Senior Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration – Weapons (R5427)

Shield AI; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI seeks engineers to develop and integrate autonomy capabilities for launched effects platforms. You will own features from design through deployment and work closely with the Autonomy Capabilities and Perception teams, autopilot vendors, and customer partners to ensure robust mission-ready software.

This hands-on role demands problem-solving across software-in-the-loop to live testing in demanding environments.

Qualifications

• Develop and integrate autonomy capabilities for launched effects platforms.
• Own major features from design through deployment.
• Collaborate with Autonomy Capabilities and Perception teams, autopilot vendors and partners.
• Solve challenging integration problems in real-world environments.

Responsibilities

• Develop autonomy capabilities for launched effects platforms.
• Integrate autonomy software on hardware and conduct field tests.
• Collaborate with autopilot vendors (PX4, ArduPilot) and customer partners.
• Deliver mission-ready autonomy software end-to-end.

Skills

Autonomy software

C/C++

Multi-agent coordination

Systems integration

Tools

PX4

ArduPilot

Job description

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

The Autonomous Pilot Integration team for launched effects builds autonomy solutions for small, often air- or ground-launched platforms thatoperatein multi-agent fleets andfrequentlyin disconnected or air-gapped environments. We combine capabilities from the Autonomy Capabilities team (motion planning, tactics), the Perception team (e.g., track fusion), and theHivemindSDKto develop the autonomy software that runs on launched effects platforms, then integrate, validate, and field it on the real hardware—for U.S. and international defense customers. Our engineers write new autonomy code—such as mission behaviors, platform-specific control, multi-agent coordination, contingencies, and executive autonomy—and own it end-to-end from software-in-the-loop, to hardware-in-the-loop, to vehicle-in-the-loop, to live test exercise.

In this role,you'lldevelop and integrate autonomy capabilities for launched effects platforms, owning major features from design through operational deployment.You'llwork closely with the Autonomy Capabilities and Perception teams, feature crews, autopilot vendors (e.g., PX4,ArduPilot), C2 providers, and customer partners to deliver mission-ready autonomy software. This is a hands-on role for engineers who enjoy solving challenging integration problems and seeing their softwareoperatein demanding real-world environments.