Principal Software Engineer, Cloud Backend

Six Robotics; Oslo; On-site; NOK 1,100,000 - 1,700,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Equity potential

Insurance and pension plans

Learning opportunities

Job summary

Six Robotics in Oslo is building a cloud platform to ingest UAV flight data, enabling end-to-end visibility from GCS to dashboards. You will own the ingestion layer, authentication, and real-time streaming capabilities while collaborating with edge and frontend teams.

The role requires deep hands-on work in production cloud backends and strong opinions on architecture, APIs, and deployment models, with Go, Python, or Rust as core backend strengths.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of engineering experience, with at least 4 of them building production backend services in public or private cloud.
• Real experience designing and operating ingestion or device-to-cloud systems.
• Infrastructure as code by default, with tested, versioned configs.
• Strong API design judgment; experience evolving an API in production.
• Architectural ownership: choose cloud services and deployment model, and explain decisions.
• Extensive experience with Go, Python, or Rust as a primary backend language.

Responsibilities

• Design and build cloud services that ingest flight data from GCS instances.
• Decide the cloud platform and deployment model, considering vendor compatibility.
• Scale the platform from internal deployment to customer-facing production.
• Design the API contract between GCS, cloud backend, and dashboard frontend.
• Build authentication and secure transport for device-to-cloud communication.
• Move from post-flight uploads to real-time streaming.
• Operate the end-to-end platform and monitor production behavior.

Skills

Cloud architecture

API design

Go

Python

Rust

Tools

Public/private cloud platforms

REST vs gRPC

Job description

About Six Robotics

At Six Robotics, we build intelligent software that gives Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) the ability to collaborate, adapt on the fly, and execute missions that were previously impossible. From our base in Oslo, our 70+ experts in defence, software, and AI develop our flagship autonomy and swarm platform used by both government and industry. In close partnership with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), we move fast from concept to live deployment, often in the field alongside end users.

We work with advanced hardware and software, a modern tech stack, and missions that demand both technical mastery and operational discipline. Everyone is close to the action, from deep technical problem‑solving to field operations. We move fast and value clarity, integrity, and teamwork in everything we do.

At Six Robotics, every person executes with precision, adapts to changing conditions, and strengthens the team. Getting in is hard, and you’ll be challenged every day. But if you have the skill, the discipline, and the drive to push your limits and always be sharpening your blade, you’ll find no better place to deliver real‑world impact while collaborating and learning from the best in the field.

About The Role

Six Robotics’ drones produce a lot of data: flight telemetry, logs, and media. Today, that data lands on the Ground Control Station (GCS) and goes no further. We’re building the cloud platform that changes that, and this role is at the centre of it. Once it’s in place, engineers and customers alike will be able to understand what happened on a flight, debug failures, learn from every mission, and operate with confidence. It’s a meaningful step up in what we offer, on top of a product that already works.

You’re responsible for getting the data into the platform: cloud services, the ingestion endpoint the GCS uploads to, authentication, and the API behind the dashboard. It’s a greenfield project, and we want it to deliver value early, both internally and as something we can put in front of customers. The early calls (cloud platform, deployment model, protocol, and auth design) will be made as a team, and we’re hiring you to bring strong, justified opinions into those conversations.

You’ll work closely with the team that builds the edge software running on the GCS, and alongside the frontend engineer who will build the dashboard. The cloud platform sits between them.

What You Will Do

• Design and build the cloud services that ingest flight data from our GCS instances after and during flight.
• Decide and commit to the cloud and infrastructure platform and the deployment model, taking vendor compatibility into account.
• Take the platform from an internal deployment to something we can roll out to customers, and decide what that deployment model looks like.
• Design the API contract between the GCS clients, the cloud backend and the dashboard frontend.
• Build the authentication and secure transport layer for device‑to‑cloud communication, including identity for non‑human clients.
• Move us from uploading after each flight toward real‑time streaming.
• Operate what you build. We’re a small team, so you’ll be in the loop on production behaviour, not just shipping and walking away.

What We Are Looking For

We’re looking for a principal engineer who has spent enough time building cloud platforms that the design decisions feel familiar, but who still wants to be hands‑on in the code. You’re comfortable sitting between the engineers writing software on the drones and the engineers building what customers see, and you can hold a conversation in both directions. You’re motivated by impact. You want to design something properly, build it, and operate it as it grows. You bring strong opinions to architectural conversations, but you hold them lightly enough to change your mind when someone else is right.

• 8+ years of engineering experience, with at least 4 of them building production backend services in public or private cloud.
• Real experience designing and operating ingestion or device‑to‑cloud systems. You’ve built something that took data in from clients you didn’t fully control, and you can talk about what was hard.
• You treat infrastructure as code by default, with the same standards you’d apply to application code: reviewed, tested, versioned alongside the services it supports.
• Strong API design judgment. You can explain why you’d pick REST vs gRPC vs something else for a given problem, and you’ve had to evolve an API in production.
• Architectural ownership. You’re the person on your current team who picks the cloud services, commits to a deployment model, and explains the choice to everyone else.
• Extensive experience with at least one of Go, Python, Rust, or similar, as a primary backend language. We haven’t locked in our stack; that’s one of the early calls this role will be part of shaping, but you should be deep in at least one of them and pragmatic about the choice.

Nice‑to‑haves

• Experience in IoT, telemetry, fleet monitoring, drone or robotics platforms, or any other system where the clients sit in the field and the network is sometimes hostile.
• Background with Rust on the backend.
• Experience with streaming systems where you actually had a real‑time requirement to justify them.
• Media streaming or video pipeline experience.

Benefits

• Work on problems that matter: our technology helps unlock smarter, safer, and more adaptable UAV operations in defence and industry, solving real challenges with direct, tangible impact.
• Lead the shift in a hardware‑dominated space: we’re bringing modern AI, autonomy, and scalable software into a field that’s long relied on rigid, pre‑programmed systems, to change how UAVs are designed, deployed, and managed.
• Build from zero, shape the future: join early and help define the core systems, tools, and culture of a company that’s still being built – where your ideas, code, and decisions will have a lasting influence.
• Work with purpose, supported by great benefits: you’ll be part of a mission‑driven team that values clarity, integrity, and collaboration, offering competitive pay, equity potential, strong insurance and pension plans, and ongoing learning opportunities.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

At Six Robotics, we are committed to creating a workplace built on respect, integrity, and collaboration. We value different perspectives and experiences, and we believe that diversity within our team strengthens both our work and our culture. We encourage all qualified candidates to apply and help us build technology that makes a real impact.

Security Clearance Requirement

All employees at Six Robotics are required to undergo a security clearance due to our close collaboration with the Norwegian Armed Forces. While prior clearance is not necessary, the clearance process will be initiated as part of onboarding.