Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration – Expeditionary (R5193)

Shieldai; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a senior engineering leader to own the Expeditionary autonomy program for V-BAT and X-BAT. You will shape the long‑term technical direction, drive mission autonomy development, and ensure readiness for operational deployment across multiple platforms.

You will partner with cross‑functional teams, mentor senior engineers, and influence open‑systems architectures while engaging with international defense customers.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in a relevant engineering discipline or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of relevant engineering experience.
• Expert-level C++ and Linux systems development experience.
• Proven ability to define technical strategy across multiple teams or programs.
• Mentor senior engineers and drive engineering excellence.
• Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.
• Experience with Group 3 UAS, VTOL platforms, or similar autonomous systems.
• Experience defining flight-autonomy interfaces or custom autopilot integrations.
• Experience deploying autonomy to operational military systems.
• Experience with international defense customers.
• Experience with STANAG 4586, UCI, OMS, and open-systems architectures.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term technical direction for Expeditionary autonomy across V-BAT, X-BAT, and future platforms.
• Develop and field mission autonomy, payload integration, flight-autonomy interfaces, and multi-agent capabilities.
• Partner with Aircraft team for platform integration and interface evolution.
• Lead architecture decisions across Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, GCS, ACP, Aircraft, and customers.
• Serve as the technical expert for complex autonomy integration challenges spanning software, hardware, and operations.
• Lead architecture reviews, engineering standards, and organization-wide technical improvements.
• Mentor senior engineers, develop technical leaders, and contribute to hiring
• Guide customer releases, deployment strategy, and mission validation.
• Drive long-term improvements to engineering processes, testing infrastructure, and developer experience.
• Define technical strategy for command-and-control interoperability and open systems adoption.
• Define the technical hiring bar and grow the organization’s capabilities.
• Travel 10–20% of the year to office locations, customer sites, and field events.

Skills

C++ expert

Linux systems

Technical leadership

Mentoring engineers

Security clearance

Systems integration

Flight-autonomy interfaces

Open systems

Open architectures

Defense industry experience

Education

BS/MS in engineering or related field

Job description

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, V-BAT and X‑BATaircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. 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

The Autonomous Pilot Integration team for expeditionary platforms builds autonomy solutions for V-BAT — an unmanned aircraft operating in expeditionary environments for ISR, target acquisition, communications, and multi‑agent missions. The team also builds autonomy for X‑BAT, a new platform under development by the aircraft team; for X‑BAT, the team builds on top of the existing mission autonomy solution from the Strategic Systems (ACP) portfolio and works closely with the aircraft team on the flight‑autonomy interface. We combine capabilities from the Autonomy Capabilities team (motion planning, tactics), the Perception team (e.g., ViDAR, ATR), and the Hivemind SDK to develop the autonomy software that runs on these platforms, then integrate, validate, and field it on the real hardware — for U.S. and international defense customers.

In this role, you’ll own the technical direction for the Expeditionary portfolio, driving the evolution of autonomy architecture across V-BAT and X-BAT while ensuring scalable, mission‑ready solutions that support current operators and future platforms. You’ll define long‑term technical strategy, solve the organization’s most complex integration challenges, and influence the direction of autonomy software spanning mission behaviors, platform interfaces, payload integration, executive autonomy, and multi‑agent operations.

You’ll partner closely with the Aircraft team, Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, GCS, Strategic Systems (ACP), engineering leadership, customer/program offices, and operational users to ensure Expeditionary autonomy continues to evolve while remaining reliable in operational environments.

Technical Strategy & Portfolio Leadership

Define and drive the long‑term technical direction for Expeditionary autonomy across V-BAT, X-BAT, and future platforms.

Develop & Field Autonomy

Guide development of mission autonomy, payload integration, flight‑autonomy interfaces, executive autonomy, and multi‑agent capabilities while ensuring successful operational deployment.

Aircraft Team Partnership

Establish long‑term technical strategy with the Aircraft team for platform integration, interface evolution, and mission readiness.

Cross-Engineering Leadership

Influence architecture across the Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, GCS, Strategic Systems (ACP), Aircraft, and customer organizations.

Subject Matter Expertise

Serve as the organization’s technical expert for complex autonomy integration challenges spanning software, hardware, and operations.

Design & Engineering Excellence

Lead architecture reviews, engineering standards, interface definitions and organization‑wide technical improvements.

Mentorship & Organizational Growth

Mentor senior engineers, develop technical leaders, contribute to leveling frameworks, and partner on senior hiring.

Mission Readiness & Operational Excellence

Guide customer releases, deployment strategy, and mission validation while supporting critical operational events.

Continuous Improvement

Drive long‑term improvements to engineering processes, integration workflows, testing infrastructure, and developer experience.

C2 Interoperability & Open Systems

Define technical strategy for command‑and‑control interoperability and adoption of open‑systems standards.

Hiring & Developing Technical Talent

Define the technical hiring bar for senior engineering roles, partner with engineering managers on long‑term staffing strategy, and help grow the organization’s technical capabilities.

Travel Requirement

Members of this team typically travel around 10–20% of the year to different office locations, customer sites, operator training events, flight tests, and integration exercises.

• BS/MS in a relevant engineering discipline or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Expert‑level C++ and Linux systems development experience.
• Demonstrated experience defining technical strategy across multiple engineering teams or programs.
• Proven track record in influencing architecture and solving highly complex systems integration challenges.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and driving engineering excellence.
• Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.
• Extensive experience with Group 3 UAS, VTOL platforms, or comparable autonomous systems.
• Experience defining flight‑autonomy interfaces or custom autopilot integrations.
• Experience deploying autonomy to operational military systems.
• Experience with international defense customers.
• Experience with STANAG 4586, UCI, OMS, and open‑systems architectures.
• Experience shaping engineering practices across an organization.

Full‑time regular employee offer package: Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package: Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part‑time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.