Senior Staff Autonomy Engineer – Multi-Agent Systems

F7d8749a; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI seeks an experienced autonomy engineer to advance tactical autonomy algorithms for unmanned aircraft, blending traditional control with learning-based methods. You will work across perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight-test teams to deliver robust autonomy in diverse mission sets.

The role requires strong software development skills in C++/Python, familiarity with RTOS, and a background in robotics, motion planning, and multi-agent coordination, with eligibility to

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• Typically requires 10+ years with a Bachelor’s degree; 9+ with a Master’s; 7+ with a PhD or equivalent.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python; familiarity with RTOS.
• Significant robotics background: motion planning, behavior modeling, autonomous systems design.
• Experience with unmanned system technologies (air domain) and related algorithms.
• Experience with simulation tools such as AFSIM and NGTS for testing/validation.
• Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.

Responsibilities

• Design tactical autonomy algorithms for unmanned aircraft across air/land/sea with minimal supervision.
• Develop high-performance software modules for planning, decision-making and behavior execution.
• Implement and test multi-agent coordination and target engagement behaviors.
• Integrate autonomy with ML approaches for robust, adaptive performance.
• Collaborate with perception, planning, simulation, hardware and flight-test teams.
• Deploy autonomy capabilities to real platforms and participate in field tests/demos.
• Analyze mission data to diagnose failures and drive iterative improvement.
• Contribute to autonomy roadmap through R&D and prototyping of new algorithms.

Skills

C++

Python

RTOS

Robotics

Motion planning

Education

BS in CS/EE/ME/AE or equivalent

MS in CS/EE/ME/AE or equivalent

PhD (plus)

Tools

AFSIM

NGTS

Simulation environments

Job description

Shield AI seeks an experienced autonomy engineer to advance tactical autonomy algorithms for unmanned aircraft, blending traditional control with learning-based methods. You will work across perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight-test teams to deliver robust autonomy in diverse mission sets.

The role requires strong software development skills in C++/Python, familiarity with RTOS, and a background in robotics, motion planning, and multi-agent coordination, with eligibility to