Principal Platform Engineer
This is the employer's own posting, not a copy on a job board.
What we know
Is it still open?
Confirmed still open
Last checked 1d ago — checked against the employer's own applicant tracking system, which is the company answering directly.
We re-read the employer's own applicant tracking system and the posting was still there. That is the company answering directly.
How old is it?
Posted 4d ago
The date the source published, not the day we noticed it (2026-10-06). Last seen at its source 2h ago.
We have tracked this listing since 7 Oct 2026 (4 days). The employer's own board has carried it every time we have read it, most recently 2 hours ago.
Is it remote?
Rosslyn, VA or Remote
That is the location the employer filed this posting under. Quoted as written — we do not re-word the source's own location.
Who may apply?
Not stated
The description states no restriction of its own. This is the source's own tag.
Pay
$255k–280k/yr
Read out of the job description by us, not from a structured field. Shown in the posting's own currency and period; we never convert.
Skills named in the ad
Recognised terms only, from a fixed vocabulary — this is what CV matching compares against.
Carried by 1 source
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Greenhouse employer's own board first seen 4d ago · last seen 2h ago
The listing
About Shift5
Shift5 delivers operational intelligence for onboard OT across defense, aerospace, and commercial transportation fleets. We capture and analyze databus data to detect anomalies, predict failures, and secure critical infrastructure against cyber threats.
The Role & Team
The Platform Engineering team owns four core capabilities: Operating Systems (BaseOS, Manifold, Yocto), Cloud & Infrastructure (AWS/GovCloud to edge), Developer Experience (CI/CD guardrails, internal tooling), and AI Enablement (secure AI orchestration and tooling).
As Principal Platform Engineer, you are the senior-most individual contributor on the team, serving as the primary technical anchor for architecture and a key multiplier for the engineering org. You will drive overall technical strategy, mentor senior engineers, and step into direct team leadership or people management as needed.
What You'll Do
- Release Engineering: Architect, develop, and operate end-to-end release infrastructure and GitOps delivery pipelines using tools like Atlantis, ArgoCD, Earthly Lunar, GitHub, and internally developed tools.
- Cloud Infrastructure: Architect and manage a complicated AWS estate spanning commercial and govcloud using services like EKS, RDS, S3, VPC, Transit Gateway, etc.
- Supply Chain Security & Compliance: Lead artifact security (Harbor, Cosign, Vault Transit Engine) and build automated, compliance-by-default pipelines (NIST controls, SBOM generation) to eliminate program friction.
- OS Lifecycle & AI Enablement: Support hardware OS image builds (Yocto, Manifold) and productionize internal AI gateways, RAG tooling, and developer AI workflows (Cursor).
- Technical & Team Leadership: Author RFCs/design docs, run architecture reviews, plan roadmaps, and mentor mid/staff-level engineers. Provide direct management (1:1s, hiring, performance reviews) during transitions or scale.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with security, embedded, and field teams to ensure seamless delivery across airgapped and edge environments.
What Success Looks Like
- Predictable Delivery: Release engineering is seamless, observable, and fully trusted across teams.
- Automated Security: Compliance evidence and SBOMs are generated natively in CI/CD without manual overhead.
- Governed AI: AI tooling is securely integrated, well-documented, and actively adopted by developers.
- Team Growth & Resilience: Engineering standards elevate across the org, priorities remain clear, and team leadership operates without single points of failure.
What We’re Looking For
Required:
- 10+ years in software/platform engineering, with 5+ years managing production infrastructure at scale.
- Technical & People Leadership: Proven track record leading projects, designing architecture, mentoring engineers, and readiness (or prior experience) for direct people management.
- Cloud & Modern Delivery: Hands-on mastery of Kubernetes, ArgoCD, GitHub Actions/Earthly, and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/OpenTofu, AWS/GovCloud).
- Supply Chain Security: Strong background in artifact registries, container signing (Cosign/Sigstore), Vault, and SBOM generation.
- Clearance: Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Security Clearance (U.S. Citizenship required).
Preferred:
- Background in defense, aerospace, or regulated environments (NIST 800-53, IL4/IL5, CMMC).
- Embedded Linux/OS experience (Yocto, SLE Micro) and airgapped/edge deployment models.
- Experience deploying internal AI/LLM infrastructure (RAG, model gateways, governance).
- Scripting proficiency in Go, Python, and Bash.
Compensation & Benefits
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Base Salary: $255,000 - $280,000
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Bonus program and equity in a fast-growing startup
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Competitive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and their families
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Health Savings Account with annual employer contributions
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Employer-paid Life and Disability Insurance
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Uncapped paid time off policy
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Flexible work & remote work policy
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Tax-deferred public transit benefits with Metro SmartBenefits (DC/MD/VA)
We are committed to building an inclusive culture of belonging that embraces the diversity of our people and represents the communities in which we work and the customers we serve. We know the happiest and highest performing teams include people with diverse perspectives and ways of solving problems. We strive to attract and retain talent from all backgrounds and create workplaces where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work.
Shift5 is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identify, national origin, disability, age, marital status, ancestry, projected veteran status, or any other protected group or class.