About the Role
Knightscope is seeking a Principal Engineer to own the end-to-end technical design and architecture of Signals - our autonomous Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) platform. Signals is a mission-critical, enterprise-grade system that unifies our entire fleet of Autonomous Security Robots (K1 Super Tower, K5, K7), PTZ/Axis cameras, and AI detections into a single real-time operational pane of glass hosted on AWS GovCloud via Palantir FedStart.
This role is a technical lead position that bridges deep systems architecture with day-to-day engineering leadership. You will define how multi-sensor data streams (video, audio, LiDAR, telemetry) are ingested, fused, and surfaced across role-based dashboards, real-time 3D digital twins, and AI-powered alerting workflows. You will drive key decisions across the platform's microservices, real-time data pipelines, security and compliance posture (FedRAMP High / DoD IL5 / CMMC), and integration with both internal tools and third-party systems such as Milestone VMS and Axis Communications.
Key Responsibilities
Platform Architecture & Design
- Own and evolve the end-to-end system architecture for the Signals platform, including its microservices, real-time data pipelines, APIs, and front-end integration layer.
- Design and document scalable, secure architecture patterns for multi-sensor data ingestion (video, audio, LiDAR, thermal, telemetry) from K1, K5, K7 robots and third-party devices.
- Architect the real-time 3D Digital Twin layer, including sensor fusion, spatial overlay, occlusion handling, AI-driven positional prediction, and event-linked playback.
- Define integration architecture for all internal tools (KNOC, Deployment, Service, Calibration, Grafana, Simulations) and external systems (Milestone VMS, Axis Communications, HubSpot, NetSuite, Palantir FedStart).
- Establish data flow design for the AI/ML autonomy layer, including anomaly detection, threat prediction, automated machine coordination, and RTX analyst decision-support pipelines.
Technical Leadership
- Lead architecture reviews, design sessions, and technical decision-making across the Signals engineering team.
- Partner with the Senior Director of Software Engineering and the Cybersecurity Program Manager to align architecture with the Product Requirements Document and Statement of Requirements.
- Mentor and guide engineers on system design principles, distributed systems patterns, and best practices for real-time streaming, edge AI, and GovCloud environments.
- Drive technical roadmap planning, identifying risks, dependencies, and sequencing across the platform's build phases.
- Evaluate build-vs-buy-vs-integrate tradeoffs for platform components including video analytics, AI inference, digital twin engines, and alerting infrastructure.
- Continuously research and evaluate emerging technologies across AI, robotics, edge computing, sensor fusion, and physical security to identify opportunities that can enhance the Signals platform and Knightscope's broader product ecosystem, and translate findings into actionable architectural recommendations for leadership.
Security, Compliance & Infrastructure
- Ensure the platform architecture meets FedRAMP High, DoD Impact Level 5 (IL5), and CMMC compliance requirements end-to-end.
- Define and enforce encryption standards for data-at-rest and data-in-transit across all platform components.
- Design and oversee Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) architecture to support distinct user roles: RTX Analyst, KNOC Specialist, CX Analyst, Deployment Engineer, Service Analyst, Engineering, Admin, and Executive.
- Collaborate with Palantir and AWS GovCloud teams to ensure all microservices, databases, and visualizations operate within the FedStart-managed stack.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Translate product requirements from the Signals Product Requirements Document (v1.9) and Statement of Requirements into clear, implementable technical specifications.
- Partner with AI/ML, hardware, field operations, and product teams to align architecture with the operational realities of ASR deployments across client sites nationwide.
- Engage with RTX Analyst, KNOC, and CX stakeholders to ensure architecture supports real-time incident response workflows, including autonomous alert triage, digital twin navigation, and live talk-down capabilities.
Required Qualifications
- 8+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 4 years in a systems architecture or principal/staff engineering role.
- Proven experience architecting large-scale, real-time distributed platforms - ideally in defense, public safety, robotics, IoT, or enterprise security domains.
- Deep expertise in microservices architecture, event-driven systems, and real-time data streaming (e.g., Kafka, WebRTC, or equivalent).
- Hands-on experience with AWS GovCloud and/or FedRAMP-compliant infrastructure; familiarity with Palantir Foundry or FedStart is a strong plus.
- Experience integrating video management systems (VMS), camera APIs (e.g., Axis, Milestone), or physical security systems.
- Strong understanding of AI/ML inference pipelines, edge computing, and sensor fusion architectures.
- Experience designing RBAC systems, secure API gateways, and zero-trust security patterns.
- Familiarity with 3D spatial data, digital twin platforms, LiDAR point cloud processing, or geospatial systems.
- Excellent communication skills - able to present complex architectural decisions to both technical teams and executive stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications
- Familiarity with robotics middleware platforms (e.g., ROS2, Autoware) is a plus.
- Background in physical security, PSIM/VMS platforms, or autonomous systems.
- Familiarity with CMMC, DoD IL5, or other defense-grade compliance frameworks.
- Prior experience leading architecture in a scale-up or growth-stage technology company.
Compensation & Benefits
- Base Salary: $180,000 - $230,000 (DOE)
- Equity: Stock options
- Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off
- Location Requirement: Full-time, on-site at Sunnyvale HQ
