Lead Software Engineer

Blue Sky Robotics; Chapel Hill (NC); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Sky Robotics in Chapel Hill, NC is seeking a Lead Software Engineer who enjoys cross-technology work and turning complex problems into reliable products. This is a hands-on, in-person role overseeing front-end, back-end, device software, and AWS cloud infrastructure.

You’ll make architectural decisions, write production code, and take ownership from prototype through automated deployment. You’ll help shape how a small team uses AI tools and developer agents to accelerate delivery while

Qualifications

• Senior-level ownership of technical decisions and delivery.
• Experience across front-end and back-end development, including APIs, databases, and integrations.
• Hands-on AWS experience, deploying and operating production applications and managing cloud permissions.
• Experience developing software that runs on devices or edge computers.
• Strong programming skills in Python and willingness to work across languages.
• Experience building automated deployment pipelines with Git, CI/CD, containers, testing, and production troubleshooting.
• Hands-on experience using AI coding tools or developer agents with sound judgment for reviewing, testing, and securing output.
• Ability to work independently, navigate ambiguity, and collaborate closely with a small team.
• Availability to work in person in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Responsibilities

• Lead software development across the stack leveraging AI; design, build, and maintain UI, APIs, back-end services, device software, and cloud infra.
• Build and operate on AWS; develop secure, reliable cloud services and manage deployment, monitoring, performance, and cost.
• Automate testing and deployment; build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, including validation, release management, and rollback capabilities.
• Advance AI-assisted development; apply AI development practices and developer agents across implementation, testing, code review, documentation, and maintenance.
• Connect devices to the cloud; implement communication, data processing, configuration, and updates for systems in the physical world.
• Put AI and computer vision into production; integrate models and vision pipelines into dependable products.
• Own secure development practices; lead access controls, secrets management, dependency management, code review, and secure deployment.
• Help a small team move well; review code, share knowledge, communicate tradeoffs, and balance near-term delivery with long-term reliability.

Skills

Lead ownership

Full-stack development

Python

AWS

Edge/Linux devices

CI/CD pipelines

AI tools / developer agents

Independent work

In-person Chapel Hill

Tools

AWS

Git

CI/CD tooling

Docker

Job description

Blue Sky Robotics builds intelligent systems that power the physical world, unlocking human creativity to transform industries. We're looking for a Lead Software Engineer who enjoys working across technologies and turning complex problems into reliable products.

This is a hands-on role on a small, in-person team in Chapel Hill. You'll lead development across front-end applications, back-end services, software running on devices, and AWS cloud infrastructure.

We're looking for someone who can make sound architectural decisions, write production code, and take ownership from early prototype through automated deployment. You should also be excited to help shape how a small engineering team works with AI development tools and developer agents.

Lead Software Engineer

Blue Sky Robotics builds intelligent systems that power the physical world, unlocking human creativity to transform industries. We're looking for a Lead Software Engineer who enjoys working across technologies and turning complex problems into reliable products.

This is a hands-on role on a small, in-person team in Chapel Hill. You'll lead development across front-end applications, back-end services, software running on devices, and AWS cloud infrastructure.

We're looking for someone who can make sound architectural decisions, write production code, and take ownership from early prototype through automated deployment. You should also be excited to help shape how a small engineering team works with AI development tools and developer agents.

What You'll Do

• Lead software development across the stack leveraging AI. Design, build, and maintain user interfaces, APIs, back-end services, device software, and cloud infrastructure.
• Build and operate on AWS. Develop secure, reliable cloud services and manage deployment, monitoring, performance, and cost.
• Automate testing and deployment. Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines for cloud applications and device software, including automated validation, release management, and rollback capabilities.
• Advance AI-assisted development. Put emerging AI development practices and developer agents to work across implementation, testing, code review, documentation, and maintenance. Establish workflows that improve speed while maintaining code quality, security, and human accountability.
• Connect devices to the cloud. Build communication, data processing, configuration, and update capabilities for systems operating in the physical world.
• Put AI and computer vision into production. Work with the team to integrate models and vision pipelines into useful, dependable products.
• Own secure development practices. Lead efforts around access controls, secrets management, dependency management, code review, and secure deployment.
• Help a small team move well. Review code, share knowledge, communicate tradeoffs, and balance near-term delivery with long-term reliability.

What You Bring

• A strong track record of building and shipping production software, with senior-level ownership of technical decisions and delivery.
• Experience across front-end and back-end development, including APIs, databases, and integrations.
• Hands-on AWS experience is required, including deploying and operating production applications and managing cloud permissions and infrastructure.
• Experience developing software that runs on devices, edge computers, or Linux-based systems.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, and a willingness to work across languages and tools.
• Experience building automated deployment pipelines, with practical knowledge of Git, CI/CD, containers, testing, and production troubleshooting.
• Hands-on experience using AI coding tools or developer agents, with sound judgment about reviewing, testing, and securing their output.
• The ability to work independently, navigate ambiguity, and collaborate closely with a small team.
• Availability to work in person in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Especially Helpful

• Experience with AI inference, computer vision, camera systems, or deploying models on edge devices.
• Experience with hardware integration or connected devices.
• A background in application security, cloud security, threat modeling, or vulnerability management.
• Experience with infrastructure as code, device fleet management, or over-the-air software updates.
• Experience building repeatable workflows for developer agents, including repository guidance, automated checks, and clear review boundaries.
• Experience taking products from prototype to production in a startup or small engineering team.

You don't need to be an expert in every technology listed. You should bring strong software engineering fundamentals and the curiosity to learn what the product needs.

Why Blue Sky Robotics?

You'll work close to the hardware, the product, and the people making decisions. Your work will directly shape how our systems are built, secured, deployed, and used. You will also lead how our team develops software with AI. If you enjoy broad technical ownership and want to see your software do something in the physical world, we'd like to hear from you.