Deployment Systems Engineer

About Nominal

Nominal is building the connected test and operations platform powering the world's most advanced hardware systems, from spacecraft and autonomous vehicles to next-generation defense programs. Our platform gives hardware engineering teams a single place to ingest data, analyze performance, automate test execution, and collaborate across every phase of development, so they can move faster without sacrificing safety or precision. We're a fast-moving team that owns problems end-to-end, works across disciplines, and thrives at the intersection of hardware and software.

We serve top-tier commercial and defense customers, from autonomy leaders like Anduril and Shield AI to next-generation aerospace teams like Hermeus and REGENT, and performance engineering teams like Pratt Miller Motorsports, alongside mission partners within the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force on programs where failure isn’t an option. We’re backed by Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Lightspeed. Our team draws from SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril, Applied Intuition, and other leading companies, united by a common mission: giving hardware engineers the tools to build the future with speed, safety, and confidence.

We’re looking for a Deployment Systems Specialist to join our team building high-scale, mission-critical infrastructure for advanced hardware systems. You’ll tackle high-scale, mission-critical problems, deploy and monitor complex distributed systems, and own projects end-to-end, all while collaborating with a team of top engineers. This role includes hands-on work in air-gapped environments, frequent travel to end-user sites, and requires U.S. TS Clearance eligibility.

About the role

• Deploy & support: Deploy Nominal in restricted and self-hosted environments. Own runbooks, deployment documentation, and customer onboarding while troubleshooting issues in the field.
• Work onsite: Travel to customer locations including test ranges, manufacturing facilities, and air-gapped data centers. Partner directly with customer engineering and IT teams to ensure successful deployments.
• Scale deployments: Build repeatable deployment patterns across cloud, hybrid, and on-prem environments. Reduce complexity and improve reliability as we grow.
• Drive priorities: Identify the highest-impact infrastructure and deployment challenges. Surface risks early and help shape roadmap priorities.
• Improve the platform: Build observability, automation, and infrastructure tooling that make deployments easier to operate and support.
• Make sound tradeoffs: Balance speed, reliability, flexibility, and long-term maintainability when making technical decisions.
• Own outcomes: Take initiative, solve problems, and know when to escalate. Move quickly while maintaining a high bar for quality.

We're Looking For

• Infrastructure and deployment expertise: Experience operating production infrastructure, distributed systems, or developer platforms. Comfortable in Linux environments, the command line, Kubernetes, and troubleshooting independently.
• On-prem experience: Hands-on experience deploying and supporting systems in on-prem, edge, or restricted environments. Experience with government or classified environments is a plus.
• Compliance awareness: Familiarity with security, compliance, and accreditation requirements, including auditability, system hardening, and regulated deployments.
• Customer-facing skills: Able to work directly with customers on complex technical issues, build trust, and navigate difficult tradeoffs while maintaining clear boundaries and expectations.
• Process builder: Proven ability to turn operational challenges into repeatable processes, documentation, and deployment standards that scale.
• Systems mindset: Able to think holistically about infrastructure while digging into root causes and technical details when needed.
• Ownership and execution: Proactive, resourceful, and comfortable working across teams to drive outcomes in ambiguous environments.
• Security requirements: Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. TS Clearance.

Skills that supercharge us

• Unix/Linux systems
• Kubernetes / Kuecutl
• MinIO / S3 Object Storage
• Postgres
• Grafana / Prometheus / Loki / Mimir observability stack
• Infrastructure as code

Benefits/Perks

• 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Unlimited PTO and sick leave
• Free lunch, snacks, and coffee
• Professional Development Stipend
• In-office hardware lab with a $250 project stipend
• Annual company retreat

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Compensation

The base pay range for this role is $120,000 - $230,000 per year.