Autonomy Engineering Team Lead

SYOS Aerospace; Mount Maunganui; On-site; NZD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

SYOS Aerospace, based in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, seeks an Autonomy Engineering Team Lead to guide 7–10 engineers across autonomy, robotics, ML, CV and GNC. You’ll shape engineering culture, set goals and ensure delivery across multiple programmes.

You’ll connect multidisciplinary teams, mentor engineers, drive best practices and help SYOS scale autonomous systems from concept to deployment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading engineering teams.
• Background in autonomy engineering, robotics, software, mechatronics or related field.
• Experience with multidisciplinary teams across GNC, autonomy, ML, CV, robotics or embedded systems.
• Strong understanding of autonomous systems development, integration and testing.
• Experience with UAV/UGV/USV platforms is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop a team of 7–10 autonomy engineers.
• Build a high-performing, collaborative engineering culture.
• Set goals, manage performance and support career development.
• Plan workload, priorities and delivery across multiple programmes.
• Partner with GNC, Software, Systems, Mechatronics, Electronics and Flight Test leaders.
• Provide direction on complex autonomy and integration challenges.
• Drive best practices, ways of working and continuous improvement.
• Help develop capability, structure and technical maturity as SYOS scales.
• Encourage engineers to explore new technologies and bring big ideas to real-world systems.
• Support technical leaders without needing to be the hands-on expert in every domain.

Skills

Leadership

Autonomy engineering

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Communication

Stakeholder management

Tools

ROS/ROS2

PX4

ArduPilot

C++

Python

Job description

Big ideas. Real-world impact.

At SYOS Aerospace, we’re building the next generation of autonomous systems across air, land and sea. We’re looking for an Autonomy Engineering Team Lead to lead and grow a team of around 7–10 engineers working across autonomy, robotics, software, machine learning, computer vision and GNC-related systems.

This is a people leadership role with strong autonomy awareness. You don’t need to be the deepest technical expert in every discipline - we’re looking for someone who understands the world of autonomous systems, robotics and GNC, knows how multidisciplinary engineering teams work, and can bring people together to deliver.

What You’ll Do

• Lead, coach and develop a team of 7–10 autonomy engineers.
• Build a high-performing, collaborative engineering culture.
• Set goals, manage performance and support career development.
• Plan workload, priorities and delivery across multiple programmes.
• Partner closely with GNC, Software, Systems, Mechatronics, Electronics and Flight Test technical leaders.
• Provide direction and support on complex autonomy and integration challenges.
• Drive best practices, ways of working and continuous improvement across the autonomy team.
• Help develop the capability, structure and technical maturity of the team as SYOS scales.
• Encourage engineers to explore new technologies and bring big ideas into real-world systems.
• Support technical leaders without needing to be the hands-on expert in every domain.

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience leading and developing engineering teams.
• Background in autonomy engineering, robotics, software, mechatronics or a closely related field.
• Experience working with multidisciplinary teams across areas such as GNC, autonomy, machine learning, computer vision, robotics or embedded systems.
• A strong understanding of how autonomous systems are developed, integrated and tested.
• Experience with UAV, UGV or USV platforms is a great starting point.
• Comfortable working alongside technical specialists and learning new technical domains.
• Strong communication, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills.
• A genuine interest in autonomous technology and emerging engineering disciplines.

Nice to have

• Experience in machine learning, computer vision or perception.
• Exposure to GNC, navigation, sensor fusion or autonomous decision-making.
• Experience with ROS/ROS2, PX4, ArduPilot, C++ or Python.
• Experience taking autonomous systems from development through testing and deployment.
• Aerospace, defence, robotics, maritime or advanced technology experience.

The SYOS Mindset

You’ll be joining a team where you can lead from the front, work with brilliant technical people and help shape how autonomy is built at SYOS.

You don’t need to know everything. You need to understand the world we’re building, bring people together, ask the right questions and create an environment where great engineering happens.

Build it. Test it. Deploy it.

Now is the time.