Autonomy R&D Engineer: UAV Coordination & Flight Testing

Mission Autonomy AI; Naugatuck (CT); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Mission Autonomy AI is seeking an experienced engineer to advance autonomy for unmanned aircraft used by the Air Force. You will design multi-agent coordination, implement on-hardware algorithms, and bring simulations to live flight ranges, documenting results and guiding future proposals.

Ideal candidates have a strong background in C++ or Python, robotics stacks (ROS/ROS 2, PX4, ArduPilot), and a track record of shipping hardware-enabled software.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, physics, or a related technical field.
• 3+ years of experience working on defense programs.
• Strong C++ or Python, and the judgment to know which one a problem needs.
• Experience with robotics or autonomy stacks — ROS/ROS 2, PX4, ArduPilot, or equivalent in-house systems.
• A working grasp of control, estimation, or planning, and the math under them.
• You've shipped something that ran on real hardware, not just in a notebook.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement multi-agent coordination, task allocation, and guidance algorithms for unmanned aircraft.
• Move autonomy from simulation through hardware-in-the-loop to live flight test.
• Build the simulation and analysis tooling the team needs to trust a behavior before it flies.
• Debug real flight data — logs, telemetry, video — and turn what you find into fixes.
• Support flight campaigns on site, alongside the operators who use the system.
• Write up results: technical reports, customer briefings, and the next proposal.

Skills

C++

Python

Robotics

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, physics, or related technical field

Master's degree (nice to have)

Tools

ROS/ROS 2

PX4

ArduPilot

Job description

Mission Autonomy AI is seeking an experienced engineer to advance autonomy for unmanned aircraft used by the Air Force. You will design multi-agent coordination, implement on-hardware algorithms, and bring simulations to live flight ranges, documenting results and guiding future proposals.

Ideal candidates have a strong background in C++ or Python, robotics stacks (ROS/ROS 2, PX4, ArduPilot), and a track record of shipping hardware-enabled software.