Senior Engineer, Autonomy

Shield AI; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is a venture-backed defence-tech company building intelligent autonomous systems for aircraft. This hands-on engineering role blends software development with robotics, perception, and path planning.

You'll join a high-performing team shaping the future of AI pilots for solving real-world problems. Key responsibilities include designing autonomous behaviours for uncrewed aircraft, working with real sensor data, testing in high-fidelity simulations, and mentoring junior engineers while

Qualifications

• A tertiary level qualification in Computer Science, Mechatronics, Software Engineering, Aerospace, Robotics or a related field.
• Significant professional experience in robotics, autonomy, perception or aerospace systems.
• Strong experience in modern C++.
• Significant experience in building and delivering reliable software systems, ideally in fast-paced environments.
• Prior experience with uncrewed systems, especially in the air domain (preferred).
• Defence industry experience (preferred).
• Significant experience in one or more of the following domains: State Estimation, Real-Time Systems, Guidance Navigation and Control, Path Planning (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Design and implement autonomous behaviours for uncrewed aircraft
• Work with real sensor data and build robust sensor fusion solutions
• Develop and test autonomy systems in high-fidelity software and hardware in-the-loop simulations
• Integrate Shield AI autonomy products together with third-party aircraft and systems
• Collaborate across AI, robotics, and systems engineering teams to deliver integrated solutions
• Contribute to architecture, code quality, design reviews and best practices
• Lead and mentor junior engineers

Job description

Shield AI is a venture-backed defence technology company building intelligent autonomous systems for aircraft. This is a hands-on engineering role, blending software development with robotics, perception, and path planning. You'll be joining a high-performing team shaping the future of AI pilots for solving real-world problems.

Key responsibilities

• Design and implement autonomous behaviours for uncrewed aircraft
• Work with real sensor data and build robust sensor fusion solutions
• Develop and test autonomy systems in high-fidelity software and hardware in-the-loop simulations
• Integrate Shield AI autonomy products together with third-party aircraft and systems
• Collaborate across AI, robotics, and systems engineering teams to deliver integrated solutions
• Contribute to architecture, code quality, design reviews and best practices
• Lead and mentor junior engineers

About you

• A tertiary level qualification in Computer Science, Mechatronics, Software Engineering, Aerospace, Robotics or a related field
• Significant professional experience in robotics, autonomy, perception or aerospace systems
• Strong experience in modern C++
• Significant experience in building and delivering reliable software systems, ideally in fast-paced environments
• Prior experience with uncrewed systems, especially in the air domain (preferred)
• Defence industry experience (preferred)
• Significant experience in one or more of the following domains: State Estimation, Real-Time Systems, Guidance Navigation and Control, Path Planning (preferred)

About us

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI's technology actively supports operations worldwide.