AI Operations Engineer

SimpliGov LLC; Baltimore (MD); On-site; USD 140,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Life and disability insurance

11 paid holidays

Flexible time off

401(k) with employer match

Job summary

SimpliGov LLC in Baltimore seeks an engineer to evolve our AI-enabled CI/CD system, automating pipelines, validation, orchestration, and reconciliation to replace manual coordination with production‑ready automation.

You will build a mission control layer, instrument agent behavior, codify release policy, and collaborate with DevOps to improve pipeline reliability, environment stability, and test coverage. Strong systems thinking and production coding are key.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building engineering systems (CI/CD, internal platforms, developer tooling, or infrastructure) in SaaS or platform environments.
• You write production code; this role builds and operates systems, not just tracks them.
• Hands‑on depth in pipeline design, integration failure analysis, dependency management, feature flags, and progressive delivery.
• Experience operating LLM or agent systems in production, or clear evidence you will get there fast.

Responsibilities

• Build and operate the agentic CI/CD stack: autonomous build loops, build gates, integration validation, progressive rollout, and rollback.
• Extend reconciliation layer so system truth is machine-derived rather than human-claimed.
• Build the mission control layer: live, machine-derived view of built/validated/deployed status for humans and agents.

Skills

CI/CD

Systems design

Distributed systems

Operational rigor

Technical writing

Job description

Role Overview:

We are building an engineering organization where autonomous agents move code from intent to production, while humans own judgment, standards, and direction. This role owns the delivery system that makes that safe.

You will evolve our existing release infrastructure into an AI-enabled CI/CD system—automating coding pipelines, validation, orchestration, and reconciliation. The goal is to replace manual coordination with system-enforced production readiness, dependency awareness, and release safety.

Responsibilities:

• Build and operate the agentic CI/CD stack: autonomous build loops, build gates, integration validation, progressive rollout, and rollback
• Extend our reconciliation layer so system truth is machine-derived rather than human-claimed: affected services, ticket-to-commit linkage, deploy‑vs‑release state, flag state
• Build the mission control layer: one live, machine‑derived picture of what is built, validated, deployed, released, and flagged, serving humans and agents alike
• Design the human‑in‑the‑loop model: when agents proceed autonomously, when they stop, who is escalated to, and with what evidence
• Instrument agent behavior end to end (traces, evaluations, failure and drift analysis) so every autonomous action is explainable and auditable
• Codify release policy as code: what ships, when, and with what proof
• Meter AI usage and cost across the pipeline; drive per‑workload routing and unit‑economics remediation
• Replace cross‑team coordination with contracts, dependency detection, and validation mechanisms
• Partner with DevOps and engineers on pipeline reliability, environment stability, and test coverage
• Evolve the operating process itself: how work flows from commit to validation to release without manual choreography, within a FedRAMP‑conscious compliance boundary

Qualifications:

• 5+ years building engineering systems (CI/CD, internal platforms, developer tooling, or infrastructure) in SaaS or platform environments
• You write production code. This role builds and operates systems; it does not track them
• Hands‑on depth in pipeline design, integration failure analysis, dependency management, feature flags, and progressive delivery
• Experience operating LLM or agent systems in production, or clear evidence you will get there fast; using AI tools is table stakes, running them safely is the job
• Experience in compliance‑constrained environments (government, healthcare, finance) is a plus
• Strong systems thinking, operational rigor, and clear writing

Key Competencies

• Designs mechanisms, not meetings; when delivery breaks, your instinct is a gate, a test, or a signal, not a status field
• Treats the delivery system as a product whose users are engineers and agents
• Thinks in the open: surfaces uncertainty early, shows reasoning, owns outcomes
• Earns credibility with senior engineers through technical depth
• Balances autonomy and safety without introducing bureaucracy

What This Role Is NOT

This role is NOT a Scrum Master, NOT a PMO role, NOT a release coordinator, and NOT responsible for running Agile ceremonies or tracking projects. If your primary tools are Jira boards and planning meetings, this is not the role for you. If your instinct when delivery breaks is to add a meeting, a checklist, or a status field, this is not the role for you. If your instinct is to build a gate, a test, or a signal, keep reading.

How We Work

We run an AI‑native product development lifecycle. Autonomous agents participate in planning, coding, validation, and release; humans own judgment, standards, and direction. Work moves through a Plan‑and‑Review cadence rather than ceremony‑heavy Agile. Two standards are non‑negotiable: you own and can explain everything you ship, no matter what produced it, and you think in the open, surfacing uncertainty early rather than burying it.

What We Offer:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans, with significant employer contributions for employees AND dependents (contributions based on base‑level plan; buyup plans available at additional costs)
• Company‑sponsored life + disability insurances
• 11 Paid holidays
• Flexible time off

• 401k plan with 4% employer match
• Monthly stipends for wellness and home office expenses

Legal Disclaimers:

SimpliGovdoes not sponsor applicants for work visas.

The US base salary range for this full‑time position is approximately $140,000.00 - $165,000.00 + bonus + benefits. Individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

SimpliGov participates in the federal government's E‑Verify program, which confirms employment authorization of all newly hired employees and most existing employees through an electronic database maintained by the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security. For new hires, the E‑Verify process is completed in conjunction with the Form I‑9 Employment Eligibility Verification on or before the first day of work; is not used as a prescreening tool.