Founding Engineer at Gentle Weapons

You will architect the core software layer for autonomous systems operating where networks fail. As a Founding Engineer, you’ll build a hardened Linux distribution and a private networking stack, enabling secure, zero-downtime updates for AI models on fielded hardware. Your work ensures critical intelligence remains operational in the most unpredictable, high-stakes environments.

• Architect and maintain the core OS build system and private networking stack to handle Disconnected, Degraded, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) links.
• Implement resilient, cryptographically signed OTA update mechanics for hot-swapping heavy AI model weights and binaries with zero downtime.
• Engineer deep hardware security features including Secure Boot, FIPS encryption, and kernel-level verification of model weights on NVIDIA Jetson and ARM platforms.

• Possesses deep experience in systems programming (Rust, Go, or C++) and a thorough understanding of the Linux kernel and build systems like Yocto.
• Has hands-on experience with hardware security and networking protocols, including TPM 2.0, LUKS, PKI, and managing deployments in unstable networking environments.
• Must qualify as a U.S. person (ITAR) and thrives in an intense, high-functioning startup environment using agentic tooling like Claude and Cursor to accelerate development.

• Join a high-agency founding team of infrastructure experts from Meta, Amazon, and Mysten Labs to solve the massive challenge of software delivery in disconnected environments.
• Work at the intersection of defense and AI, building the actual infrastructure that allows autonomous systems to survive and adapt in contested, real-world scenarios.
• Enjoy significant ownership as a founding employee with equity and the opportunity to define the technical roadmap for a generational impact in national security.