Who We AreAt Firestorm, we’re on a mission to revolutionize how defense solutions are designed and delivered. Our goal is to empower U.S. ally nations to effectively deter aggressors — regardless of their defense budget — through innovative, cost-efficient technologies. We call this vision “democratized deterrence.” As a VC-backed company at the intersection of defense and Silicon Valley, we’re pioneering the development of mission-adaptable aerial vehicles that put power back into the hands of operators. By prioritizing operator effectiveness, we’re pioneering a new era of aerial vehicle design. We aim to upend the traditional defense procurement model by delivering world-class capabilities at a fraction of the usual cost. Join us at Firestorm as we redefine defense procurement, making cutting-edge technology accessible to all at a fraction of the cost.
About the RoleAt Firestorm, we are building autonomous aerial systems that operate where they are needed most, when they are needed most. Our mission requires speed, ingenuity, and a relentless commitment to engineering excellence. We move fast, test constantly, and deliver capability that performs in the real world, not just in simulation.
We are looking for a Senior AI Platform Engineer who is excited to build the platform foundations that make AI-enabled software reliable, secure, and operable at scale. You will design and implement core services, registries, workflow orchestration primitives, and the integration patterns that connect AI-driven workflows to internal systems, without compromising governance, auditability, or safety. This is a hands-on role with significant ownership: you will build the primitives that other engineers depend on, and you will help set the standard for reliability and software quality in a fast-moving environment.
If you want to build systems that matter, own your work end to end, and be part of a team that values bold thinking grounded in rigorous engineering, Firestorm is the place to do it.
What You'll Do- Build and operate core backend services that power AI-enabled workflows (APIs, orchestration, storage, and internal integrations)
- Design scalable data models and registries for versioned artifacts and metadata, with strong traceability and auditability
- Implement secure-by-default service patterns: authN/authZ, audit logs, secrets handling, and least-privilege access
- Build reliability foundations: observability, metrics, tracing, alerting, SLOs, incident response playbooks
- Implement idempotent APIs and state-handling patterns for resilient workflows (retries, partial failure, reconciliation)
- Create integration adapters and event-driven plumbing to safely connect workflows to internal systems
- Establish release and deployment practices: CI/CD pipelines, environment promotion, rollback strategies, and safe migrations
- Partner closely with AI and application engineers to define interfaces, validation layers, and operational constraints
- Identify performance, scalability, and security risks early and ship pragmatic solutions quickly
Minimum Qualifications- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience)
- U.S. Citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance
- 6+ years of experience building and operating backend/platform systems in production
- 3+ years building platforms that support AI/ML systems in production (e.g., evaluation pipelines, model/app runtime infrastructure, artifact/metadata registries, AI workflow orchestration, MLOps)
- Experience operating LLM-enabled systems with production constraints (latency, cost, reliability), including monitoring quality/regressions and enforcing safe tool/data access
- Strong proficiency in one or more backend languages (e.g., Go, Java, Python, C++) and modern infrastructure practices
- Experience designing APIs, data models, and distributed systems with reliability and security best practices
- Experience with workflow/event systems (queues, pub/sub, orchestration, idempotency, state machines) used to run multi-step AI-driven pipelines
- Experience implementing observability for AI systems (metrics, tracing, logs) including quality/reliability signals beyond uptime (e.g., eval scores, rejection rates, cost/latency budgets)
- Experience with production security controls: RBAC/ABAC, audit logs, secrets management, data access boundaries
- Strong communication and documentation skills
Preferred Qualifications- Experience with AI/ML infrastructure (model serving, inference gateways, feature/data pipelines, experiment tracking, artifact registries)
- Experience with GPU-aware infrastructure and/or high-throughput inference (capacity planning, batching, caching, rate limiting)
- Experience building evaluation platforms (offline/online evals, canaries, A/B testing, regression automation, dataset/version management)
- Familiarity with AI safety/security patterns (prompt injection mitigation, tool sandboxing, policy enforcement, data-loss prevention)
- Experience building internal platforms used by multiple teams with clear contracts, SLAs/SLOs, and well-managed migrations
- Experience with multi-tenant or role-based access control systems
Work Environment- Remote (U.S.) with the option to be based at our Headquarters in San Diego, CA We welcome candidates who are local or open to relocating; relocation assistance is available and may be included in the offer package where appropriate
- Ability to travel up to 10%; may be required for team collaboration, field testing, or customer support
CompensationUS Salary Range: $165,000 - $225,000 USD
The posted salary range reflects an estimate based on a variety of compensation factors, including but not limited to relevant experience, education, certifications, specialized skills, geographic location, and business needs. Actual compensation may vary, and this range is subject to change as our compensation structure or market conditions evolve.
Benefits & PerksOur culture fosters collaboration, respect, and trust, empowering passionate people to do their best work. We offer a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for career growth. In addition to an opportunity to take part in an innovative, collaborative and fast-growing business with a highly motivated and skilled team, we also take pride in taking care of our employees. Here are just a few ways that we show our appreciation:
- We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and visions plans
- 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan to invest in your long-term retirement goals
- Equity grants for new hires
- Unlimited PTO
- Extremely generous company holiday calendar, including a holiday hiatus in November, & December
- Generous Parental Leave
- Lifestyle Spending Account
- FSA
- DCFSA
- HSA
- Hospital Indemnity insurance
- Critical Illness insurance
- Accident insurance
- Basic Life/AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance, 100% covered by Firestorm. Plus, the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your family.
- Mental Health Resources: We provide free mental health resources 24/7 including therapy and more. Additional work-life services, such as free legal and financial support, are available to you as well
Export Control Compliance To conform to U.S. government export control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or otherwise eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Department of Commerce.
Equal Opportunity StatementFirestorm is an equal opportunity employer, committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, and upholding equitable hiring practices. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic under federal, state, or local law, including those with a criminal history, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the CA Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. We actively encourage members of recognized minorities, women, Veterans, and those with disabilities to apply, and we work to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all applicants throughout the interview process. Firestorm is committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible work environment. If you require accommodations or assistance during the application process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at careers@launchfirestorm.com so we can provide the support you need.
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