Staff Software Engineer, IoT Infrastructure & Security

About Beacon AI

Beacon AI is developing AI pilot assistant technology to transform aviation, flight safety, operational efficiency, and pilot capabilities. We are on a mission to leverage the power of artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics to revolutionize the aviation industry. Join us to be at the cutting edge of technological innovation for the second century of aviation.

Role Overview
We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer focused on IoT Infrastructure & Security to lead the development and hardening of our edge-to-cloud infrastructure. This role is ideal for someone with deep expertise in provisioning and managing IoT devices, securing distributed systems, and building scalable infrastructure to support a growing fleet of connected aviation systems.

You’ll play a critical role in shaping our systems from the ground up—designing secure device provisioning pipelines, managing network and communication security, and integrating with frameworks like AWS IoT Core. This is a high-impact position that blends cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and edge device architecture in a safety-critical environment.

What You’ll Do

• IoT Device Infrastructure: Design and implement robust, scalable infrastructure to onboard, manage, and monitor a fleet of edge devices integrated with customer aircraft and ground systems.

• Secure Device Provisioning: Build secure provisioning workflows including device identity management, certificate rotation, and over-the-air updates using AWS IoT Core, Greengrass, or similar platforms.

• Edge-to-Cloud Integration: Lead efforts to securely transmit, store, and process data from remote devices to our cloud systems, ensuring integrity, reliability, and low-latency performance.

• Network & Device Security: Architect and enforce end-to-end encryption, secure authentication, and defense-in-depth security strategies for both airborne and ground-based devices.

• Infrastructure Automation: Collaborate with the broader infrastructure team to extend Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices and CI/CD pipelines to edge systems and secure communication workflows.

• Monitoring & Observability: Design observability strategies for fleets of devices, enabling proactive monitoring, diagnostics, and secure log aggregation.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner closely with firmware, software, and product teams to align cloud/edge interfaces and ensure smooth system operation across components.

• Mentorship & Thought Leadership: Help guide our technical direction, mentor engineers, and contribute to long-term architectural decisions for both edge and cloud systems.

What Will Make You Successful

• Strong IoT Platform Experience: 6–10+ years of experience in cloud infrastructure or platform engineering, with hands-on work building and deploying IoT systems in production.

• Edge System Expertise: Deep understanding of device provisioning, OTA updates, secure credential storage, and fleet management for embedded or edge devices.

• Security-First Mindset: Proven experience designing systems with encryption, authentication, and secure communication protocols (TLS, MQTT, zero trust models).

• Cloud Native Skills: Comfort working with AWS services including IoT Core, Greengrass, Lambda, Kinesis, S3, CloudWatch, and IAM. Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (e.g. CDK, Terraform).

• Systems Thinking: Ability to reason across device, network, and cloud layers—understanding how decisions in one area impact the others.

• Startup Mentality: Comfortable with ambiguity, ownership, and building things from scratch. You enjoy moving fast, taking initiative, and figuring things out.

• Strong Communication: Excellent collaboration and documentation skills. You thrive in multi-disciplinary teams where clarity and empathy matter.
  

Bonus Points

• Experience integrating or securing embedded Linux devices

• Familiarity with MQTT, DDS, or other common IoT communication protocols

• Background working with regulated or safety-critical systems (aviation, automotive, medical devices, etc.)

• Knowledge of observability tooling for edge systems (e.g. Datadog, CloudWatch, Grafana, custom telemetry systems)

This is a hybrid role and requires working from our San Carlos, CA office at least three days a week, with the option to work remotely the remaining days.

Perks & Benefits for Full-Time Employees:

• Comprehensive Healthcare Coverage: Enjoy peace of mind with our generous health benefits, with 80% of medical costs covered by the company for the employee and 25% for their dependents.

• Paid Time Off: Recharge and relax with 3 weeks of paid vacation, in addition to 14 company-paid holidays each year.

• Connectivity Stipend: Stay connected with our cell phone benefit, ensuring you have the tools you need to excel in your role.

• Health and Wellness Allowance: Use this towards a gym membership or subscription to a meditation app, empowering you to prioritize self-care and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

• Financial Planning: Prepare for the future with our 401(k) program. While we currently do not offer matching, we are committed to enhancing this benefit in the future.

For nearly all roles, the following may apply:

At this time, due to United States Department of State regulations, we are only able to hire U.S. Persons. A U.S. Person is a lawful permanent resident (U.S. citizen, legal immigrant with a 'Green Card', or a protected individual who has been granted permanent asylum or refugee status.) These aerospace restrictions mean that we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or consider candidates who require visa transfers. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future. All work must be performed in the United States.

Beacon AI provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. In addition to federal law requirements, employer complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. Employer expressly prohibits any form of workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of employees to perform their job duties may result in discipline up to and including discharge.