Engineering Services Lead / Release Manager (Hands-On IC)

Knightscope, Inc; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Job summary

Knightscope, Inc. in Sunnyvale, CA, seeks a hands-on senior IC release lead to coordinate four pillars and own engineering release across the org. This is not a people-manager role as the team is small and you’ll stay hands-on until growth.

You’ll help establish standards, SDLC practices, and cross‑program release orchestration, in collaboration with the Center of Engineering Excellence and program leads.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in engineering with staff or principal release management or platform leadership.
• Experience running release processes across multiple programs simultaneously.
• Comfort as a hands-on IC rather than a people-manager.
• Strong systems thinking and cross-team facilitation.
• Track record standing up new engineering functions.

Responsibilities

• Own release process across the engineering organization.
• Coordinate four Engineering Services pillars: DevOps and Platform, Security and Compliance, MLOps, Fleet and Release Automation.
• Arbitrate priorities across programs when shared-platform resources are constrained.
• Serve on the Center of Engineering Excellence council with program leads and the Signals Senior Architect.
• Establish and maintain Engineering Services standards, tooling, and SDLC practices.

Skills

Release management

Platform leadership

Hands-on IC

Cross-team facilitation

Engineering function startup

Job description

About Knightscope

Knightscope (NASDAQ: KSCP) is a security technology company building the nation's first Autonomous Security Force: autonomous machines, AI-driven software, and elite security professionals operating as one integrated managed service. The Company is on a mission to make the United States of America the safest country in the world. One Team. One Force.

Job Summary

Knightscope is standing up a centralized Engineering Services function to support Signals, K7/Nav, H1, K5, K3, K1-family, KSOC, KEMS, and OpenExO. You will be the hands-on senior IC lead of that function, coordinating four service pillars and owning release process across the engineering organization. This is deliberately not a people-manager role while the team is small; expect to stay hands-on until the team crosses eight to ten people.

Location: ONSITE - Sunnyvale, CA

About the Role

Knightscope is standing up a centralized Engineering Services function to support Signals, K7/Nav, H1, K5, K3, K1-family, KSOC, KEMS, and OpenExO. You will be the hands-on senior IC lead of that function, coordinating four service pillars and owning release process across the engineering organization. This is deliberately not a people-manager role while the team is small; expect to stay hands-on until the team crosses eight to ten people.

Key Responsibilities

• Own release process across the engineering organization: Signals, K7/Nav, and Legacy.

• Coordinate the four Engineering Services pillars: DevOps and Platform, Security and Compliance, MLOps, Fleet and Release Automation.

• Arbitrate priorities across programs when shared-platform resources are constrained.

• Serve on the Center of Engineering Excellence council with program leads and the Signals Senior Architect.

• Establish and maintain Engineering Services standards, tooling, and SDLC practices.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years in engineering, including staff or principal-level release management or platform leadership.

• Experience running release process across multiple programs simultaneously.

• Comfort operating as a hands-on IC rather than a people-manager.

• Strong systems thinking and cross-team facilitation skills.

• Track record standing up new engineering functions.

Nice to Have

• Prior experience in a Center of Engineering Excellence or engineering standards council.

• IoT, robotics, or connected-device release management.

• Experience with SOC 2 or comparable regulated environments.

Compensation and Benefits

Base Salary: $220,000 to $260,000 (DOE)

Equity: Stock options

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off

Location Requirement: Full-time, on-site at Sunnyvale HQ