Senior Staff Engineer - AI Platform & Kubernetes

Shield AI; San Mateo, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 280,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a Senior Staff Engineer to build the AI Factory Reference Architecture, a Kubernetes-native platform for developing, training, evaluating, and deploying next-gen AI systems. You will partner with ML researchers, platform engineers, and autonomy teams to deliver an exceptional developer experience for training and deploying modern AI models.

The role balances researcher productivity, platform simplicity, and reliability while shaping architecture and implementation across

Qualifications

• Experience building Kubernetes-native AI or MLOps platforms supporting distributed machine learning workloads.
• Deep understanding of modern AI training frameworks and distributed training techniques.
• Experience operating GPU-accelerated infrastructure and distributed training systems.
• Strong software engineering skills in Python and Golang; cloud-native tooling.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of a Kubernetes-native AI platform for training, evaluation, and deployment.
• Collaborate with ML researchers to support state-of-the-art training workflows.
• Design self-service development workflows for scalable distributed execution.
• Build infrastructure for distributed training, simulation, and inference.
• Optimize shared GPU infrastructure across cloud and on‑prem environments.
• Develop lifecycle management for datasets, experiments, and models.
• Create repeatable deployment patterns using IaC and modern platform practices.
• Evaluate new AI infra technologies to balance scalability and maintainability.
• Work with researchers, engineers, and product teams to evolve the platform.

Skills

Kubernetes-native platforms

Distributed ML

Python

Golang

Linux

Networking

Security

Storage

Open-source collaboration

Terraform

Helm

GPU scheduling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Terraform

Helm

Job description

Shield AI is seeking a Senior Staff Engineer to build the AI Factory Reference Architecture, a Kubernetes-native platform for developing, training, evaluating, and deploying next-gen AI systems. You will partner with ML researchers, platform engineers, and autonomy teams to deliver an exceptional developer experience for training and deploying modern AI models.

The role balances researcher productivity, platform simplicity, and reliability while shaping architecture and implementation across