Description
The Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy will function as a hands-on technical lead / subject matter expert and collaborate with Shield AI teammates / customers to build edge-AI and autonomy software for platforms across sea, air, and space.
This role involves working closely with customers to understand their requirements, writing code, developing new capabilities and ensuring successful software/hardware integration, and mentoring teammates.
Examples of projects you will work on include: Autonomous teaming drones. Teaming between helicopters and drones. Autonomy on Robodogs. AI Pilots for Fighter Jets. and more!
Key responsibilities include: Learn Hivemind: Become an expert user of the Hivemind Enterprise Autonomy Software Development Kit. 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. Hardware Software Integration: 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. Handover / Training: Provide software handover and training to customers for their autonomy development efforts. Documentation: Develop and maintain technical documentation for customer as well as internal use. Travel Requirement – Members of this team typically travel around 10-15% of the year (to different office locations, customer sites, and flight integration events).