Director of Engineering, Infrastructure at Hadrian Automation

Hadrian - Manufacturing the Future Hadrian is building autonomous factories that help aerospace and defense companies manufacture rockets, satellites, jets, and ships up to 10x faster and up to 2x cheaper. By combining advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we are reinventing how America produces its most critical parts. We’re accelerating our mission with the launch of Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona, a 290,000-square-foot facility creating 350 new jobs. We are expanding rapidly to support thousands of future hires, launching Hadrian Maritime to expand into naval production, and introducing a Factory-as-a-Service model that delivers complete systems instead of individual parts. Hadrian is backed by leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz, our fast-growing team is united around reindustrializing American manufacturing for the 21st century and beyond. THE ROLE Hadrian's infrastructure is not just software backbone. It is the nervous system of a physical factory. Our infrastructure teams are responsible for operating the software systems that run our manufacturing operations, from Kubernetes-based compute platforms to the systems that keep our factory floor running reliably at scale. As Director of Engineering, Infrastructure, you will own the platform that everything else runs on. You will lead a team of 12-15 engineers spanning Kubernetes and compute platform engineering, site reliability engineering, and core infrastructure (networking, storage). You will report to the VP of Engineering and work closely with our DevOps, Product Engineering, and Security teams to ensure our systems are fast, reliable, and ready to scale globally. This is a leadership role for someone who has done this before at scale, who is hands-on enough to make the right technical calls, and who can build and retain a high-performing team in a demanding environment. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Define and execute Hadrian's infrastructure strategy across compute, networking, and storage - Architect and scale Kubernetes platforms for multi-region, high-availability workloads - Own the reliability and performance of core infrastructure systems, establishing SLOs/SLIs and incident response standards - Drive infrastructure cost optimization and efficiency across cloud and on-prem environments - Lead and grow a team of 12-15 engineers across platform, SRE, and infrastructure disciplines - Partner closely with DevOps and Developer Experience teams without owning those functions directly - Establish clear ownership boundaries between infrastructure and adjacent teams - Ensure our infrastructure is secure and compliant with relevant regulations - Drive multi-region and high-availability architecture strategy as we expand to new factory locations WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - 10-15+ years in infrastructure or platform engineering, including 5+ years in engineering leadership - Deep, hands-on expertise in Kubernetes: cluster architecture, scheduling, scaling, and day-2 operations - Strong foundation in compute, networking, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure (AWS and/or GCP) - Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform or equivalent) - Proven track record designing for reliability, redundancy, and failure recovery - Ability to set technical direction at the company level and operate autonomously - Experience building and scaling high-performing engineering teams - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent hands-on experience WHAT WILL SET YOU APART - Deep knowledge of Kubernetes internals, including the control plane and scheduler - Experience with service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd) - Multi-cluster and multi-region orchestration experience - Strong understanding of infrastructure security best practices - Background operating at high scale: multi-region deployments, high-QPS systems, or similarly demanding environments GROWTH & TRAJECTORY This role has a clear path as Hadrian expands its factory footprint globally, the scope of this function grows with it. The trajectory from this role leads toward VP of Infrastructure, with expanding ownership over global infrastructure strategy and potential oversight of the SRE organization. BENEFITS - Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees - 401k - Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need. - Flexible vacation policy ITAR Requirements To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here [Upgrade to PRO to see link] Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity Employer It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.