Senior Staff Engineer - Autonomous Drone Systems

BOAB Ventures; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking an experienced autonomous systems engineer to design and implement tactical autonomy for unmanned aircraft across air, land, and sea domains. The role emphasizes high‑performance software, behavior architectures, and integration with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight test teams.

The ideal candidate has a strong background in robotics, motion planning, and autonomous system design, with 7–10+ years of related experience and the ability to obtain a SECRET

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and/or similar degree, or equivalent practical experience
• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 9 years and a Master's degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
• Proficiency in C++ and Python, and familiarity with RTOS.
• Background in robotics technologies related to motion planning, behavior modeling, decision-making, or autonomous system design.
• Experience with unmanned system technologies and related algorithms (air domain).
• Experience with simulation tools and environments (AFSIM, NGTS) for testing and validation.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to optimize system performance.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills. Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.

Responsibilities

• Design tactical autonomy algorithms for unmanned aircraft across air, land, and sea domains with minimal supervision.
• Develop high-performance software modules with planning, decision-making, and behavior execution for dynamic environments.
• Implement and test behavior architectures enabling multi-agent coordination and target engagement.
• Blend rule-based systems with learning-based methods such as reinforcement learning for robust autonomy.
• Collaborate with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight test teams for seamless integration.
• Deploy autonomy capabilities to real platforms and participate in field tests and flight demos.
• Analyze mission data to diagnose failures, optimize models, and inform iterative development.
• Contribute to R&D and roadmapping by researching new algorithms and addressing capability gaps.
• Support defense programs and adapt autonomy solutions to evolving mission sets and requirements.
• Travel 10-15% of the year to office locations, customer sites, and integration events.

Skills

C++

Python

RTOS

Robotics

Unmanned systems

Simulation tools

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science / Electrical Engineering / Mechanical Engineering / Aerospace Engineering or equivalent

Tools

AFSIM

NGTS

Job description

Shield AI is seeking an experienced autonomous systems engineer to design and implement tactical autonomy for unmanned aircraft across air, land, and sea domains. The role emphasizes high‑performance software, behavior architectures, and integration with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight test teams.

The ideal candidate has a strong background in robotics, motion planning, and autonomous system design, with 7–10+ years of related experience and the ability to obtain a SECRET