Distributed Systems & Simulation Engineer

About Spine

Spine builds integrated security infrastructure for operators of critical infrastructure across Europe — energy grids, rail and logistics networks, data centers, manufacturing sites, and municipal utilities. Our sensor-fused, integrator-ready platform replaces legacy guard-contract security with verified, correlated incidents across a three-layer stack: Sensor (radar, RF, optical, acoustic fused at the edge), Site (an encrypted mesh network that stays autonomous without connectivity), and Portfolio (correlated alerts feeding a Security Operations Center). We're a small, field-oriented team based in Berlin, taking full-stack ownership from embedded firmware to on-site deployment. Our mission: Securing European Prosperity.

About the Role

Spine's sensor towers operate across multiple sites, often with unreliable connectivity, and the whole stack develops against simulation and replay tooling rather than always testing on live hardware. We're hiring a systems engineer to own both: the multi-site edge platform (replication, failover, fleet operations across embedded Linux nodes) and the simulation/replay backbone that lets the rest of the team build and test with confidence before deploying to a customer site.

What You'll Do

• Design and operate distributed systems across edge/embedded Linux fleets: replication, failover, consensus, multi-node coordination

• Own fleet operations: A/B OTA updates, remote access via overlay networks, health monitoring and auto-recovery

• Build and maintain simulation/replay tooling: sensor-data replay, synthetic data pipelines, digital-twin style test harnesses

• Write production Rust or C++ alongside Python tooling

• Work closely with field and AI teams to ensure the platform is reliable at multi-site scale

What We're Looking For

• Experience with distributed systems on edge/embedded Linux fleets: replication, failover, consensus, multi-node coordination

• Fleet operations experience: A/B OTA updates (Mender/RAUC/Rugix-class), remote access via overlay networks (Tailscale/NetBird-class), health monitoring and auto-recovery

• Experience building simulation or replay tooling: sensor-data replay, synthetic data pipelines, or digital-twin style test harnesses

• Strong Rust or C++ plus Python

Nice to Have

• Precise timing experience: GNSS disciplining, PTP, clock sync across nodes

• Security hardening: least-privilege access, secrets management, SBOM/vulnerability management

Compensation & Location

• On-site, EU (Berlin)