Principal Devops Engineer Jobs in Kirkland, WA

About Heads Up Technologies

At Heads Up Technologies, we’re redefining what’s possible in the air. Since our beginnings in a Dallas hangar in 1985, we’ve grown into a global leader in aviation technology driven by innovation, precision, and a relentless pursuit of better in-flight experiences. From pioneering digital audio and lighting systems to uniting with STG Aerospace and ALTO Aviation under one brand, we continue to lead the way in cabin systems integration for business and commercial aircraft. Join us as we shape the future of aviation where lighting, entertainment, safety, and audio come together to elevate every journey.

Our Company

We are a team of engineers, innovators, creators, and problem solvers who are passionate about building smarter solutions for the aviation industry.

Through the combined strengths of our specialized brands and capabilities, Heads Up Technologies brings together deep technical expertise, modern design thinking, and a collaborative approach to support customers across every stage of the product lifecycle.

Our Culture

At Heads Up Technologies, our culture is grounded in shared values that guide how we work and grow.

Integrity
We act with honesty, accountability, and respect in everything we do.

Teamwork
We collaborate across teams and disciplines to achieve the best outcomes.

Excellence
We are committed to delivering high-quality work and continuously improving.

Expertise
We leverage our knowledge and experience to solve complex challenges

Our Mission

To elevate the aviation experience by delivering intelligent, integrated solutions powered by exceptional people.

Why work with us?

Joining Heads Up Technologies means being part of a team that is shaping the future of aviation.

We offer an environment where employees are empowered to contribute, grow their careers, and make a direct impact on innovative products used across the globe. Whether you are developing technology or supporting business operations, your work here matters.

Benefits and Perks

At Heads Up Technologies, we are committed to supporting the health, well being, and financial security of our employees and their families. Eligible employees have access to a competitive benefits package designed to support life at work and beyond.

Benefits may include:

• Medical plan options through Blue Cross Blue Shield (Company Paid)
• Dental and vision coverage
• Health Savings Account option with company contribution, if eligible
• Company paid Basic Life and AD&D insurance
• Company paid Long Term Disability coverage
• Voluntary Short Term Disability, Accident, and Critical Illness insurance
• Employee Assistance and Wellness Support resources
• Virtual care access
• Benefit Resource Center support
• Paid time off and paid holidays

Benefit eligibility and coverage are based on employment status, plan documents, and company policy. Official plan documents govern all benefits.

About the role

We are seeking a DevOps Engineer to improve and maintain the developer tooling, CI/CD pipelines, and test infrastructure that our embedded software, firmware, and FPGA teams rely on every day.

The immediate focus for this role will be leading a version control migration to Git and GitHub, building GitHub Actions workflows on self hosted runners, and standing up hardware in the loop test infrastructure for embedded audio and video products.

This is a hands on role for an engineer who enjoys making other engineers more productive by streamlining builds, automating tests, and removing friction from the development process.

Key Details

• Work Days and Hours: Monday- Friday, Full- Time.
• Location: Onsite in Kirkland, Washington.
• Compensation: $115,000 to $135,000 per year.
• Work Eligibility: Must be a U.S. Citizen and authorized to work in the United States.

What you'll do

• Build and maintain GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows for embedded software, firmware, and FPGA builds across Windows, Linux, and Xilinx toolchains.
• Deploy and manage self hosted GitHub Actions runners, on premises and/or cloud based, to support embedded build and test workloads that require specific toolchains, hardware access, or long running jobs.
• Design and deploy on premises hardware in the loop test systems for automated regression testing of embedded audio and video products, including fixture orchestration, instrument control, and result reporting.
• Stand up an artifact repository for managing build outputs, binary assets, and firmware images.
• Lead the migration from legacy version control, including SVN, to Git and GitHub, including repository structure, branching strategy, and team onboarding.
• Evaluate and integrate tools that improve developer productivity across embedded and FPGA workflows.
• Provision, configure, and maintain build and test servers, including runner scaling, OS imaging, and toolchain installation.
• Develop and maintain a package management system for embedded software distribution.
• Define and implement Infrastructure as Code solutions for build servers, runners, test rigs, and development environments.
• Optimize compute and storage resources across CI/CD, runners, and hardware in the loop testing infrastructure.
• Identify bottlenecks across engineering workflows and propose scalable improvements.
• Mentor engineers in Git, GitHub Actions, automation, and DevOps best practices.
• Conduct code reviews for build scripts, deployment pipelines, and automation components.
• Maintain documentation for build, test, and deployment processes.
• Establish metrics for build performance, test coverage, and pipeline reliability.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Five or more years of DevOps or automation experience.
• Experience with version control systems, including Git. SVN migration experience is a plus.
• Experience developing CI/CD pipelines. GitHub Actions experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience deploying and managing self hosted runners or build agents.
• Experience with automated testing frameworks and infrastructure.
• Experience with package management and software distribution.
• Strong scripting and automation skills, such as Python, Bash, or similar tools.
• Experience working in embedded systems development environments.
• Demonstrated ability to design, implement, and maintain automated build and test systems.
• Hands on experience building or maintaining hardware in the loop or automated hardware test infrastructure.
• Core DevOps and automation skills, including GitHub Actions, self hosted runner management, Linux, Docker, Python or Bash, and Ansible.
• Embedded and FPGA support experience with GNU Make, CMake, Xilinx toolchains, Yocto, or proprietary toolchains.
• Testing and artifact management experience with hardware in the loop infrastructure, test fixture orchestration, automated regression testing, and artifact repositories.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading version control migrations from SVN to Git.
• Experience with FPGA development workflows, especially Xilinx.
• Experience designing hardware in the loop test rigs, including fixture design, instrument control, and test orchestration.
• Familiarity with artifact repository systems such as JFrog Artifactory, Nexus, or GitHub Packages.
• Background in audio, video, or high performance embedded systems.