Staff Platform Engineer, AI

Space is a warfighting domain. True Anomaly seeks those with the talent and ambition to build the technology that secures it.

OUR MISSION

True Anomaly delivers decisive capabilities for space superiority. We build autonomous spacecraft, advanced payloads, mission software, and space-based interceptors — enabling the U.S. and its Allies to secure the space environment and counter threats from the ultimate high ground.

OUR VALUES

Be the offset. We create asymmetric advantages with creativity and ingenuity. What would it take? We challenge assumptions to deliver ambitious results. It’s the people. Our team is our competitive advantage and we are better together.

YOUR MISSION

At True Anomaly, we’re building the next generation of space defense. AI-assisted work is the biggest force multiplier available to a company at True Anomaly's stage. It accelerates how we build, how we deliver, and how we scale. We are investing in AI as a core operating capability, not a side experiment, and this role exists to make that investment real. As a Staff AI Platform Engineer, you will be one of the first hires to build the infrastructure, tooling, and integrations that put AI directly into the hands and workflows of every team across the company. This is not a research role. It is a building role. You will ship capabilities that engineers, program managers, operators, and business teams use every day to move faster and produce better work. The scope is broad by design. Your work will range from building connectors between AI models and internal systems, developing custom applications for a specific business workflow, and more. You will own platform-level technical decisions about AI providers, tools, and architectures. You will also help build and deliver AI training and enablement for the company, including office hours, brown bags, and hands‑on resources. The platform engineering org, reporting to the Chief Security Officer, will work across the enterprise, from engineering and product to marketing and finance. You will have meaningful autonomy, visibility to executive leadership, and the opportunity to shape how a fast‑growing defense technology company operates with AI. As a technical leader on the team, you’ll be expected to bring a breadth of cross‑discipline experience from areas like cloud infrastructure, DevOps, systems design, technical decision making, operations, and working across organizational boundaries to move the needle for customers. You will use your broad skillset to partner with senior leaders to deliver AI capabilities to the company. You will mentor other engineers to promote their growth. You will work through significant ambiguity to establish technical requirements and deliver results for internal stakeholders.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Lead the design of AI platform infrastructure that will be rolled out across the enterprise. Work with stakeholders across business functions to gather requirements, evaluate technical tradeoffs, and reach consensus. Build and maintain AI platform infrastructure: API integrations, model access pipelines, system connectors (MCP, tool use), and on‑premises compute environments as needed. Develop custom AI‑powered applications, workflows, and integrations that connect frontier models to internal systems such as project management, documentation, communications, and operational tools. Own technical evaluation and selection of AI providers, tools, and platforms, making build‑vs‑buy decisions based on capability, compliance requirements, and speed to value. Act as a mentor and role model for other engineers on the team to support their growth. Contribute to AI training and enablement programs for the company, including hands‑on workshops, office hours, documentation, and shared resources that help teams build real fluency. Partner with engineering, security, and IT teams to ensure AI deployments meet government security and compliance requirements across data classification levels. Stay current with the rapidly evolving AI landscape and bring informed recommendations on new models, tools, and capabilities that could accelerate the company.

QUALIFICATIONS

Typically 8+ years of software engineering, DevOps, or cloud engineering experience with a track record of technical leadership, including owning roadmaps, making architectural decisions, and mentoring engineers. Strong software engineering or similar background with experience building and shipping production systems, ideally in Python, TypeScript, or similar languages common in AI/ML tooling. Experience using the latest AI powered development tools to deliver production code and automate routine tasks. Experience with large language model APIs, including prompt engineering, tool use, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), or agent frameworks (e.g., CrewAI, Pydantic AI). Demonstrated ability to work across a broad technical surface area, context‑switching between infrastructure, application development, and platform architecture. Ability to work across teams to understand requirements and seek consensus. Demonstrated experience owning technical roadmaps and making architectural decisions that affect multiple teams or products, including setting technical standards and driving adoption. Experience with building and using modern software development lifecycle best practices (CI/CD pipelines, continuous testing and monitoring). Experience deploying and operating production workloads to cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP). Strong communication skills and ability to translate technical AI concepts for non‑technical audiences through training, documentation, and direct support. Self‑directed and comfortable operating with high autonomy in a fast‑paced environment where priorities shift and the playbook is being written in real time. US Citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a Top‑Secret security clearance.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Experience deploying AI or ML systems in government, defense, or regulated environments with security and compliance constraints. Familiarity with government cloud environments (AWS GovCloud, Azure Government) and authorization frameworks (FedRAMP, NIST 800‑53, IL4/IL5). Experience with model hosting or fine‑tuning and/or experience benchmarking models and evaluating cost tradeoffs. Experience with LLM eval frameworks, OpenTelemetry tracing, and other model measurement and observability frameworks. Background in developer tooling, platform engineering, or internal tools teams at high‑growth technology companies. Experience building knowledge retrieval systems, embedding pipelines, or enterprise search infrastructure. Active U.S. Secret or Top‑Secret security clearance.

COMPENSATION

Base Salary: Denver - $200,000 - $320,000, Long Beach - $210,000 - $330,000 Equity + Benefits including Health, Dental, Vision, HRA/HSA options, PTO and paid holidays, 401K, Parental Leave Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case‑by‑case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job‑related knowledge and skills, education, location, and experience.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Work Location — Long Beach, CA, or Denver, CO. While we observe a hybrid work environment, you will need to be onsite as the business needs require. Onsite requirements are subject to change, particularly when work on classified systems is required. On an average week, you can expect to spend at least 3 days per week in office. Work environment —the work environment; temperature, noise level, inside or outside, or other factors that will affect the person's working conditions while performing the job. Physical demands —the physical demands of the job, including bending, sitting, lifting and driving. This position will be open until it is successfully filled. #LI-Onsite To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. True Anomaly is committed to equal employment opportunity on any basis protected by applicable state and federal laws. If you have a disability or additional need that requires accommodation, please do not hesitate to let us. #J-18808-Ljbffr Menlo Ventures