How to apply for Staff DevOps

About Archer

Archer is a pioneering aerospace company focused on making urban air mobility a reality with electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Working here means contributing to a sustainable transportation revolution, backed by strong partnerships and a mission to reduce carbon emissions in cities.

About the role

As a Staff DevOps Engineer, you will architect and maintain the cloud infrastructure and data pipelines that power Archer's real-time AI applications. Your work directly supports the development and deployment of autonomous flight systems, making urban air taxis safe and efficient.

A typical day

A typical day might start with a stand-up with the AI research team to discuss model deployment needs, then dive into optimizing Flink jobs for sensor data streams. After lunch, you might troubleshoot a latency issue in the production environment and later review IaC changes to scale the cloud infrastructure for upcoming flight tests.

Who Archer is looking for

• Has 5+ years of experience in backend systems and distributed architectures, with a proven track record of building highly available cloud infrastructure.
• Is proficient in Java, Python, or Rust, and comfortable writing high-performance concurrent code for stream-processing.
• Has production experience with Apache Flink and other stream-processing frameworks, handling high-frequency data streams with ultra-low latency.
• Thrives in cross-functional teams, collaborating with AI researchers and data scientists to containerize and deploy ML models at scale.

Tips for this application

• Highlight any experience with real-time AI/ML model deployment and monitoring, as this role directly supports AI research.
• Emphasize your work with Apache Flink in production, including specific latency and throughput metrics.
• Tailor your resume to show expertise in infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform, Kubernetes) and cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure).
• Mention any familiarity with aviation or autonomous systems, even if tangential, to show passion for the industry.
• Include a link to your GitHub or a portfolio demonstrating scalable backend systems or stream-processing projects.

What to cover in your cover letter

["Express enthusiasm for sustainable aviation and Archer's mission to revolutionize urban transport.", 'Detail your experience with Apache Flink and real-time data pipelines, providing concrete examples of ultra-low latency systems.', 'Showcase cross-functional collaboration with AI/ML teams, emphasizing your role in deploying and monitoring models.', 'Highlight your ability to architect highly available systems and your proficiency in Java, Python, or Rust.']

Research before applying

• Read about Archer's eVTOL aircraft, such as the Midnight, and understand its sensor suite and data requirements.
• Study Archer's partnerships with United Airlines and other stakeholders to grasp the business context.
• Review Archer's recent news and blog posts about autonomy and AI integration to speak their language.
• Familiarize yourself with FAA regulations for eVTOL operations to understand regulatory challenges.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• Design a distributed stream-processing pipeline for high-frequency sensor data from aircraft.
• How would you ensure ultra-low latency (<10ms) for real-time AI inference on the cloud?
• Describe your experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration for ML model deployment.
• Walk through a challenging incident where you diagnosed a performance bottleneck in a distributed system.
• How do you approach capacity planning and cost optimization for cloud infrastructure supporting AI workloads?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Don't focus solely on traditional DevOps (CI/CD, monitoring) without emphasizing stream-processing and ML Ops.
• Avoid generic statements about 'passion for technology' without linking to aviation or sustainability.
• Don't neglect to mention your experience with high-frequency data or real-time systems, as that's core to the role.