Platform Engineer (DevX) Software

Front Door Defense; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 123,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

K2 Space in Los Angeles, CA is seeking a Platform Engineer (DevX) to design and maintain golden-path deployment patterns for Amazon EKS and AI-enabled workflows. You’ll enable secure, reliable apps with minimal friction for a diverse set of engineering teams.

The role focuses on developer experience, CI/CD gates, governance, observability, and scalable tooling to support AI-assisted development across the engineering ecosystem.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience, plus 2+ years building developer tooling, platforms, or deployment patterns.
• Proficiency in at least one of Go, TypeScript, Python, or C#.
• Hands-on experience deploying applications on Amazon EKS.
• Experience with CI/CD (GitHub Actions or GitLab CI) and disciplined Git workflows (branching, reviews, automated gates).
• Practical experience with AI-assisted development and a clear view of its benefits and pitfalls.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain golden-path deployment patterns for Amazon EKS, with built-in guardrails that get applications to production faster.
• Help drive secure, consistent AI adoption across software development, including guardrails, governance, observability, and operational support for AI-assisted workflows.
• Build automated policies and CI/CD gates that enforce code quality, test coverage, and safe deployments.
• Integrate end-to-end monitoring, alerting, and SLOs into the platform.
• Track performance and cost (latency budgets, cross-AZ transfer, IP consumption, load balancer efficiency) and act on anomalies.
• Write approachable docs and diagnostics, such as guides, diagrams, and 'why can't this connect?' flows, that shorten support loops.
• Run proofs of concept on new AI platforms, models, and developer experience tools.
• Learn the manufacturing domain and make complex concerns like service identity and secure communication simple for platform users.

Skills

Go

TypeScript

Python

C#

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Amazon EKS

CI/CD (GitHub Actions or GitLab CI)

Git workflows

Job description

Platform Engineer (DevX)

Build and maintain golden-path deployment patterns for EKS and AI-enabled workflows

Location: Los Angeles, California

Compensation: $123,000 - 160,000 USD / year

About The Role

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.

The Role

The Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) team builds the digital backbone behind K2's satellite design, manufacturing, and mission operations, connecting engineering, production, and mission control so our hardware moves from concept to orbit faster. We're looking for a Platform Engineer who believes developer experience is a first-class engineering discipline. You'll build the deployment patterns, guardrails, and tooling that let engineers from many backgrounds, including those building with AI assistance, ship secure, reliable applications with minimal friction.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain golden-path deployment patterns for Amazon EKS, with built-in guardrails that get applications to production faster.
• Help drive secure, consistent AI adoption across software development, including guardrails, governance, observability, and operational support for AI-assisted workflows.
• Build automated policies and CI/CD gates that enforce code quality, test coverage, and safe deployments.
• Integrate end-to-end monitoring, alerting, and SLOs into the platform.
• Track performance and cost (latency budgets, cross-AZ transfer, IP consumption, load balancer efficiency) and act on anomalies.
• Write approachable docs and diagnostics, such as guides, diagrams, and 'why can't this connect?' flows, that shorten support loops.
• Run proofs of concept on new AI platforms, models, and developer experience tools.
• Learn the manufacturing domain and make complex concerns like service identity and secure communication simple for platform users.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience, plus 2+ years building developer tooling, platforms, or deployment patterns.
• Proficiency in at least one of Go, TypeScript, Python, or C#.
• Hands-on experience deploying applications on Amazon EKS.
• Experience with CI/CD (GitHub Actions or GitLab CI) and disciplined Git workflows (branching, reviews, automated gates).
• Practical experience with AI-assisted development and a clear view of its benefits and pitfalls.

Nice to Have

• Infrastructure as code with Terraform or AWS CDK.
• Progressive delivery, such as canary rollouts, and policy-as-code.
• Observability experience with metrics, tracing, structured logs, L4/L7 telemetry, and SLI/SLO definition.
• Experience building internal developer platforms or golden-path tooling.
• Experience supporting manufacturing, aerospace, or other hardware-driven organizations.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Base salary range for this role is $123,000 $160,000 + equity in the company
• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision/ coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, 'U.S. Persons' include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a 'U.S. Person.'

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a 'U.S. person' as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Equal Opportunity

K2 Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with K2 Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.