Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Behaviors

Slope; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 292,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in the United States seeks a Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Behaviors, to design, implement, and maintain high-level robot behaviors across teams of autonomous systems. You will craft behavior trees and state machines, connect autonomy stacks to sensors and radios, and coordinate multi-robot missions for field deployment.

You will collaborate with autonomy, hardware, systems, and platform teams to ensure field-ready software, while traveling up to 25% to test and deploy in

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or Physics.
• At least 6+ years of hands-on experience developing production-grade software in C++ and/or Rust.
• Experience designing behavior trees, state machines, or comparable frameworks for orchestrating high-level robotic behavior.
• Proven ability to write software integrations between autonomy stacks and robotic peripherals such as sensors, flight controllers, and radios.
• Strong systems-level knowledge and the ability to navigate and contribute to complex codebases.
• A “Whatever It Takes” mindset—expedient, scalable, and pragmatic engineering while keeping the mission top-of-mind.
• Passion for building software that directly influences mission-critical outcomes.
• Willingness to travel up to 25% to test and deploy systems.
• Must be eligible for a US security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement behavior trees and state machines that control high-level behavior for teams of robots.
• Write software integrations between autonomy stacks and robotic peripherals—sensors, flight controllers, radios, and other onboard systems.
• Build software that coordinates teams of autonomous platforms to achieve complex mission outcomes across networked robots.
• Solve problems spanning networking, autonomy, systems integration, and robotics with pragmatic engineering tradeoffs.
• Partner with autonomy, hardware, systems, and platform teams to ensure products work together in the field.
• Travel up to 25% to test, debug, and deploy systems in operational environments.
• Contribute across the entire software lifecycle, including prototyping, implementation, testing, and deployment.
• Analyze and resolve issues in deployed systems to ensure reliability and operational success.

Skills

C++/Rust proficiency

Behavior trees

State machines

Autonomy integration

Systems thinking

Pragmatic engineering

Travel readiness

Security clearance

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Robotics/CS/SE/Math/Physics

Tools

BehaviorTree.CPP

py_trees

Embedded systems

Flight controllers

Job description

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company with a mission to transform U.S. and allied military capabilities with advanced technology. By bringing the expertise, technology, and business model of the 21st century’s most innovative companies to the defense industry, Anduril is changing how military systems are designed, built and sold. Anduril’s family of systems is powered by Lattice OS, an AI-powered operating system that turns thousands of data streams into a realtime, 3D command and control center. As the world enters an era of strategic competition, Anduril is committed to bringing cutting-edge autonomy, AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and networking technology to the military in months, not years.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Maneuver Dominance team at Anduril develops operationally relevant, multi-asset autonomy. We are focused on making large groups of autonomous systems work effectively together. We leverage existing Anduril drone platforms like Ghost or Altius, in addition to bringing 3rd party platforms into Anduril’s Lattice ecosystem.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are seeking a Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Behaviors to join the Maneuver Dominance team. In this role, you will be responsible for developing and maintaining code that controls high-level robotic behavior—designing behavior trees and state machines that orchestrate teams of robots and ensure Anduril products seamlessly work together to achieve a variety of critical outcomes. You will write software integrations that enable seamless interactions between autonomy and robotic peripherals such as sensors, flight controllers, and radios. Members of our team contribute to solving a wide variety of problems involving networking, autonomy, systems integration, and robotics, while making pragmatic engineering tradeoffs along the way. If you possess a “Whatever It Takes” mindset - executing in an expedient, scalable, and pragmatic way while keeping the mission top-of-mind and making sound engineering decisions, then this role is for you.

What You’ll Do

• Develop Behavior Software: Design and implement behavior trees and state machines that control high-level behavior for teams of robots.
• Autonomy Integration: Write software integrations that enable seamless interactions between autonomy and robotic peripherals—sensors, flight controllers, radios, and other onboard systems.
• Multi-Robot Coordination: Build software that coordinates teams of autonomous platforms to achieve complex mission outcomes across networked robots.
• Systems Integration: Solve problems spanning networking, autonomy, systems integration, and robotics, making pragmatic engineering tradeoffs along the way.
• Collaborate Cross-Functionally: Partner with autonomy, hardware, systems, and platform teams to ensure Anduril products seamlessly work together in the field.
• Real-World Deployment: Travel up to 25% to test, debug, and deploy systems in operational environments.
• Iterative Development: Contribute across the entire software lifecycle, including prototyping, implementation, testing, and deployment.
• Troubleshoot and Debug: Analyze and resolve issues in deployed systems, ensuring reliability and operational success.

Required Qualifications

• Technical Expertise: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or Physics.
• C++ and Rust Proficiency: At least 6+ years of hands‑on experience developing production‑grade software in C++ and/or Rust.
• Behavior Trees & State Machines: Experience designing and implementing behavior trees, state machines, or comparable frameworks for orchestrating high-level robotic behavior.
• Autonomy & Peripherals: Proven ability to write software integrations between autonomy stacks and robotic peripherals such as sensors, flight controllers, and radios.
• Systems‑Level Thinking: Strong systems‑level knowledge and the ability to navigate and contribute to complex, established codebases.
• Pragmatic Engineering: A “Whatever It Takes” mindset—executing in an expedient, scalable, and pragmatic way while keeping the mission top‑of‑mind.
• Real‑World Impact: Passion for building software that directly influences mission‑critical outcomes.
• Travel Flexibility: Willingness to travel up to 25% to test and deploy systems.
• Security Clearance: Must be eligible for a US security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Multi‑Agent Coordination: Experience with motion planning, perception, localization, and multi‑agent coordination across teams of robots.
• Behavior Frameworks: Familiarity with open‑source behavior tree libraries (e.g., BehaviorTree.CPP, py_trees) or comparable autonomy frameworks.
• Simulation Expertise: Proficiency in designing Software‑in‑the‑Loop (SIL) simulation environments for behavior validation.
• Hardware Integration: Experience working with embedded systems, flight controllers, and physical devices.
• Programming Skills: Additional experience with Python, and/or real‑time operating systems.
• Machine Learning: Knowledge of AI/ML applications in robotics and autonomy.

US Salary Range: $220,000—$292,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top‑tier benefits for full‑time employees, including:

Benefits

At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next. For more information, Explore Our Benefits.

Data Privacy

To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.

By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third‑party service provider to conduct pre‑employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third‑party service provider provides risk‑intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public‑record information, and other lawful open‑source or commercial data sources. This third‑party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.