Senior Autonomy Engineer: Tactical Behaviors & MultiDomain

engineeringjobs.net, Inc.; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

engineeringjobs.net, Inc. seeks a Senior Autonomy Engineer to design and deploy tactical autonomy for unmanned platforms across air, land, and sea. You’ll blend classical control with learning-based approaches and collaborate with perception, planning, and flight-test teams to bring capabilities to life.

The role requires deep robotics and autonomy experience, strong C++/Python skills, and ability to obtain a U.S. Secret clearance, with ~10+ years of related work. Travel ~10–15% is expected.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent practical experience may also be considered.
• Typically 10+ years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree, 9+ years with a Master's degree, or 7+ years with a PhD, or equivalent professional experience.
• Strong programming skills in C++ and Python.
• Familiarity with real-time operating systems (RTOS).
• Significant experience with robotics and autonomy technologies, particularly: Motion planning, Behavior modeling, Decision-making, Autonomous system design.
• Significant experience with unmanned systems and associated autonomy algorithms, specifically within the air domain.
• Experience with simulation and validation environments such as AFSIM and/or NGTS.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and system-performance optimization skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to operate effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Ability to obtain a U.S. Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Tactical Autonomy Development: Design tactical autonomy algorithms that enable unmanned aircraft to execute complex missions across air, land, and sea domains with minimal human supervision.
• Planning & Decision-Making: Develop high-performance software incorporating planning, decision-making, and behavior execution for dynamic and adversarial environments.
• Behavior Architecture: Implement and test autonomy architectures supporting multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, survivability, and other tactical behaviors.
• Hybrid Autonomy: Integrate classical autonomy and control approaches with machine-learning techniques, including reinforcement learning, to create robust and adaptive behaviors.
• Software Development & Integration: Develop production-quality autonomy software while addressing structures, protocols, threading, interfaces, and real-time integration requirements.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight-test teams to integrate autonomy capabilities onto operational platforms.
• Deployment & Flight Testing: Deploy autonomy software to real-world platforms and support field tests and flight demonstrations in operationally relevant environments.
• Mission Analysis: Analyze mission logs and performance data to diagnose failures, optimize behavior models, and guide iterative development.
• Research & Development: Research and prototype new autonomy algorithms, identify tactical capability gaps, and contribute to the long-term autonomy technology roadmap.
• Program Support: Adapt autonomy capabilities to evolving defense program requirements, customer mission sets, compliance requirements, and operational feedback.

Skills

C++

Python

RTOS

Robotics & autonomy

Unmanned air systems

AFSIM/NGTS

ML/RL in autonomy

Education

B.S./M.S. in CS/EE/ME/AE

Equivalent practical experience

Job description

engineeringjobs.net, Inc. seeks a Senior Autonomy Engineer to design and deploy tactical autonomy for unmanned platforms across air, land, and sea. You’ll blend classical control with learning-based approaches and collaborate with perception, planning, and flight-test teams to bring capabilities to life.

The role requires deep robotics and autonomy experience, strong C++/Python skills, and ability to obtain a U.S. Secret clearance, with ~10+ years of related work. Travel ~10–15% is expected.