Senior DevOps Build Engineer

At Firestorm, we are building the future of expeditionary defense manufacturing and autonomous systems. Modern conflict has exposed a fundamental problem: the systems needed most by operators are often too expensive, too slow to produce, and too difficult to sustain at scale. Firestorm exists to change that. We develop mission-adaptable aerial systems and deployable manufacturing infrastructure designed to put capability directly into the hands of the warfighter. From modular unmanned aircraft to xCell -- our deployable microfactory -- our goal is to make defense systems rapidly deployable, adaptable, and producible at the point of need. We are looking for builders, operators, and problem-solvers who want to work on meaningful technology with real-world impact.

About The Role

Firestorm Labs is seeking an experienced Senior DevOps Build Engineer to join our growing team in San Diego. The DevOps Build Engineer owns the build and release engineering function that turns source code into secure, reproducible, deployable artifacts across our defense and government contract programs. This role designs and maintains CI/CD pipelines, build automation, and artifact management systems, and partners closely with development teams to deliver fast, reliable, and auditable builds. This position sits at the intersection of software engineering and platform operations, with a focus on developer experience, build performance, and release integrity. The DevOps Build Engineer will standardize how software is compiled, packaged, versioned, and promoted across unclassified and controlled unclassified environments, and will help bake security and compliance checks directly into the build process.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins) that compile, test, package, and publish software across multiple programs.
• Own build automation and release engineering end to end — reproducible builds, semantic versioning, dependency management, and promotion across environments.
• Manage artifact repositories and container registries (Artifactory, Nexus, ECR/ACR), including retention, access control, and provenance.
• Develop and maintain build tooling and scripts (Bash, Python, Make, Bazel, or Gradle) to standardize and accelerate builds across teams.
• Optimize build performance through caching, parallelization, and incremental build strategies to reduce cycle time and cost.
• Integrate automated security and quality gates into pipelines (SAST, SCA, dependency scanning, SBOM generation) and surface actionable results to developers.
• Build and maintain container images and base image pipelines, keeping them patched, hardened, and compliant.
• Automate infrastructure and build-environment provisioning using infrastructure-as-code (Terraform).
• Partner with development, security, and compliance teams to deliver self-service tooling and generate audit and compliance evidence from the pipeline.
• Maintain documentation, runbooks, and standards for build and release processes across the organization.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent hands-on experience.
• 8+ years of experience in build/release engineering, DevOps, or software infrastructure roles.
• Hands-on experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with tools such as GitLab CI, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins.
• Strong scripting and automation skills in Python and Bash.
• Experience with artifact and dependency management (Artifactory, Nexus, or equivalent) and container registries.
• Proficiency with Git-based version control and branching/release workflows.
• Working knowledge of containerization (Docker).
• Experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS or Azure).
• U.S. Citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• DevSecOps experience — integrating SAST/DAST/SCA scanning, software supply chain security, SBOM generation, and artifact signing (Cosign/Sigstore) into build pipelines.
• Hands-on Kubernetes experience (EKS, AKS, or self-managed), including Helm-based packaging and container orchestration.
• Experience with GitOps workflows and tooling (ArgoCD or Flux).
• Hands-on experience with the Conan C/C++ package manager, including custom recipes and remote artifact caching.
• Experience operating in AWS GovCloud, Azure Government, or IL4/IL5 environments.
• Familiarity with DoD and federal compliance frameworks (NIST 800-53, NIST 800-171, CMMC, FedRAMP, DFARS).
• Active Secret or Top Secret security clearance.

Work Environment

This role is based 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.

Pay

US Salary Range: $150,000 – $175,000 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 & Perks

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision 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 July & 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: 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.