Autonomy & Motion Planning Engineer

Socket.dev; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Bonus

Benefits

Job summary

Shield AI is hiring software engineers for the Pilot team to develop algorithms for autonomous trajectory planning and robust software for real-world environments. You’ll work in C++ with Python prototyping, build tests, and help validate performance on simulators and hardware.

You will mentor juniors, contribute to scalable autonomy architecture, and drive features from idea to flight test, ensuring dependable, mission-ready systems.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in CS/Robotics or related field with 5+ years of experience, or PhD with 4+ years.
• Proven C++ software development for motion planning, robotics, or autonomous systems.
• Experience with modern C++, concurrency, and debugging data races and deadlocks.
• Python for prototyping, analysis, automation, or testing.
• Strong fundamentals in algorithms, data structures, testing, debugging, and version control.
• Practical experience on Linux and ability to communicate complex decisions.

Responsibilities

• Research, design, and implement state-of-the-art autonomous trajectory planning algorithms.
• Build reliable, robust software in C++ with Python prototyping.
• Develop tests and evaluate planning stack performance in simulation and on hardware.
• Diagnose failures including concurrency and integration issues.
• Collaborate across teams to refine requirements and deliver capabilities.
• Contribute to scalable autonomy and software architecture.
• Develop analysis tools for rapid iteration and validation.
• Take features from ideation to flight test and maturation.
• Mentor junior engineers and provide technical guidance.
• Stay current with robotics advances and apply them to problems.

Skills

C++ software

Motion planning

Robotics

Python prototyping

Concurrency patterns

Linux

Algorithms & data structures

Software testing

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, or related field

PhD + 4+ years experience

Tools

Git

Linux tooling

Job description

Shield AI is hiring software engineers for the Pilot team to develop algorithms for autonomous trajectory planning and robust software for real-world environments. You’ll work in C++ with Python prototyping, build tests, and help validate performance on simulators and hardware.

You will mentor juniors, contribute to scalable autonomy architecture, and drive features from idea to flight test, ensuring dependable, mission-ready systems.