Senior Autonomy Engineer for Defense Tech

Shield AI; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 221,000 - 331,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI, a defense‑tech company, seeks an experienced autonomous systems engineer to design and implement tactical autonomy for unmanned aircraft across air, land, and sea. You will work on high‑performance software and multi‑agent behaviors in collaboration with perception, planning, and flight‑test teams.

Ideal candidates hold a BS/MS in CS/EE/ME/Aerospace with 7–10+ years of related experience, proficient in C++ and Python, and eligible for DoD clearance.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace or equivalent.
• Typically 7+ years with BS, 9+ with MS, or 10+ with PhD in related fields.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python; familiarity with RTOS.
• Extensive robotics experience in autonomous systems and unmanned aircraft.

Responsibilities

• Design tactical autonomy algorithms for unmanned aircraft across domains with minimal supervision.
• Develop high-performance software modules for planning, decision-making, and behavior execution.
• Implement and test multi-agent behavior architectures for coordination, engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability.
• Integrate classical autonomy with ML approaches for robust adaptive behavior.
• Collaborate with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight-test teams for real-world deployment.
• Deploy autonomy capabilities to platforms and participate in field tests and demos.
• Analyze mission logs to diagnose failures and optimize models.
• Contribute to autonomy R&D and roadmapping to identify gaps and propose solutions.
• Support defense programs and adapt autonomy solutions to evolving requirements.
• Travel 10-15% annually.

Skills

C++

Python

Robotics

RTOS

Unmanned systems

DoD clearance

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science or Engineering

Equivalent practical experience

Tools

AFSIM

NGTS

Job description

Shield AI, a defense‑tech company, seeks an experienced autonomous systems engineer to design and implement tactical autonomy for unmanned aircraft across air, land, and sea. You will work on high‑performance software and multi‑agent behaviors in collaboration with perception, planning, and flight‑test teams.

Ideal candidates hold a BS/MS in CS/EE/ME/Aerospace with 7–10+ years of related experience, proficient in C++ and Python, and eligible for DoD clearance.