Principal Engineer – Autonomous Systems

Integer Technologies; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full health coverage

Relocation assistance

Retirement plan 401(k)

Year-end bonuses

Job summary

Integer Technologies is actively seeking a Principal Engineer for Autonomous Systems to serve as a senior technical contributor across a growing portfolio of unmanned and autonomous maritime projects. You will guide technical strategy, shape research directions, and mentor engineers while collaborating with sponsors and partners.

The role emphasizes hands-on research, cross‑program leadership, and the ability to communicate complex concepts to diverse audiences.

Qualifications

• Must be a U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. DoD Secret Clearance.
• Experience with autonomous or uncrewed maritime systems (UUVs, USVs), or applicable experience in adjacent domains (UAS, ground robotics, space autonomy) that translates to maritime problems.
• Demonstrated ability to shape and capture funding for new science and technology (S&T) programs related to maritime autonomous systems with Department of War (DoW) sponsors, such as DARPA, ONR, or similar.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Robotics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Ocean Engineering, or related field, with 10+ years of relevant technical experience; or Master's degree with 8+ years; or Ph.D. with 6+ years.
• Deep experience in at least one, and working proficiency in at least two, of: Modeling and simulation environments for autonomous or robotic systems; Perception, computer vision, or sonar/acoustic signal processing; State estimation, data fusion, and sensor management; Edge-deployed ML and on-platform inference; Software architecture for autonomous/embedded systems; Ability to move between programs and technical areas.
• Proficiency with modern software engineering practices: Git, code review, CI/CD, unit and integration testing, and technical documentation.
• Fluency in Python, C++, or Rust for production research code.
• Strong written and oral communication skills; able to explain complex technical work to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work independently on ambiguous problems and produce concrete results.
• Ability to travel occasionally (~30%) for meetings, conferences, and test events.
• Experience mentoring junior engineers.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a portfolio-wide technical subject-matter expert in autonomous maritime systems and related domains.
• Contribute to proposals and business development; author technical approach sections for white papers and proposals.
• Represent Integer's technical work externally via publications and conferences.
• Drive technical execution on high-risk, high-payoff research problems across the Mission Autonomy portfolio.
• Mentor junior engineers and guide technical problem solving across programs.

Skills

Autonomous maritime systems

Funding & proposals

Software engineering practices

Programming in Python/C++/Rust

Technical communication

Travel up to 30%

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Master's degree with 8+ years

PhD with 6+ years

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Gazebo / MOOS-IvP

PyTorch / TensorFlow

Job description

Integer Technologies is an applied research and product development company founded by scientists and engineers with a passion for protecting freedom with innovation. We perform R&D on next-generation systems and technologies for the Department of Defense and other U.S. Government agencies. We are hardware and software developers with experience transforming research into fieldable technology. Our core portfolio of research includes projects in power & energy systems, unmanned systems (with an emphasis on maritime systems), digital engineering, and cyber security. Our mission is to create a safer world by translating scientific discoveries into reliable products that address urgent national security needs… at the speed of relevance.

Locations: Gulfport, MS., Baton Rouge, LA., Columbia, SC., Durham, NH., and Remote Possible .

Company Benefits

• Integer fully covers medical, prescription, vision, and dental insurance costs for the employee and dependents. Meaning, Integer standard plan pays 100% of health insurance premiums for your entire family from a well-known national insurer, saving its employees thousands of dollars annually.
• Relocation assistance available.
• Base salaries which exceed local & national industry averages.
• Year-end performance-based bonuses.
• 401(k) with company matching that vests immediately; no funny business.
• Paid Vacation
• Paid Holidays

Company Perks

• Startup culture with the stability of a large company. Integer's business plan has years of time-phased contracted work, alleviating the would-be risk from a traditional small company.
• Direct access to company leadership, prioritization of people over process, and a stellar team with a shared desire for personal and professional growth.
• Friendly atmosphere where people enjoy not only their work and what they're creating but enjoy helping each other as well.

About the role

Integer Technologies is currently hiring a Principal Engineer for Autonomous Systems. The Principal Engineer serves as a senior technical contributor and portfolio-wide subject-matter expert across a growing portfolio of applied research programs focused on multi-domain uncrewed and autonomous systems in the maritime environment. The Principal Engineer may be the principal investigator for sponsored research programs. Importantly, however, the Principal Engineer is not tied to a single program — this role is designed to provide senior technical guidance across programs to solve the hardest technical problems, prototype the most challenging capabilities, and unblock research teams when specialized expertise is required.

Ideal candidates bring both depth and breadth. They can dive deeply into a single critical area — sensor processing, perception algorithm design, modeling and simulation, edge deployment of ML models, or software architecture — when a program needs concentrated effort, and they can move fluidly across those areas when the portfolio needs versatility.

Integer is a science and technology research and development organization. As such, much of our work entails developing solutions for complex problems that presently have no known solutions. The Principal Engineer must be able to perform hands‑on research, understand new concepts from other engineering disciplines on advanced and complex topics, and document findings in a way that is easy for non-experts to understand.

While this is primarily an individual-contributor role, the Principal Engineer is expected to informally mentor junior and mid-career engineers across the portfolio and have a significant technical role in proposals and business development activities.

What you'll do

• Serve as a portfolio-wide technical subject-matter expert in one or more of the following areas, with the versatility to contribute across all of them:
• Modeling, simulation, and digital engineering environments for autonomous maritime systems
• Perception algorithm design for surface and subsea vehicles — computer vision, sonar and acoustic classification, sensor fusion
• Edge-deployed sensor processing and on-platform inference under power, bandwidth, and comms constraints
• Software architecture, development, and deployment for embedded and edge autonomous platforms
• State estimation, data fusion, and adaptive sensor management
• Contribute technical content to proposals and business development. Author technical approach sections for white papers and proposals. Support the company in scoping new efforts. Occasionally participate in customer engagement meetings where deep technical credibility is required.
• Represent Integer's technical work externally through publications, conference presentations, and technical exchanges with government sponsors, academic partners, and industry collaborators.
• Drive technical execution on the highest-risk, highest-payoff research problems across the company’s Mission Autonomy portfolio. Contribute to programs based on where deep technical expertise is most needed and produce demonstrable capability advances at a regular cadence.
• Serve as a technical resource and informal mentor to junior and mid-career engineers across the portfolio. Coach engineers on how to structure hard problems and help other principal investigators think through technical trade-offs.

Required Qualifications

• Must be a U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. DoD Secret Clearance.
• Experience with autonomous or uncrewed maritime systems (UUVs, USVs), or applicable experience in adjacent domains (UAS, ground robotics, space autonomy) that translates to maritime problems.
• Demonstrated ability to shape and capture funding for new science and technology (S&T) programs related to maritime autonomous systems with Department of War (DoW) sponsors, such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Office of Naval Research (ONR), or similar.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Robotics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Ocean Engineering, or related field, with 10+ years of relevant technical experience; or Master's degree with 8+ years; or Ph.D. with 6+ years.
• Deep experience in at least one, and working proficiency in at least two, of the following areas:
• Modeling and simulation environments for autonomous or robotic systems
• Perception, computer vision, or sonar/acoustic signal processing
• State estimation, data fusion, and sensor management
• Edge-deployed machine learning and on-platform inference
• Software architecture and development for autonomous or embedded systems
• Demonstrated ability to move between programs and technical areas as portfolio needs shift; comfortable working across multiple concurrent efforts.
• Proficiency with modern software engineering practices: version control (Git), code review, CI/CD, unit and integration testing, and technical documentation.
• Fluency in at least one general-purpose programming language used in production research code, such as Python, C++, or Rust.
• Strong written and oral communication skills; able to explain complex technical work to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to work independently on ambiguous problems and produce concrete, demonstrable results.
• Ability to travel occasionally (up to approximately 30% of the time) for customer meetings, technical conferences, industry days, and in-water test events.
• Experience mentoring junior engineers.

Additional Desired Qualifications

• Familiarity with numerical computing and one or more machine learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow) and simulation platforms (e.g., Gazebo, Isaac Sim, MOOS-IvP, or comparable).
• Experience with acoustic, magnetic, or electro-optic sensor processing.
• Experience with in-water testing and experimentation using uncrewed or autonomous systems.