Senior Cloud Application Engineer Swarm Systems

Apium Swarm Robotics (ASR) is revolutionizing swarm autonomy software for air, surface, undersea, and ground vehicles operating across dual-use commercial and defense environments. Our systems are deployed on real platforms, tested in the field, and delivered to customers operating in complex, uncertain, and safety-critical conditions.

We do not build research prototypes or slideware. Our software is integrated into real vehicles, tested in the field, and delivered to customers who depend on operational reliability, speed of execution, and mission relevance. We prioritize performance over hype.

ASR systems represent the next phase in autonomy: collaborative swarming. These are not like pre-programmed drones for light shows. We are creating real-time cooperative management that lets one operator control dozens to hundreds of vehicles in real-time with the ease of controlling a single vehicle. As such, this role requires comfort with responsibility, ambiguity, and operational accountability.

ASR seeks a Senior Cloud Application Engineer to design, build, and operate the cloud-based applications and services that run ASR’s swarm simulation, delivery, and integration platform. This is a deeply technical individual contributor role centered on AWS, responsible for taking the Apium Swarm Simulator to the cloud and turning it into a multi-tenant service used for training, software validation, sales operations, and customer modeling of their planned operational environments. The focus is on the applications and services that run on the cloud, rather than on building the underlying platform primitives from scratch.

A central part of the role is connecting the cloud environment to ASR’s CI/CD pipeline so that the latest software artifacts are automatically available and selectable in the simulator. Users should be able to run against a rolling latest build or pin to a specific release that models the software on their current physical assets. You will build the simulator service to run within a multi-tenant, firewalled model that keeps each customer and partner isolated from one another’s data, partnering with platform and security colleagues on the underlying isolation boundaries, and you will design the customizable, permissioned access to logs that partners need for their own development.

This is also a customer and partner-facing role. You will work directly with partners to help them integrate against ASR’s virtual API for test integration, and you will translate their needs into secure, well-scoped access to the simulation environment. A further core responsibility is using the cloud to run large-scale, stochastic simulation as an automated release gate: executing the simulator many times over in time-accelerated runs to gather statistically meaningful test data and benchmark a candidate build before it is published and before mission engineers take it to the field. The initial environment is AWS commercial. As ASR’s government and defense business grows, there is an opportunity to grow into hardened and regulated environments (such as AWS GovCloud and the associated compliance regimes) over time, but that is not a day-one requirement of the role.

This role is based on-site at ASR’s San Diego, California facility. The right candidate is fluent across the AWS compute spectrum, has strong opinions grounded in real trade-offs about when to reach for virtual machines, managed containers, or serverless, and treats security and cost as first-class design constraints rather than afterthoughts.

This is a senior, foundational hire. As the first dedicated owner of ASR’s cloud application layer, you will set technical direction and standards for how ASR builds and ships cloud software, and you will have a clear path to grow into broader ownership of the domain, including technical leadership and, over time, building and leading a team as the cloud footprint expands. We are hiring for someone who can do the work now and grow into leading it.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate the cloud infrastructure that runs the Apium Swarm Simulator for training, software validation, sales operations, and customer environment modeling
• Integrate the cloud environment with ASR’s CI/CD pipeline so the latest software artifacts are automatically available and selectable in the simulator, supporting both rolling latest builds and pinned specific releases
• Build and deploy the simulator and related services across AWS compute (EC2, ECS, EKS, Fargate, ECR) within a multi-tenant, firewalled model, partnering with platform and security colleagues on the underlying isolation boundaries so that customers and partners cannot access one another’s data
• Integrate application authentication and authorization using AWS-native services (such as Amazon Cognito and IAM), following least-privilege best practices
• Design customizable, permissioned access to logs and telemetry to support partner development at varying levels of visibility
• Work directly with partners to help them integrate against ASR’s virtual API for test integration, serving as a technical point of contact
• Select appropriate cloud deployment strategies (virtual machines, managed and scaled containers, or serverless) based on performance, cost, and operational trade-offs
• Contribute to infrastructure-as-code, observability, and cost management for the services you build, and help establish operational runbooks and incident response in partnership with platform colleagues
• Establish and uphold cloud engineering standards, including secure CI/CD, automated testing, and repeatable, auditable deployments
• Serve as the directly responsible individual for the cloud application domain, setting technical direction, architectural standards, and best practices that other engineers adopt
• Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance on cloud application design, and help scale the team’s cloud capability as ASR grows
• Build cloud-based benchmark and regression testing that runs stochastic, time-accelerated simulations at scale (1 to N runs) to gather statistically meaningful performance and reliability data on each candidate build
• Integrate large-scale simulation benchmarks into the release process as an automated quality gate, so that a build must clear defined benchmark thresholds before it is published or handed to mission engineers for field testing
• Orchestrate parallel and distributed simulation workloads efficiently across cloud compute, managing scale, cost, and run time (for example through batch, spot, or autoscaling strategies)
• Aggregate, store, and report simulation results, including pass/fail criteria, statistical summaries, and trend analysis across releases

Required Qualifications

• Must be a US Citizen
• 7+ years of professional cloud application, cloud engineering, or platform engineering experience, primarily on AWS, including a track record of owning significant systems end to end
• Hands-on expertise across the AWS compute spectrum, including EC2, ECS, EKS, Fargate, and ECR
• Demonstrated experience building and deploying applications that run within multi-tenant or isolated environments, keeping tenant data separated
• Experience implementing authentication and authorization using AWS-native services such as Amazon Cognito and IAM, following least-privilege best practices
• Strong understanding of the trade-offs between cloud deployment strategies (virtual machines, scaled containers, and serverless)
• Experience orchestrating large-scale, parallel, or distributed compute workloads in the cloud, such as batch simulation, Monte Carlo runs, or other high-throughput jobs
• Experience connecting cloud environments to CI/CD pipelines, including artifact management and release selection
• Proficiency with Git and GitLab, and a track record building robust CI/CD and automated test environments
• Demonstrated technical leadership, including setting standards, driving architectural decisions, and operating effectively in ambiguity with minimal direction
• Comfort working independently with limited oversight
• Ability to remain calm and effective under operational pressure

Additional Desired Qualifications

• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tooling such as Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or AWS CDK
• Experience running simulation, modeling, or other compute-intensive workloads in the cloud
• Simulation or modeling background, including experience designing and running stochastic or Monte Carlo simulations and interpreting the resulting statistical data
• Experience building automated benchmark, regression, or performance-gate systems that block releases failing to meet defined criteria
• Familiarity with distributed compute and job-orchestration tooling (AWS Batch, Step Functions, Ray, Dask, or similar) for parallelized simulation workloads
• Kubernetes expertise (EKS or self-managed), including multi-tenant cluster design and network policy
• Experience with observability and logging stacks (CloudWatch, OpenSearch, Grafana, Prometheus, or ELK)
• Experience designing and documenting APIs, and supporting external partners in integrating against them
• Interest in and aptitude for growing into regulated environments over time, such as AWS GovCloud, NIST SP 800-171, and Authority to Operate (ATO) under NIST SP 800-53
• Any exposure to FedRAMP, DoD Cloud Computing SRG, IL4/IL5, or other regulated cloud environments (helpful but not required)
• Relevant AWS certifications (Solutions Architect, DevOps Engineer, or Security Specialty)
• Experience with cost optimization and FinOps practices for cloud workloads
• Experience with secure software supply chain practices, artifact signing, and container image scanning
• Prior experience at a defense technology company or in an ITAR/EAR-regulated environment
• Experience with hybrid or edge-to-cloud architectures, including operation over constrained or intermittent links
• U.S. security clearance or ability to obtain one

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• Must be able to walk, stand, and navigate large indoor and outdoor facilities for extended periods of time.
• Ability to lift, carry, and move materials and equipment weighing up to 25 lbs on a regular basis.
• Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) may be required in designated areas or when performing specific tasks, in accordance with safety protocols and company policy.
• May be required to climb ladders, stoop, kneel, or crouch during inspections, maintenance walk-throughs, or emergency response situations.
• Regular exposure to facility operations including noise, dust, temperature fluctuations, and industrial equipment.
• Occasional off-hours or weekend work required for emergency facility responses or projects as needed
• Requires frequent use of a computer and other standard office equipment for documentation, communication, and coordination tasks.
• Requirement to travel up to 25% of the time, based on customer integration needs and operational requirements.

Background Check

This position will require successfully completing a post-offer background check. Qualified candidates with a criminal history will be considered and are not automatically disqualified, consistent with federal and state law.

EEO and ITAR/EAR Work Authorization Disclosure

Red Cat Holdings provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This position requires direct or indirect access to hardware, software, technology or technical data controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Successful candidates for positions subject to ITAR/EAR restrictions must provide proof of U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Residence and must not require sponsorship for export-restricted work authorization.

E-Verify

The company participates E-Verify ensure eligibility for employment and compliance with Right to Work rules.

Compensation: Salary Range $120,000-$200,000 plus possible Bonus, Equity and Company Benefits