Senior Autonomy Software Engineer - Robotics & Mission

Front Door Defense; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI in Boston seeks a Senior Software Engineer to build autonomy behaviors powering unmanned platforms across air, land, sea, and space. You will own components from design to deployment and collaborate across teams to evolve our mission autonomy software stack.

The role requires strong C++ skills, 5+ years in relevant areas, and eligibility for a U.S. Secret clearance; travel up to 20% may be required. The company focuses on defense‑tech software powering autonomous vehicles.

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
• 5+ years' experience in one or more of: software sub-system scheduling and integration, 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, release management
• Ability to contribute to the design, development, and integration of complex software systems as part of a multi-disciplinary team
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills and ability to learn new technologies in a fast-paced environment
• Willingness to collaborate closely with teammates and support team objectives
• Interest in growing technical skills and, over time, providing guidance to more junior engineers
• Desire to work in a highly collaborative, fast paced, and mission-driven environment
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

Responsibilities

• Develop autonomy software for unmanned platforms across air, land, sea, and space with minimal human supervision
• Implement and test behaviors for multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance
• Contribute across the software lifecycle: requirements, design, implementation, verification, validation
• Collaborate with senior engineers to design maintainable components integrating with sensor processing and state estimation
• Support reuse and extensibility by contributing to shared frameworks and codebases
• Work with product teams to deliver capabilities to vehicle platforms and ensure integration
• Collaborate with internal and external teams to align interfaces and system requirements
• Apply strong software engineering fundamentals while growing autonomy and robotics domain expertise
• Travel up to 20% to support integration, testing, and collaboration

Skills

C++ development

Software architecture

Multi-agent coordination

Problem solving

Collaborative software development

Education

BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science or related field

Aerospace or Electrical Engineering

Tools

ROS

OMPL

Git

Job description

Shield AI in Boston seeks a Senior Software Engineer to build autonomy behaviors powering unmanned platforms across air, land, sea, and space. You will own components from design to deployment and collaborate across teams to evolve our mission autonomy software stack.

The role requires strong C++ skills, 5+ years in relevant areas, and eligibility for a U.S. Secret clearance; travel up to 20% may be required. The company focuses on defense‑tech software powering autonomous vehicles.