Autonomy Engineering Team Lead

RGIT Australia; Mount Maunganui; On-site; NZD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

SYOS Aerospace in Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, is seeking an Autonomy Engineering Team Lead. This full-time role leads a team of 7–10 engineers across autonomy, robotics, software, ML, CV, and GNC to deliver integrated autonomous systems.

You will champion high-performing engineering culture, set goals, manage performance and enable career development while guiding integration challenges and new technologies into real-world platforms.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading autonomy or robotics engineering teams.
• Background in autonomy, robotics, software, ML, CV or embedded systems.
• Strong ability to plan, coordinate and deliver across multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop a team of autonomy engineers (7-10).
• Set goals, manage performance and support career development.
• Plan workload and delivery across multiple programmes.
• Collaborate with GNC, Software, Systems, Mechatronics and Flight Test leaders.
• Drive best practices and continuous improvement in the autonomy team.
• Scale capability, structure and technical maturity as SYOS grows.

Skills

Team leadership

Autonomy engineering

Robotics

Machine learning

Computer vision

Embedded systems

C++ / Python

GNC / navigation

Tools

ROS/ROS2

PX4

ArduPilot

C++

Python

Job description

Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty 3150, New Zealand

Full-time Permanent Mid-level Senior

Posted 18 Aug 2026

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.