Senior Engineer, Autonomy and Motion Planning (R5263)

Shield; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield is seeking a senior software engineer to develop tactical autonomy software for unmanned platforms across air, land, sea, and space. You will implement multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability, while working through the full software development lifecycle with high-quality processes.

You will lead multi-disciplinary teams, own software system architecture, and collaborate with vehicle integration teams.

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Aerospace/EE, Robotics, or related field
• Proficient in production-level C++ software development
• 7+ years in software sub-systems, behavior planning, motion planning or flight controls
• Experience with collaborative software development tools and release management
• Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams and manage full lifecycle projects
• Capable of mentoring juniors and driving technical direction
• Technical owner for software systems with stakeholder engagement and roadmap management

Responsibilities

• Develop tactical autonomy software for unmanned platforms across air, land, sea, and space
• Implement and test behaviors for multi-agent coordination and target engagement
• Work through full software development lifecycle with high-quality processes
• Champion product-line mindset for tech road-mapping and reuse
• Architect scalable software subsystems interfacing with sensors and actuators
• Collaborate with vehicle integration teams and end-users for requirements
• Act as SME for software engineering in a multi-stakeholder environment
• Travel up to 20% to co-locate with end-users and teams

Skills

C++

Team leadership

Software architecture

Systems engineering

ROS/OMPL

Education

BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science / Electrical Engineering / Robotics

Tools

ROS

OMPL

Optimization solvers

Git

Job description

the company 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-BATaircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, the company’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visitwww.shield.ai. Follow the company onLinkedIn,X,Instagram, andYouTube.Job Description:

What you'll do:

• Develop tactical autonomy software to enable unmanned platforms to perform complex missions across air, land, sea, and space domains with minimal human supervision
• Implement and test behaviors that enable multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios
• Work throughout the entire of the software development lifecycle, from requirements capture through design, implementation, verification, and validation, utilizing tools and workflows consistent with collaborative high-quality software development
• Champion a product-line mindset in technology road-mapping and to enable reuse of behaviors across multiple projects and portfolios
• Utilize your software and systems expertise to architect behaviors as scalable software subsystems, that may interact directly or indirectly with a breadth of system components (e.g., sensor processing, state estimation, peer-to-peer communications, contingency management, actuation, and payload interfacing)
• Leverage internal product and program-specific engineering teams to rapidly deliver state-of-the-art capabilities to vehicle platforms (whether internally and externally owned), with a clear path towards architecture and capability evolution over time
• Collaborate with external teams, aligning on interfacing requirements between diverse systems, often working closely with vehicle integration teams and associated operational subject matter experts (e.g., fighter pilots, UAV operators, etc.)
• Act as a subject matter expert for software engineering, representing software equities in a multi-stakeholder environment including engineering, business and sales leadership
• Travel to co-locate with end-users and/or other teams up to 20% of the time

Required qualifications:

• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
• Proficient in production-level C++ software development
• 7+ years' experience in one or more of the following: software sub-system scheduling and integration, behavior planning, task and resource allocation, motion planning, optimization, or flight controls
• Experience with collaborative software development tools for version control, issue tracking, code reviews, and release management
• Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, set technical direction, and manage full project lifecycles from concept to deployment
• Capacity to learn and grow individually, while mentoring junior team members effectively, building team cohesion and capacity
• Desire to work in a highly collaborative, fast paced, enthusiastic, and mission-centric environment
• Capacity to act as the technical owner for an entire software system, including stakeholder engagement, requirements definition, roadmap management, team co-ordination, design, implementation, sustainment, and evolution

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience across a breadth of technology readiness levels (TRLs) and demonstration of bridging concepts from research-grade to operationally ready
• Experience with mission systems integration, and ideally, hands-on experience supporting integration events and/or flight demonstrations
• Experience across a multitude of application areas, including but not limited to: Collaborative mission planning, behavior planning, synchronized teaming, Automated red force vs blue force tactics, Motion planning across a variety of vehicle classes, kinematic constraints, and team compositions, Weapons target assignment, Sensor target pairing, sensor-centric control laws, Collision avoidance, geofencing, and safety-monitoring
• Experience in more than one operational effect (e.g., strike, air combat, surveillance, reconnaissance, etc.) and more than one associated domain (e.g., air, space, maritime, ground, etc.)
• Experience with FOSS software that is commonly used in robotic systems (e.g., ROS, OMPL, optimization solvers, etc.)
• Experience with simulation tools and environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS) for testing and validation
• Familiarity with practical aspects of navigation and communications systems
• Experience across the product delivery lifecycle, from emerging opportunity through system acceptance, deployment, and sustainment
• Familiarity with systems engineering methodologies
• Familiarity with high-assurance software development processes (e.g., DO-178C or equivalent MIL-STD's)

Why join the company:

• Help build the defining defence technology company of this century.
• Work at the forefront of AI, autonomy, and next-generation defence systems.
• Operate in a highly entrepreneurial and mission-driven environment.
• Make a direct impact on international growth and strategic defence partnerships.
• Collaborate with exceptional teams solving some of the world’s most complex operational challenges.

Our international teammates receive a comprehensive total rewards package aligned to your country office location. For full details on compensation and benefits, please consult your talent acquisition partner.