Autonomy Engineering Lead, Defense Systems

Shield; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking an Autonomous Pilot Integration Team Lead to guide a small engineering team through the design, development, and delivery of major autonomy capabilities for deployed platforms. You will stay technically active, mentoring engineers while aligning with Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, and vendor partners to ensure robust, field-ready autonomy software.

You will own the build and validation pipeline for mission-ready systems, oversee collaboration with cross-functional teams,

Qualifications

• BS/MS in CS, EE, AE or equivalent practical experience.
• Minimum of 5+ years of related experience with leadership responsibilities.
• 2+ years of direct people-management experience (1:1s, reviews, hiring).
• Proven track record building or growing engineering teams and mentoring engineers.
• Experience leading a small technical team or owning a major capability from design through field delivery.
• Experience negotiating interface contracts / ICDs with stakeholders.
• Direct experience with launched effects, loitering munitions, or comparable unmanned systems.
• Experience with multi-agent, swarm, or fleet-scale autonomy.
• Strong proficiency in C++, with real-time/latency-sensitive systems.
• Linux development experience; embedded systems, scripting, and diagnostics.
• Familiarity with middleware/pub-sub/IPC frameworks (DDS, etc.).
• Hands-on experience supporting live exercises or field events.
• Experience with autonomy simulation environments.
• Excellent problem-solving and teamwork skills.
• Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Autonomy Pilot Integration team (3–8 engineers); manage performance, growth, and delivery; conduct 1:1s and reviews.
• Grow the team through hiring; identify skills, interview, and close strong candidates.
• Mentor engineers; provide direct technical feedback and stretch opportunities.
• Develop and field autonomy software onto launched effects platforms (payload bring-up, autopilot integration, multi-agent coordination).
• Provide technical leadership; set direction for a sub-program or feature; unblock work and report progress to leadership.
• Collaborate with Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, autopilot vendors (PX4, ArduPilot), C2 providers, and government/customer staff.
• Drive design reviews, ICDs, and post-mortems; push for higher rigor and better processes.
• Own build/configuration/validation for mission-ready systems; coordinate hardware/software compatibility and cadence.
• Travel to test sites and customer exercises for live missions; support safety checks and troubleshooting.
• Debug integration issues across autonomy stacks, payload computers, and embedded systems.
• Capture mission data; reproduce issues in simulation and drive fixes into next build.
• Build tools and processes to improve integration timelines and reliability; drive cross-team improvements.
• Manage interface contracts with C2 providers and ensure standards (UCI, OMS, MOSA, WOSA, TAK/CoT).
• Travel ~20–30% of the year to various locations and events.

Skills

C++

Linux

People management

Autonomy

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

DDS

QGroundControl

Job description

Shield AI is seeking an Autonomous Pilot Integration Team Lead to guide a small engineering team through the design, development, and delivery of major autonomy capabilities for deployed platforms. You will stay technically active, mentoring engineers while aligning with Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, and vendor partners to ensure robust, field-ready autonomy software.

You will own the build and validation pipeline for mission-ready systems, oversee collaboration with cross-functional teams,