Staff IT and Security Engineer

Reaxiomatic; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Reaxiomatic is building its initial IT and security infrastructure to support rapid aerospace and defense programs. The role designs systems that meet government security requirements while remaining practical for daily engineering use, including core infrastructure, vendor management, and a roadmap for secure and scalable growth.

The role reports to the Founder/CEO and is an individual contributor with full ownership over IT and security, including network infrastructure, VPNs, cloud services,

Qualifications

• Experience delivering IT and security systems for defense or national security contexts.
• Experience implementing NIST 800-171, CMMC 2.0, or classified infrastructure requirements.
• Balance compliance with usability to avoid hindering engineering and operations.

Responsibilities

• Owns and operates IT and security infrastructure, including network, VPNs, cloud services, and endpoints.
• Plans expansion, ensures reliability, and produces compliance artifacts for government contracts; manages subcontractors.

Skills

Defense IT delivery

NIST/CMMC compliance

Usability balance

Vendor management

Networking & cloud

Problem solving

Job description

This role is responsible for building and operating the company’s initial IT and security infrastructure in a way that supports rapid execution of aerospace and defense programs without introducing unnecessary friction. The engineer will design and implement systems that meet government security requirements (e.g., NIST 800-171, CMMC 2.0, classified environments) while remaining practical for daily engineering use. This includes standing up core infrastructure, managing vendors and contractors, and developing a roadmap for secure and scalable systems as the company grows.

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated delivery of IT and security systems within a defense or national security context, preferably in an early-stage or scaling environment
• Experience implementing and maintaining systems aligned with NIST 800-171, CMMC 2.0, and/or classified infrastructure requirements
• Ability to balance compliance with usability, ensuring security controls do not impede engineering and operational execution
• Proven capability to develop first-principles justifications for security and IT decisions, including navigating or challenging regulatory constraints when necessary
• Experience managing vendors, contractors, and external service providers across networking, cloud, and infrastructure deployments
• Strong problem-solving ability in constrained environments, including building non-standard solutions when typical approaches are too slow or impractical

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience securing embedded systems or aerospace platforms in a production or test environment
• Background in high-growth hardware or defense startups where infrastructure was built from the ground up
• Familiarity with hybrid cloud/on-prem architectures supporting sensitive or controlled data environments

Reporting Structure and Scope

Reports to the Founder and CEO. This is an individual contributor role with full ownership over the company’s IT and security systems, including network infrastructure, VPNs, cloud services, and endpoint environments. Responsible for planning and executing infrastructure expansion (e.g., facility networking, fiber, secure enclaves), maintaining operational reliability, and producing required compliance artifacts for government contracts. Manages subcontractors and vendors as needed.

The role operates as the responsible engineer for this domain, requiring close integration with other engineering functions to ensure systems meet programmatic needs. The primary customer is the internal engineering team, with requirements shaped by external government constraints. Ownership includes defining and executing the roadmap for future classified infrastructure.