and drivers, and ensure we can reliably build, configure and deploy complete systems across our supported hardware and Linux environments.

You don't need to already be a NixOS expert. We are looking for strong software engineers with experience in Linux systems, embedded Linux or adjacent platform technologies who are interested in developing deep expertise in NixOS. Experience with NixOS is highly valued, as is experience with technologies such as Yocto, Buildroot, Debian/Ubuntu or other Linux build and distribution systems.

The goal is simple: make the path from hardware to deployed software reproducible, reliable and predictable.

What you'll do

Own and evolve the embedded Linux platforms deployed across our edge compute systems, with NixOS as a primary focus.

Build and maintain operating system images, configurations and software environments for production hardware across multiple Linux distributions.

Evolve and maintain our NixOS platform, including system configuration, packaging and integration of application and hardware dependencies.

Develop C++ systems software and platform tooling that supports the operation, configuration and deployment of our edge systems.

Integrate and maintain vendor BSPs, Linux kernels, device trees, drivers, and hardware-specific dependencies.

Package application software, system components and third-party dependencies using Nix and other platform-appropriate mechanisms.

Develop and improve the mechanisms used to build, configure, version, test and deploy complete software systems onto edge devices.

Bring up new compute platforms and hardware configurations and establish a clear path from initial integration through production deployment.

Define clean interfaces between the operating system, hardware platform and application software so application teams can build on stable and well-supported foundations.

Diagnose challenging problems across application software, userspace Linux, the kernel, drivers and hardware interfaces.

Improve system reliability, boot behaviour, performance, security and resource utilisation.

Develop automated build, test and validation infrastructure for operating system images and hardware/software integration.

Work closely with application, autonomy, perception, hardware and test engineers to integrate new capabilities and hardware into the platform.

Improve the developer experience for engineers building, testing and deploying software onto edge systems.

Establish engineering practices that make deployed systems reproducible, traceable and recoverable.

Required qualifications

Strong understanding of Linux systems, from userspace through to the kernel and hardware interfaces.

Experience building, configuring or maintaining Linux systems used as part of a deployed product.

Experience with Nix/NixOS, Yocto, Buildroot, Debian/Ubuntu or similar Linux build and distribution technologies . Deep NixOS experience is highly valued but not required.

Strong software engineering experience in modern C++ , ideally developing systems software, platform software or software for Linux-based edge devices.

Experience with reproducible builds, dependency management, software packaging or software supply chains.

Experience diagnosing difficult problems that cross application, operating system and hardware boundaries.

Experience with CI/CD and automated build and test systems.

Ability to take ownership of complex platform problems and drive them from initial investigation through deployment and long-term support.