Senior Autonomous Behavior Engineer

APIUM Swarm Robotics - A Red Cat Company; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Apium Swarm Robotics (ASR) seeks a Senior Autonomous Behavior Engineer to design and deploy robust swarm behaviors across air, surface, and ground platforms. You will translate customer use cases into deployable autonomy primitives, work with QA on CI/CD pipelines, and validate behaviors in simulation, SITL, and live flight scenarios.

You will partner with mission engineers, field teams, and UI/UX to define intuitive control levers and reliable API surfaces, ensuring end-to-end operation from

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional experience in robotics, autonomy, modeling and simulation or a closely related technical domain.
• Strong proficiency in C++ and demonstrated experience designing autonomous behaviors for multiple platforms.
• Solid foundation in linear algebra and vector math, including coordinate transforms and basic control/optimization concepts.
• Experience with simulation environments (Gazebo/ROS) and hardware-in-the-loop testing is highly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and field-validate new autonomous behaviors for ASR’s swarm platform from concept to deployment.
• Collaborate with mission engineers, customers, field teams to extract operational requirements and convert them into deployable code.
• Define operator levers and API surfaces with UI/UX and partner systems for seamless behavior control.
• Build and run simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and live-flight tests with clear pass/fail criteria.

Skills

C++

Robotics

Autonomy

Simulation

Linear algebra

Communication

Cross-functional teamwork

Tools

Gazebo

ROS

AirSim

SITL

Job description

Apium Swarm Robotics (ASR) is revolutionizing swarm autonomy software for air, surface, undersea, and ground vehicles operating across dual-use commercial and defense environments. Our systems are deployed on real platforms, tested in the field, and delivered to customers operating in complex, uncertain, and safety-critical conditions.

We do not build research prototypes or slideware. Our software is integrated into real vehicles, tested in the field, and delivered to customers who depend on operational reliability, speed of execution, and mission relevance. We prioritize performance over hype.

ASR systems represent the next phase in autonomy: collaborative swarming. These are not like pre-programmed drones for light shows. We are creating real-time cooperative management that lets one operator control dozens to hundreds of vehicles in real-time with the ease of controlling a single vehicle. As such, this role requires comfort with responsibility, ambiguity, and operational accountability.

ASR seeks a Senior Autonomous Behavior Engineer to build the next generation of swarm behaviors that define what ASR’s drones do once they’re in the air. This is a deeply technical individual contributor role focused on the conceptual, algorithmic, and software work of taking a customer use case and translating it into a deployable behavior — from initial whiteboard through simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and field validation with live drones.

You will work backwards from operational scenarios identified by ASR’s mission engineers, customers, field teams, or fellow software engineers. A typical engagement looks like this: a mission engineer returns from a customer exercise with a new swarm mission concept; you sit with them to extract the underlying operational logic; you decompose that into the autonomy primitives; and you build, test, and ship it. Your output is behaviors that are robust enough to survive field conditions, not just demos that work on a clean simulator.

A core part of the role is partnering with the UI/UX team to define how each behavior is operated. For every new behavior you build, you will specify the levers and knobs that operators need exposed in the ground station, agree on naming and semantics, and ensure the operator workflow is buildable before the behavior is locked. You will do the same for ASR’s API surface, ensuring partner-integrated UIs — TAK plugins, customer C2 systems, third‑party planning tools — can task and control your behaviors cleanly.

You will own behavior testing across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and live flight, partnering with QA and Test engineers to define the test configurations and scenario coverage that get built into ASR’s CI/CD pipeline and that Mission Engineers run prior to customer demonstrations. You will also serve as an internal advocate for behavior‑development velocity: you will identify refinements and optimizations to the core autonomy codebase that would make future behaviors faster and easier to construct, and you will bring those recommendations to the core software engineering team.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and field‑validate new autonomous behaviors for ASR’s swarm platform, working from customer use cases through deployment
• Partner with mission engineers, customers, and field teams to extract operational requirements and decompose them into the autonomy primitives the system actually needs
• Collaborate with the UI/UX team to define operator levers, knobs, and workflows for each behavior, agreeing on naming and semantics before the behavior is locked
• Define and document the API surface for each behavior so that partner‑integrated UIs (TAK plugins, customer C2 systems, third‑party planning tools) can task and control it cleanly
• Build and run simulation, hardware‑in‑the‑loop, and live‑flight tests for every behavior, with quantitative pass/fail criteria
• Maintain and extend ASR’s behavior library, including documentation, parameter tuning interfaces, and regression test coverage
• Partner with QA and Test engineers to define behavior‑specific test configurations, parameter sweeps, and scenario coverage, ensuring this coverage is built into ASR’s CI/CD pipeline and made available for Mission Engineers to run on pre‑demonstration test flights
• Contribute to architectural decisions about the broader autonomy stack, including primitive selection, behavior composition, and behavior arbitration
• Identify and recommend refinements and optimizations to the core autonomy codebase that would improve the velocity, fluidity, and reliability of future behavior development, partnering with core software engineers to drive those improvements forward
• Support field exercises and customer demonstrations where new behaviors are flown for the first time

Required Qualifications

• Must be a US Citizen
• 7+ years of professional experience in robotics, autonomy, modeling and simulation, or a closely related technical domain
• Strong proficiency in C++
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing autonomous behaviors for ground, air, surface, or subsurface platforms — not just integrating existing ones
• Strong foundation in linear algebra and vector math (required), including coordinate transforms, plus working knowledge of optimization or control theory and applied probability
• Comfort with the full behavior‑development lifecycle from concept through field validation, including the testing rigor required to make something work outside a clean simulator
• Demonstrated ability to work from operational use‑case requirements (not just from technical specifications), translating “the operator wants the drones to do X under Y conditions” into deployable code
• Daily working experience with a simulation environment such as Gazebo, ROS, AirSim, custom SITL, or comparable
• Strong written communication, including the ability to document behavior interfaces and API surfaces so other engineers and partner teams can integrate against them
• Ability to work effectively within a cross‑functional team alongside mission engineers, UI/UX engineers, firmware and hardware engineers, and field operations

Additional Desired Qualifications

• Graduate degree (MS or PhD) in Robotics, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Operations Research, or a related field
• Background in Modeling, Virtual Environments & Simulation (MOVES) or an equivalent M&S‑focused graduate program for simulations or gaming
• Experience with multi‑agent systems, swarm autonomy, or distributed decision‑making algorithms
• Familiarity with TAK (Team Awareness Kit), CoT (Cursor on Target), or comparable tactical command‑and‑control messaging standards
• Experience with MAVLink, PX4, ArduPilot, or comparable autopilot ecosystems
• Familiarity with behavior trees, finite state machines, or hierarchical task planning as autonomy formalisms
• Experience with formal methods, scenario‑based testing, or other rigorous verification approaches for autonomy
• Experience designing automated test infrastructure for autonomy or robotics, including parameter‑sweep frameworks, scenario libraries, or simulation‑based tests integrated into a CI/CD pipeline
• Experience with field testing of robotic or autonomous systems, including first‑flight discipline and post‑flight analysis
• Familiarity with reinforcement learning, learned policies, or hybrid classical‑and‑learned autonomy approaches
• Video game programming experience (Unity, Unreal, or custom engines), which demonstrates the ability to build, simulate, and reason about behavior in virtual worlds
• U.S. security clearance or ability to obtain one

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• Must be able to walk, stand, and navigate large indoor and outdoor facilities for extended periods of time.
• Ability to lift, carry, and move materials and equipment weighing up to 25 lbs on a regular basis.
• Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) may be required in designated areas or when performing specific tasks, in accordance with safety protocols and company policy.
• May be required to climb ladders, stoop, kneel, or crouch during inspections, maintenance walk‑throughs, or emergency response situations.
• Regular exposure to facility operations including noise, dust, temperature fluctuations, and industrial equipment.
• Occasional off‑hours or weekend work required for emergency facility responses or projects as needed
• Requires frequent use of a computer and other standard office equipment for documentation, communication, and coordination tasks.
• Requirement to travel up to 25% of the time, based on customer integration needs and operational requirements.

Background Check

This position will require successfully completing a post‑offer background check. Qualified candidates with a criminal history will be considered and are not automatically disqualified, consistent with federal and state law.

EEO and ITAR/EAR Work Authorization Disclosure

Red Cat Holdings provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This position requires direct or indirect access to hardware, software, technology or technical data controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Successful candidates for positions subject to ITAR/EAR restrictions must provide proof of U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Residence and must not require sponsorship for export‑restricted work authorization.

E-Verify

The company participates E-Verify ensure eligibility for employment and compliance with Right to Work rules.

Compensation: $120K - $200K, plus generous annual equity package and potential bonuses.