Autonomy Engineering Lead

Socket.dev; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Shield AI seeks a senior leader to head its Autonomy Capabilities team. You will own technical delivery, guide system architecture, and mentor engineers while balancing technical depth with people leadership. You will ensure rapid prototyping through live tests and field deployment, working with DoD and international customers.

The role requires strong C++ skills, robotics expertise, and a proven track record of delivering autonomous capabilities in complex environments.

Qualifications

• Experience leading and developing engineers as a people manager or team lead.
• Track record of delivering major capabilities from design to field delivery.
• Experience with robotics or autonomous systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow the autonomy team, coaching and mentoring engineers.
• Identify skills needed, participate in recruiting and onboarding.
• Own design-to-field delivery of autonomy capabilities.
• Set technical direction and architecture for mission autonomy.
• Develop motion planning, tactical behaviors, multi-agent coordination, tracking fusion, and decision-making.
• Contribute hands-on with prototyping, reviews, and problem solving.
• Drive engineering rigor, testing, and integration practices.
• Navigate changing priorities and communicate updates clearly.
• Collaborate with Perception, Platform Integration, Simulation, Hardware, Flight Test, and customers.
• Lead testing across software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, and live tests.
• Travel ~10-15% for offices, customer sites, tests, and demos.

Skills

People leadership

Robotics / autonomy

C++ proficiency

Systems thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS in Computer Science or Electrical / Aerospace Engineering

Job description

Shield AI seeks a senior leader to head its Autonomy Capabilities team. You will own technical delivery, guide system architecture, and mentor engineers while balancing technical depth with people leadership. You will ensure rapid prototyping through live tests and field deployment, working with DoD and international customers.

The role requires strong C++ skills, robotics expertise, and a proven track record of delivering autonomous capabilities in complex environments.