Defense Unicorns

Lead Engineer and Systems Architect

Phoenix, AZ
USD 186k - 245k
Kubernetes AWS GCP Azure Terraform
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Description

EMPLOYER IS A CONTRACTOR FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. THIS POSITION WILL REQUIRE U.S. CITIZENSHIP.

Role Description: 

We are seeking a Lead Engineer and Systems Architect to drive engineering and architecture decision making across a suite of products that combine AI, software, firmware and hardware into advanced capabilities for Mission Heroes (customers).  This role requires experience leading the technical aspects of complex engineering projects and the ability to understand tradeoffs and develop architectural solutions at the system level across AI, software, firmware, and hardware.

 

Responsibilities: 

  • Transform short and long term product requirements into an architecture platform that drives design requirements for AI, software, firmware and hardware components
  • Communicate effectively with technical and non-technical audiences, fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment within the internal engineering team and contractor engineering teams
  • Provide technical leadership and mentoring to product development team members and drive decision making that requires complex tradeoffs across AI, software, firmware and hardware
  • Lead the development, integration and testing of AI-powered solutions
  • Maintain comprehensive documentation of system architecture, design decisions, and technical guidelines
  • Collaborate with researchers and product leaders to develop the long term product roadmap

Travel Expectations/Requirements: 5-15%

Location Expectations: Hybrid 3 days in the office in Phoenix, Arizona

The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization. We are seeking a dynamic individual who is able to adapt and take on new responsibilities as they arise. 

Preferred Experience and Qualifications:

  • 10+ years of experience with a mix of embedded systems engineering, software engineering and artificial intelligence with 3+ years as a Lead Engineer or Systems Architect
  • Experience building systems using advanced SoCs and processors from Qualcomm, AMD, Nvidia or similar
  • Experience building systems with resource constraints where battery life, heat and physical space are important considerations
  • Experience building edge solutions with AI functionality on-device
  • Experience with ARM architecture and development tools
  • History of developing systems that have successfully ramped into production
  • High level of technical proficiency, with the ability to lead a team in solving complex problems and making high-impact engineering decisions

Amazing To Haves

  • Experience deploying on-device neural networks using SDKs for GPUs, DSPs, etc
  • Experience building embedded systems in air-gapped environments
  • Experience with containerization and Kubernetes

 

Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed. At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Full compensation packages are based on candidate experience. Compensation ranges are established using national benchmarking data and apply across all geographic locations within the United States. 

Phoenix, Arizona
$186,749$245,143 USD

Who We Are

Defense Unicorns delivers mission value by streamlining software delivery so our customers can focus on the most important challenges. We share a vision of freedom and security for the advancement of progress and innovation. Our commitment to this vision, and to our mission-driven customers, means a commitment to speed, user experience and optionality, without compromising security. Our team is composed of innovators, software engineers, and veterans with decades of experience delivering technology programs across the federal market.

What We Do

We create and deliver secure solutions for continuous software integration and delivery. Defense Unicorns consolidates the best practices for security pipelines, testing, and deployment automation in order to meet the high security requirements valued by mission owners. Our solutions are agnostic by design and we believe that growing a robust ecosystem of secure, cloud-native software solutions can help enterprise customers inside and outside the federal market buy and integrate software more easily.

Who We Serve

Defense Unicorns’ customers are mission-focused leaders across public and private enterprises. We proudly support defense and civil agencies across the U.S. government and we work closely with the creators of leading-edge software solutions to deliver value to the mission-owner by improving the security and consumability of commercial software products.

What We Work On

  • Kubernetes
  • Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
  • Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
  • Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
  • GitOps
  • Containers
  • CNCF projects and open source products and packages
  • Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
  • Building and improving security delivery
  • Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications

Benefits Our Unicorns Enjoy

Health:

  • Medical/Dental/Vision
  • Premiums are 100% Company Paid
  • Health Reimbursement Account
  • Life Insurance
  • Disability Insurance

Financial:

  • 401k with Employer Contribution (Regardless of Employee Contribution)
  • Company Stock Options
  • Home Office Setup Budget

Leave:

  • Unlimited paid time off, with a mandatory 10 days off on top of 11 federal government holidays, week of Thanksgiving, last two weeks of December (including New Year’s Day)
  • Paid Parental Leave

Learning:

  • Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
  • Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)

Don’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't meet every requirement listed. 

At Defense Unicorns, we're committed to diversity. If you're enthusiastic about the role but don't match every criteria, we encourage you to apply. You could be the perfect fit for this or another role! Defense Unicorns is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

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