Senior Backend Engineer, Physical AI & Autonomy

InvestedintheMission; Ann Arbor (MI); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition in Ann Arbor is seeking talented backend engineers to build high-performance C++ systems for Axion and Acuity, the company's defense autonomy products. You will own backend infrastructure at the edge, ship code in small teams, and impact national security with robust software solutions.

We value deep systems programming, concurrency, and Python tooling, with 6+ years of experience and a passion for autonomy.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional software engineering experience with strong C++ core.
• Deep backend engineering fundamentals: systems programming, concurrency, performance optimization.
• Genuine interest in autonomy, robotics, or physical AI; desire to connect code to real machines.
• Exposure to or curiosity about multi-domain defense systems; no defense pedigree required.
• Strong CS/CE/EE foundation; rigorous thinking about correctness and performance.
• Python proficiency for tooling, scripting, and integration work.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement high-performance backend systems in C++ for Axion and Acuity.
• Tackle hard autonomy challenges across multi-domain environments.
• Build scalable, reliable infrastructure for autonomous systems in degraded conditions.
• Collaborate with researchers, product teams, and defense customers to translate requirements into robust software.
• Own end-to-end execution from architecture to deployment.
• Contribute to the Ann Arbor site’s rapid buildout and engineering standards.

Skills

C++

Backend engineering

Python

Distributed systems

Concurrency

Systems programming

Autonomy interest

Job description

Applied Intuition in Ann Arbor is seeking talented backend engineers to build high-performance C++ systems for Axion and Acuity, the company's defense autonomy products. You will own backend infrastructure at the edge, ship code in small teams, and impact national security with robust software solutions.

We value deep systems programming, concurrency, and Python tooling, with 6+ years of experience and a passion for autonomy.