Director of Autonomy

Drive Capital; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) matching

Unlimited PTO

Equity package

Work-from-home stipend

Relocation assistance

Job summary

HavocAI in the Greater Boston area seeks a Director of Autonomy to lead the technical direction and growth of its autonomy organization. You will guide perception, planning, and control for autonomous maritime vehicles, coordinating across multiple engineering teams to move capabilities from concept to deployed mission capability.

The role requires breadth and depth in robotics, perception, motion planning, and fielded systems, with responsibilities in mentorship, architecture, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, CS, Electrical/Mechanical/AE or related field.
• 10+ years in robotics, autonomy, unmanned/maritime systems or defense tech.
• Proven leadership of engineering teams and architecture decisions.
• Strong systems engineering judgment and cross-team collaboration.
• Experience bringing autonomous systems from prototype to fielded deployment.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive autonomy architecture across perception, planning, and control.
• Lead teams of autonomy, robotics, perception, planning, and controls engineers.
• Ensure real-world maritime operation readiness and field readiness.
• Collaborate with product, hardware, and operations for robust deployments.
• Mentor senior engineers and set engineering standards.

Skills

Robotics

Autonomy

Leadership

Communication

Perception

Planning

Controls

Team collaboration

Problem solving

Mentorship

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree

Tools

ROS2

DDS

MOOS-IvP

Job description

About Us:

Havoc is a leader in all-domain collaborative autonomy. Its software-defined hardware approach powers military and commercial-grade autonomous systems across sea, air, and land to sense, decide, and act together in complex and contested environments. Havoc connects assets, enabling them to share information, adapt in real time, and continue operating even when communications are disrupted or denied. Havoc optimizes mission performance and minimizes human risk.
Havoc was founded in 2024 and headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Learn more at Havoc: All-Domain Collaborative Autonomy.

About the Role

As the Director of Autonomy, you will lead the technical direction, execution, and growth within HavocAI’s autonomy organization. You will be responsible for building and scaling the systems that enable autonomous vehicles to perceive, plan, coordinate, and operate in complex maritime environments.

This is a senior technical leadership role for someone who has deep experience across robotics, perception, motion planning, controls, and fielded autonomous systems. You will lead teams of engineers from a technical perspective, set architecture and execution priorities, mentor senior engineers, and ensure that autonomy capabilities move quickly from concept to deployed mission capability.

This role requires both breadth and depth. You should be able to reason across perception, planning, control, vehicle behavior, multi-agent coordination, simulation, testing, and deployment. You will work closely with engineering, product, field operations, hardware, mission software, and customer-facing teams to deliver robust autonomy systems that operate reliably in the real world.

Key Responsibilities

Autonomy Technical Leadership

• Own the technical direction for HavocAI’s autonomy systems across perception, planning, controls, behaviors, and vehicle-level decision-making

• Define autonomy architecture, interfaces, development standards, and integration strategies across multiple engineering teams

• Lead technical tradeoffs across performance, safety, reliability, latency, compute constraints, scalability, and mission needs

• Ensure autonomy capabilities are designed for real-world maritime operations, not just simulation or controlled environments

• Drive technical alignment between autonomy, perception, mission software, embedded systems, hardware, and field operations

Robotics, Planning & Control Systems

• Guide development of motion planning, path planning, behavior planning, control, and vehicle autonomy systems

• Oversee autonomy capabilities for navigation, collision avoidance, target following, station keeping, formation behavior, and multi-vessel coordination

• Ensure autonomy algorithms are robust to uncertain environments, degraded sensors, dynamic contacts, and complex maritime operating conditions

• Partner with perception and sensor teams to ensure autonomy systems use perception outputs effectively and safely

• Drive the maturation of autonomy from prototype capabilities into reliable, repeatable, fielded systems

Team Leadership & Mentorship

• Lead and mentor a high-performing team of autonomy, robotics, perception, planning, and controls engineers

• Provide technical guidance to engineering managers, tech leads, and senior individual contributors

• Establish strong engineering practices around design reviews, architecture reviews, testing, simulation, integration, and field readiness

• Help recruit, evaluate, and develop top technical talent across the autonomy organization

• Create a culture of ownership, technical rigor, speed, and mission focus

Fielded Autonomy Execution

• Drive autonomy development from requirements through design, implementation, simulation, field test, deployment, and operational iteration

• Ensure autonomy systems are testable, observable, debuggable, and measurable in real-world environments

• Use field data, logs, test results, and operator feedback to identify gaps and improve system performance

• Support customer demonstrations, operational evaluations, and field deployments as a senior technical leader

• Build feedback loops between field failures, autonomy improvements, and product roadmap decisions

Cross-Functional Strategy

• Partner with product and company leadership to define autonomy strategy, technical roadmap, and capability priorities

• Translate customer and mission needs into actionable autonomy requirements and engineering plans

• Communicate technical risks, tradeoffs, and progress clearly to executive, engineering, customer, and program stakeholders

• Collaborate with hardware, manufacturing, operations, and deployment teams to ensure autonomy capabilities are compatible with vessel platforms and field constraints

• Help shape long‑term autonomy investment across software, data, simulation, infrastructure, and platform capabilities

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field

• 10+ years of experience in robotics, autonomy, autonomous vehicles, unmanned systems, maritime autonomy, aerospace, defense technology, or related fields

• Extensive technical background across robotics, perception, motion planning, control systems, and autonomous system architecture

• Proven experience leading teams of engineers from a technical perspective

• Strong understanding of autonomy software stacks, including perception integration, planning, control, behaviors, simulation, testing, and deployment

• Experience taking robotic or autonomous systems from prototype through fielded deployment

• Strong systems engineering judgment and ability to make architecture-level decisions across complex autonomy systems

• Experience working in Linux-based development environments with modern software engineering practices

• Ability to mentor senior engineers, set technical direction, and raise the engineering bar across teams

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts, tradeoffs, and risks to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

• High ownership, strong judgment, and comfort operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments

• Passion for mission-critical autonomy and real-world robotic systems

• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance

Preferred Skills

• Advanced degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related technical field

• Experience with autonomous surface vessels, maritime autonomy, naval systems, or maritime domain awareness

• Experience leading autonomy teams in defense, aerospace, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or dual-use technology companies

• Experience with multi-agent autonomy, collaborative autonomy, swarm robotics, or distributed robotic systems

• Deep experience with motion planning, trajectory generation, behavior planning, collision avoidance, controls, or guidance systems

• Experience with perception systems, sensor fusion, radar, EO/IR cameras, AIS, GPS/INS, or other maritime sensor modalities

• Experience with simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, autonomy verification and validation, and field test programs

• Familiarity with ROS2, DDS, MOOS-IvP, autonomy middleware, or distributed robotics architectures

• Experience supporting government, DoD, or defense customer programs

• Active or prior security clearance

Location

This role may be based in the Greater Boston area with remote flexibility.

Benefits:

• 100% Employer paid Health, Dental and Vision Insurance for you and your families

• Life Insurance (Employer Paid)

• Ability to participate in the companies 401k program (Matching)

• Unlimited PTO policy with an enforced 2 week minimum

• Equity Package

• Work / Home Office Stipend

• Global Entry

• 16 Week Paid Parental Leave

• Monthly Health and Wellness Stipend

Our Values:

• Innovation: We are driven to break new ground. Every day presents an opportunity to challenge the status quo, think boldly, and deliver advanced solutions that transform the future of defense technology.

• Integrity: We hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards, ensuring transparency, accountability, and trust in all our actions and partnerships.

• Mission-Driven: We are focused on achieving impactful outcomes that align with our core mission—protecting lives through innovation.

• Forward-Leaning: We continuously seek out new opportunities and remain at the forefront of technological advancements. We embrace change and anticipate the challenges of tomorrow with confidence and creativity.

• Ownership of All Tasks: At HavocAI, no problem is too complex or too trivial. We believe that greatness comes from tackling the hardest challenges, but also in handling the smallest, sometimes thankless, tasks with the same level of commitment and care.

• Servant Leadership: We lead by serving others, whether it’s supporting our employees, partners, or the broader community. Empowering those around us is key to achieving long-term success and making a lasting impact.

HavocAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.