Senior Autonomy Software Engineer, Behaviors

Front Door Defense; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 187,531 - 281,297; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to lead the design and delivery of autonomous behaviors for mission platforms. The role will drive end-to-end ownership of software across the product lifecycle, including architecture, design, and collaboration with cross-functional teams.

You’ll work on autonomy software for platforms like V-Bat and related systems, with travel up to 20%. The role requires senior expertise in C++ and a track record of leading multi-disciplinary teams in fast-paced

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
• Proficient in production-level C++ software development.
• 7+ years' experience in software sub-system scheduling, behavior planning, task and resource allocation, motion planning, optimization, or flight controls.
• Experience with collaborative software development tools for version control, issue tracking, code reviews, and release management.
• Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, set technical direction, and manage full project lifecycles from concept to deployment.
• Desire to work in a highly collaborative, fast paced, enthusiastic, and mission-centric environment.
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Develop tactical autonomy software to enable unmanned platforms to perform complex missions across air, land, sea, and space domains with minimal human supervision.
• Implement and test behaviors that enable multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios.
• Work throughout the entire software development lifecycle, from requirements capture through design, implementation, verification, and validation.
• Champion a product-line mindset in technology road-mapping and enable reuse of behaviors across projects.
• Architect behaviors as scalable software subsystems that may interact with sensor processing, state estimation, and communications.
• Leverage internal teams to rapidly deliver state-of-the-art capabilities to vehicle platforms with evolution over time.
• Collaborate with external teams, aligning on interfacing requirements between diverse systems.
• Act as a subject matter expert for software engineering in a multi-stakeholder environment.
• Travel to co-locate with end-users and/or other teams up to 20% of the time.

Skills

C++

Leadership

Security clearance

Education

BS/MS/PhD in CS/Engineering

Tools

ROS

OMPL

Optimization solvers

Job description

Shield AI is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to lead the design and delivery of autonomous behaviors for mission platforms. The role will drive end-to-end ownership of software across the product lifecycle, including architecture, design, and collaboration with cross-functional teams.

You’ll work on autonomy software for platforms like V-Bat and related systems, with travel up to 20%. The role requires senior expertise in C++ and a track record of leading multi-disciplinary teams in fast-paced