Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors

engineeringjobs.net, Inc.; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

engineeringjobs.net, Inc. seeks a Senior Autonomy Engineer to design and deploy tactical autonomy for unmanned platforms across air, land, and sea. You’ll blend classical control with learning-based approaches and collaborate with perception, planning, and flight-test teams to bring capabilities to life.

The role requires deep robotics and autonomy experience, strong C++/Python skills, and ability to obtain a U.S. Secret clearance, with ~10+ years of related work. Travel ~10–15% is expected.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent practical experience may also be considered.
• Typically 10+ years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree, 9+ years with a Master's degree, or 7+ years with a PhD, or equivalent professional experience.
• Strong programming skills in C++ and Python.
• Familiarity with real-time operating systems (RTOS).
• Significant experience with robotics and autonomy technologies, particularly: Motion planning, Behavior modeling, Decision-making, Autonomous system design.
• Significant experience with unmanned systems and associated autonomy algorithms, specifically within the air domain.
• Experience with simulation and validation environments such as AFSIM and/or NGTS.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and system-performance optimization skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to operate effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Ability to obtain a U.S. Secret security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Tactical Autonomy Development: Design tactical autonomy algorithms that enable unmanned aircraft to execute complex missions across air, land, and sea domains with minimal human supervision.
• Planning & Decision-Making: Develop high-performance software incorporating planning, decision-making, and behavior execution for dynamic and adversarial environments.
• Behavior Architecture: Implement and test autonomy architectures supporting multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, survivability, and other tactical behaviors.
• Hybrid Autonomy: Integrate classical autonomy and control approaches with machine-learning techniques, including reinforcement learning, to create robust and adaptive behaviors.
• Software Development & Integration: Develop production-quality autonomy software while addressing structures, protocols, threading, interfaces, and real-time integration requirements.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight-test teams to integrate autonomy capabilities onto operational platforms.
• Deployment & Flight Testing: Deploy autonomy software to real-world platforms and support field tests and flight demonstrations in operationally relevant environments.
• Mission Analysis: Analyze mission logs and performance data to diagnose failures, optimize behavior models, and guide iterative development.
• Research & Development: Research and prototype new autonomy algorithms, identify tactical capability gaps, and contribute to the long-term autonomy technology roadmap.
• Program Support: Adapt autonomy capabilities to evolving defense program requirements, customer mission sets, compliance requirements, and operational feedback.

Skills

C++

Python

RTOS

Robotics & autonomy

Unmanned air systems

AFSIM/NGTS

ML/RL in autonomy

Education

B.S./M.S. in CS/EE/ME/AE

Equivalent practical experience

Job description

Senior Autonomy Engineer -- Tactical Behaviors

Position Summary

The Autonomy Capabilities Team develops advanced autonomy functionality for single- and multi-agent platforms operating across a wide range of missions, platform types, and operational domains, including air, sea, and space.

The team works across all levels of the command-and-control hierarchy, from advanced control laws and motion planning to tactical behaviors and multi-agent coordination. The role combines strong fundamentals in areas such as vehicle dynamics, trajectory design, optimization, information fusion, and efficient algorithms with practical software integration expertise.

This position is well suited for an engineer who enjoys solving complex autonomy problems and translating advanced concepts into capabilities deployed on real-world platforms. Solutions blend traditional control-system approaches with advanced optimization and learning-based techniques, requiring a strong balance between theory, software implementation, integration, and operational performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Tactical Autonomy Development: Design tactical autonomy algorithms that enable unmanned aircraft to execute complex missions across air, land, and sea domains with minimal human supervision.
• Planning & Decision-Making: Develop high-performance software incorporating planning, decision-making, and behavior execution for dynamic and adversarial environments.
• Behavior Architecture: Implement and test autonomy architectures supporting multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, survivability, and other tactical behaviors.
• Hybrid Autonomy: Integrate classical autonomy and control approaches with machine-learning techniques, including reinforcement learning, to create robust and adaptive behaviors.
• Software Development & Integration: Develop production-quality autonomy software while addressing structures, protocols, threading, interfaces, and real-time integration requirements.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight-test teams to integrate autonomy capabilities onto operational platforms.
• Deployment & Flight Testing: Deploy autonomy software to real-world platforms and support field tests and flight demonstrations in operationally relevant environments.
• Mission Analysis: Analyze mission logs and performance data to diagnose failures, optimize behavior models, and guide iterative development.
• Research & Development: Research and prototype new autonomy algorithms, identify tactical capability gaps, and contribute to the long-term autonomy technology roadmap.
• Program Support: Adapt autonomy capabilities to evolving defense program requirements, customer mission sets, compliance requirements, and operational feedback.

Required Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related discipline; equivalent practical experience may also be considered.
• Typically 10+ years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree, 9+ years with a Master's degree, or 7+ years with a PhD, or equivalent professional experience.
• Strong programming skills in C++ and Python.
• Familiarity with real-time operating systems (RTOS).
• Significant experience with robotics and autonomy technologies, particularly:
  • Motion planning
  • Behavior modeling
  • Decision-making
  • Autonomous system design
• Significant experience with unmanned systems and associated autonomy algorithms, specifically within the air domain.
• Experience with simulation and validation environments such as AFSIM and/or NGTS.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and system-performance optimization skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to operate effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Ability to obtain a U.S. Secret security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience applying machine learning and/or reinforcement learning (ML/RL) within autonomy pipelines.
• Experience with collaborative behaviors, swarm robotics, or distributed decision-making.
• Familiarity with tactical autonomy behaviors for unmanned systems supporting DoD or government programs.
• Experience developing behaviors applicable across air, ground, and maritime platforms.
• Hands-on experience supporting flight demonstrations, field testing, or live exercises.
• Experience with UCI and OMS standards.

Travel

Approximately 10--15% travel is expected to support other office locations, customer sites, integration activities, flight tests, and demonstrations.

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