Product Engineer

/ no recruiters; direct applications only /

The Company

Ironmist is building the compliance infrastructure for the defense software. Our mission: replace broken, manual authorization processes with a platform that embeds security and compliance directly into how software is built - so defense companies and government teams can ship secure-by-design software to the warfighter faster, at the speed of relevance. We are a lean, venture-backed team of builders on a mission.

About the Role

We are looking for a highly capable and experienced Software Engineer with strong DevOps/DevSecOps, Infrastructure-as-Code and software engineering experience to join our lean, fast-moving defense technology company.

This is not a traditional DevOps role where you will only maintain CI/CD pipelines or cloud infrastructure. You will have significant ownership of the environments that run our platform while also contributing directly to the application itself.

Because we are a small startup, we need engineers who are comfortable working across boundaries. On any given week, you may be deploying cloud infrastructure, troubleshooting a production environment, improving a CI/CD pipeline, implementing security controls, or building a new product feature with the assistance of modern AI development tools.

We move quickly, operate with a high degree of autonomy, and expect senior engineers to identify problems, develop solutions, and drive work through completion without requiring extensive direction.

What You'll Do

• Design, deploy, and maintain secure cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• Build and maintain infrastructure supporting development, testing, and production environments.
• Develop and improve CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment processes.
• Implement DevSecOps practices throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Troubleshoot infrastructure, application, networking, container, and deployment issues across the stack.
• Help design infrastructure and application architectures suitable for highly regulated and security-sensitive environments.
• Automate repetitive operational and engineering processes.
• Implement security controls, logging, monitoring, secrets management, and configuration management.
• Review infrastructure and application changes for security, reliability, and maintainability.
• Contribute directly to application development, including implementing new features and resolving defects.
• Use AI-assisted development tools effectively to accelerate software development while maintaining engineering quality and appropriate review.
• Evaluate new technologies and determine when they are appropriate for our architecture.
• Take ownership of technical problems from initial investigation through production deployment.
• Work closely with company leadership and other engineers to rapidly translate customer and mission needs into working software.

What We're Looking For

• Significant professional software engineering experience, including experience operating production systems.
• Strong experience with Infrastructure as Code, such as Terraform, Pulumi, CloudFormation, or similar technologies.
• Strong experience designing, deploying, and maintaining cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with AWS and common cloud services including networking, IAM, compute, containers, databases, storage, logging, and secrets management.
• Experience with containerized workloads using technologies such as Docker, ECS, or Kubernetes/EKS.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD systems and automated software delivery.
• Experience implementing secure development and DevSecOps practices.
• Strong understanding of cloud security concepts including IAM, least privilege, network segmentation, encryption, secrets management, and audit logging.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex systems across application and infrastructure boundaries.
• Ability to read, understand, modify, and develop production application code.
• Experience using AI-assisted software development tools and the judgment to validate, test, and improve AI-generated code rather than relying on it blindly.
• Strong Git and code-review practices.
• Ability to independently research unfamiliar technologies and quickly become productive.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

The Engineer Who Will Succeed Here

Our environment is best suited for someone who is:

• Self-directed. You do not need a detailed task list to make progress. You can take a problem, determine what needs to happen, and execute.
• Hands-on. This is an engineering role. It means solving difficult technical problems, not coordinating the people who solve them.
• Comfortable with ambiguity. Requirements can evolve quickly in an early-stage company, and you should be comfortable making sound technical decisions with incomplete information.
• Pragmatic. You understand the difference between building something correctly and over-engineering it.
• Security-minded. Security is part of the architecture and development process, not something added after deployment.
• Fast without being careless. We often work on short timelines, but reliability, security, and maintainability still matter.
• Curious. You are comfortable working outside your primary specialty when the problem requires it.
• Accountable. When you own something, you follow it through deployment, validation, and resolution.

Nice-to-Have

Experience in one or more of the following areas would be particularly valuable:

• AWS GovCloud
• Terraform and/or Pulumi
• Kubernetes / Amazon EKS
• Amazon ECS
• GitHub Actions
• FedRAMP
• NIST 800-53
• CMMC
• Department of Defense environments
• Zero Trust architectures
• Security automation or compliance-as-code
• AI/ML platforms such as Amazon Bedrock
• SaaS platforms deployed in both cloud-hosted and customer-managed environments
• Experience supporting government or defense customers

Previous defense industry experience is helpful but is not required if you are comfortable learning the regulatory and security requirements associated with the environment.

Security Requirements

• U.S. citizenship is required.
• Candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance.
• Any additional program-specific access requirements will be discussed during the hiring process.

Why Join Us

You will join a lean product-first company where your work will have an immediate impact on both the product and the company.

You will have the opportunity to influence architecture, infrastructure, security practices, development processes, and product capabilities rather than owning only one narrow portion of the technology stack.

We are looking for someone who enjoys building, solving difficult problems, and moving quickly in an environment where strong engineers are trusted with meaningful ownership.