Linux Product Team Lead

DroneShield; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

DroneShield seeks a Linux Product Team Lead to own and grow the Linux platform that underpins the DroneSentry-C2 ecosystem. This hands-on leadership role focuses on Linux platform engineering, reliability, security and observability across development, production and deployed environments.

You will lead cross-disciplinary teams including Software, AI, Security and Product to deliver secure, scalable, and highly reliable Linux platforms and services.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience operating and debugging Linux systems (Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL or Yocto-based).
• Strong understanding of Site Reliability Engineering principles and security.
• Experience leading engineers and platform teams.
• Deep understanding of Linux internals and bootloaders.
• Proficiency in Bash and at least one language (Python/Go).
• Experience with secure boot, TPMs and OS-level security controls.
• Experience building custom Linux images for embedded or production use.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor the Linux Product Team.
• Define technical direction and roadmap for the Linux platform.
• Own configuration, tuning and lifecycle of Linux systems across DroneShield products.
• Build secure Linux images for server, edge and embedded platforms.
• Improve performance, reliability and security across Linux platforms.
• Automate provisioning, patching, configuration and diagnostics.
• Lead OS hardening initiatives including secure boot and TPM integration.
• Design observability, monitoring and telemetry standards.
• Establish reliability engineering practices including SLIs and incident management.
• Document architecture and recovery processes.

Skills

Linux systems

SRE principles

Leadership

Bash

Python

Security controls

Networking fundamentals

CI/CD

Kubernetes

Tools

PXE

Kickstart/preseed

Cloud-init

SBOM tooling

Job description

Work with cutting-edge AI technology that helps make the world a safer and more secure place. DroneShield (ASX:DRO) develops market-leading counter-drone solutions used by military organisations, government agencies, airports, critical infrastructure operators, and law enforcement operating in some of the most challenging and high-stakes environments in the world. Employees work at the forefront of innovation, solving complex technical problems and delivering mission-critical capabilities where performance, reliability, and speed matter.

As an ASX200-listed company and the world's only publicly listed pure-play counter-drone business, DroneShield is experiencing rapid growth. Revenue increased from A$57 million in 2024 to more than A$217 million in 2025, supported by record profitability, a global sales pipeline exceeding A$2.5 billion, and annual R&D investment of over A$50 million.

Since 2017, DroneShield has grown from 11 employees to more than 550 globally, with operations across Australia, the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, supporting customers in over 70 countries.

The role is based at DroneShield's Sydney headquarters, which houses corporate, commercial, engineering, and operational teams supporting the company's global growth and customer base.

About The Role

We are looking for a Linux Product Team Lead to lead and grow the C2 Linux Product Team, owning the Linux platform that underpins the DroneSentry-C2 ecosystem. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role focused on Linux platform engineering, reliability, security, automation and observability across development, production and deployed customer environments. Initially focused on the Linux platforms supporting the DroneSentry-C2 ecosystem, the role will progressively expand to establish platform standards, Linux capabilities and engineering practices across DroneShield's broader portfolio of internal and customer‑facing products. You will lead the Linux Product Team and work closely with Software, AI, Security, Infrastructure and Product teams to deliver secure, scalable and highly reliable Linux platforms and services.

Key Areas Of Ownership Include

• DroneSentry-C2 and ruggedised field hardware
• Development and maintenance of secure Linux SOEs
• Testing Linux compatibility and performance across server and edge platforms
• Infrastructure supporting Linux device manufacturing
• Software supply chain security
• Secure remote access platforms
• Platform observability, monitoring and reliability
• Providing L3 support for OS and system‑level issues across production and deployed assets

If you're interested in solving hard problems, building platforms that need to withstand the attention of nation‑state adversaries, and working alongside red and blue teams to continuously test, break and improve our systems, this is the role for you. You'll help build the platforms that power real‑world defence capabilities, where security, reliability and operational excellence aren't nice‑to‑haves, they're mission‑critical.

This role reports to the Director, AI Systems & Platforms.

Responsibilities, Duties And Expectations

• Lead and mentor the Linux Product Team
• Define technical direction, standards and roadmap for the Linux platform
• Own the configuration, tuning and lifecycle of Linux systems across DroneShield products
• Build and maintain secure Linux images for server, edge and embedded platforms
• Optimise performance, reliability and security across Linux platforms
• Automate provisioning, patching, configuration management and diagnostics
• Lead OS hardening initiatives including secure boot, TPM integration and platform security controls
• Design and implement observability, monitoring and telemetry standards
• Establish reliability engineering practices including service health metrics, alerting and incident management
• Maintain Ubuntu Classic and Ubuntu Core platforms across x86 and ARM environments
• Provide Level 3 support for OS and system‑level issues
• Collaborate with Software, AI, Security and Product teams to ensure platform stability, scalability and traceability
• Document architecture, standards, operational procedures and recovery processes

Qualifications, Experience And Skills

• Extensive experience operating and debugging Linux systems (Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL or Yocto-based)
• Strong understanding of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles, including reliability, scalability, observability, operational excellence and supply chain security
• Experience leading engineers, technical projects and/or platform teams
• Deep understanding of Linux internals including kernel, init systems, udev, cgroups and bootloaders
• Proficiency in Bash scripting and at least one additional language (e.g. Python, Go)
• Experience with secure boot, TPMs, disk encryption and OS‑level security controls
• Experience building or managing custom Linux images for embedded or production use
• Experience defining and operating SLOs, SLIs, alerting frameworks and incident management processes
• Experience with monitoring, logging, tracing, alerting and observability platforms
• Experience troubleshooting complex infrastructure, platform and production issues
• Familiarity with PXE, systemd services, Kickstart/preseed or cloud‑init workflows
• Strong networking fundamentals including routing, DNS, firewalls and VLANs
• Experience with containerisation, Kubernetes and modern CI/CD practices

Desirable

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code and configuration management tooling
• Experience building Linux‑based products, appliances or embedded systems
• Experience supporting edge computing or air‑gapped environments
• Experience with AWS, hybrid cloud or distributed infrastructure
• Familiarity with software supply chain security and SBOM management
• Background in secure infrastructure or regulated environments (e.g. defence, critical systems)
• Contributions to open‑source Linux or OS infrastructure tooling
• Experience building developer platforms and internal engineering tooling

Note for recruitment agencies: We do not accept unsolicited candidates from external recruiters unless specifically instructed.

Data Privacy

DroneShield Group Pty Ltd collects and processes personal information for recruitment and hiring purposes. Where applicable, personal information is processed on the basis of DroneShield's legitimate interests in assessing and selecting candidates for employment. For further information regarding how we collect, use, disclose, store and retain personal information, including your privacy rights, please refer to our Privacy Policy: https://www.droneshield.com/privacy-policy