Developer Experience Engineer

Picogrid; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with employer matching

Relocation assistance

Unlimited PTO

11 paid holidays per year

Paid parental leave

Lunch provided in-office and stocked k

Free EV charging at HQ

Job summary

Picogrid is seeking its first Developer Experience Engineer to empower engineers to iterate and ship rapidly while adhering to testing, security, and compliance best practices. You will build and own standard local development setups, CI/CD pipelines, and internal tooling, embedding with engineers to understand workflows and pain points.

KPIs include time to first PR for new hires, CI duration, and flaky gate noise.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of DevOps/platform/tooling experience with a focus on developer experience.
• Built internal tooling or developer platforms that measurably reduced friction with documented results.
• Strong with GitHub Actions or similar CI platforms: reusable workflows, composite actions, caching, OIDC, and hygiene.
• Proficient using Golang or Python to produce maintainable tooling.
• Production Terraform or OpenTofu experience with module design and reuse.
• Experience scanning repos for secrets, dependencies, containers, and static analysis.
• Container image hardening and secure-by-default practices.
• Experience building or integrating AI agents and MCP.
• Experience with Kubernetes and Docker in local development settings.
• Cost management experience across CI, tooling, and cloud spend.

Responsibilities

• Build and own local development tooling using k3s, k3d, and docker-compose.
• Own templates and best practices for CI/CD workflows, IaC modules, and repository-and-service-scaffolding.
• Drive CI duration, time to first PR for new hires, and reduce flaky automated checks.
• Own automated security and compliance pipelines.
• Design and build virtualized test environments and HITL test setups.
• Champion high-quality documentation practices across the engineering org.

Skills

DevOps

Platform tooling

CI/CD workflows

Golang

Python

Terraform/OpenTofu

Kubernetes

Docker

Security tooling

AI agents

Tools

GitHub Actions

Terraform

OpenTofu

Kubernetes

Docker

Job description

Who we are

Picogrid is a leading venture‑backed defense technology company founded to bridge the decades‑long gap between modern technology and the critical demands of national security. Today, we’re building the essential infrastructure to unify sensors, autonomy, and operators with our technology deployed in active operations around the world. Our mission is to deliver an operational advantage to secure the United States and its allies.

About the Role

As Picogrid's first Developer Experience Engineer you will empower our engineers to iterate and ship at lightning speed while following best practices for testing, security and compliance. You will build and own standard local development setups, CI/CD pipelines, golden paths and internal tooling. You will embed with engineers to deeply understand their workflows and painpoints. Key KPIs will include time to first PR for new hires, CI duration, and flaky gate noise.

Security is a shared responsibility across all our DevSecOps roles, and as part of a scrappy startup team you will be expected to help stand up new infrastructure and other related DevSecOps tasks as needed.

Responsibilities

• Build and own local development tooling using tools such as k3s, k3d, and docker‑compose
• Own templates and best practices for CI/CD workflows, IaC modules, and repository‑and‑service‑scaffolding
• Drive CI duration, time to a new hires first PR and automated check flakiness towards zero
• Own automated security and compliance pipelines
• Design and build virtualized test environments and HITL test setups
• Champion high quality documentation practices across the engineering org

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in DevOps, platform, or tooling roles with a developer experience focus
• A track record of building internal tooling or developer platforms that measurably reduced friction, with the metrics to show it
• Strong with Github Actions or similar CI platforms: reusable workflows, composite actions, caching strategies, OIDC authentication, and action version hygiene
• Competent using Golang or Python to produce maintainable tooling
• Production Terraform or OpenTofu experience with module design and reuse
• Experience with scanning tooling across many repositories: secret scanning, dependency and container vulnerability scanning, and static analysis
• Application and container image hardening experience
• Experience building or integrating AI agents and agent tooling, including the Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• Experience working with Kubernetes and Docker, especially in local development settings
• Cost management experience across CI, tooling, and cloud spend
• Comfortable operating in scrappy, fast‑paced environments, and turning ambiguous requirements into concrete solutions
• You optimize for providing value early in projects and short iteration cycles

Preferred Qualifications

• Multi‑account AWS experience, including GovCloud or other regulated environments
• Greenfield developer portal experience (Backstage or similar)
• Ephemeral or preview environment systems at scale
• Container build pipelines for tooling images

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary range: $170,000- $195,000 per year. Base salary is just one part of your total compensation package at Picogrid.
• Significant stock options with a high potential upside as an early‑stage company
• 401(k) with employer matching
• Full health coverage (medical, dental, and vision insurance)
• Relocation assistance provided (if applicable)
• Unlimited PTO (two‑week minimum) and 11 paid holidays per year
• Paid parental leave for both parents
• Lunch provided when working in‑office and a fully stocked kitchenette
• Free EV charging at the HQ
• Unique office in El Segundo, CA stocked with quality coffee, snacks, and craft beer

Export Control Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy

Picogrid is committed to providing a professional work environment free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. We are an equal opportunity employer and make all employment decisions based on merit, qualifications, and business needs.