# Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Capabilities (R4587) **Company**: Shield AI **Location**: San Mateo, California **Work arrangement**: onsite **Experience**: senior **Job type**: full-time **Salary**: USD 280,512-420,768 per-year-salary **Category**: Engineering **Industry**: Technology **Apply**: https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/40edd151-badd-47c1-8647-203c4a4f30ec?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply **Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_3c3caded-be9 ## Description Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. The Autonomy Capabilities Team develops functionality to automate single- and multi-agent teams of platforms in pursuit of mission objectives and acts as a central discipline-aligned focal-point for encouraging consistent usage of technical approaches across business portfolios. ## Responsibilities - Tactical Autonomy Design – Design tactical autonomy algorithms to enable unmanned aircraft to perform complex missions across air, land, and sea domains with minimal human supervision. - High-Performance Software Development – Develop high-performance software modules that incorporate planning, decision-making, and behavior execution strategies for dynamic and adversarial environments. - Behavior Architecture Implementation – Implement and test behavior architectures that enable multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios. - Hybrid Autonomy Integration – Work at the intersection of classical autonomy and machine learning, blending rule-based systems with learning-based methods such as reinforcement learning to achieve robust, adaptive behavior. - Cross-Functional Collaboration – Collaborate with cross-functional teams including perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight test to ensure seamless integration of autonomy solutions on real-world platforms. - Deployment & Field Testing – Deploy autonomy capabilities to real platforms and participate in field tests and flight demos, validating performance in operationally relevant conditions. - Mission Data Analysis – Analyze mission logs and performance data to diagnose failures, optimize behavior models, and inform iterative development. - R&D and Roadmapping – Contribute to the autonomy roadmap by researching and prototyping new algorithms, identifying tactical capability gaps, and proposing novel solutions that advance Shield AI’s mission. - Program Support & Adaptation – Support defense-focused programs and customer needs by adapting autonomy solutions to evolving mission sets, compliance requirements, and operational feedback. - Travel Requirement – Members of this team typically travel around 10-15% of the year (to different office locations, customer sites, and flight integration events). ## Requirements - BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and/or similar degree, or equivalent practical experience - Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 9 years and a Master’s degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience. - Proficiency in programming languages such as C++ and Python, and familiarity with real-time operating systems (RTOS). - Significant background in robotics technologies related to motion planning, behavior modeling, decision-making, or autonomous system design. - Significant experience with unmanned system technologies and accompanying algorithms (specifically air domain) - Experience with simulation tools and environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS) for testing and validation. - Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot and optimize system performance. - Excellent communication and teamwork skills, with the ability to work effectively in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. - Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance. ## Preferred Qualifications - Experience applying ML/RL techniques in autonomy pipelines. - Background in collaborative behaviors, swarm robotics, or distributed decision-making. - Familiarity with tactical behaviors for unmanned systems in DoD or government programs. - Work on behaviors applicable across air, ground, and maritime vehicles. - Hands-on experience supporting flight demos or live exercises. - Experience with UCI and OMS Standards ## Skills ### Required - C++ - Python - RTOS - motion planning - behavior modeling - autonomous system design - unmanned system technologies - simulation tools ### Nice to have - ML/RL techniques - collaborative behaviors - swarm robotics - distributed decision-making - tactical behaviors - UCI and OMS Standards --- Source: [Apply at jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/40edd151-badd-47c1-8647-203c4a4f30ec?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)