Staff Engineer, Aircraft Trajectory & Safe Autonomy

AI Chopping Block, Inc.; San Diego, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking a Staff Engineer to design, develop, and integrate a real-time Run-Time Assurance product for autonomous aircraft. You will lead trajectory prediction and aircraft-response modeling, bridging safety logic with flight-control APIs, and collaborate with C/C++ engineers to deliver reliable software capable of flying, including support for Shield AI’s X-BAT UAV.

You will evolve TPAs, validate them with Python, simulation, HIL, and flight-test data, and guide multi-team efforts

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 6 years with a Master’s; or 4 years with a PhD.
• Expert Python for algorithms, numerical analysis, data processing, plotting, tuning workflows, and test automation.
• Proficient in C/C++, able to read production code, debug algorithm behavior, and write tests.
• Experience interfacing guidance, trajectory, or safety-critical algorithms with autopilots and validating through simulation, HIL, or flight-test data.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, tuning, and validation of trajectory-prediction and recovery-behavior models using aircraft data and constraints.
• Build Python-based analysis, simulation, HIL, and flight-test workflows to compare predicted vs observed behavior and maintain regression datasets.
• Integrate trajectory-prediction with autopilot interfaces, including vehicle-state inputs, latency, modes, and telemetry analysis.
• Support hardware integration and flight-test campaigns; contribute C/C++ implementation and debugging as needed.

Skills

Trajectory prediction

Python programming

C/C++ programming

Aerospace simulation

Autonomy / GNC

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree

PhD

Tools

HIL

Flight-test hardware

Autopilot interfaces

Job description

Shield AI is seeking a Staff Engineer to design, develop, and integrate a real-time Run-Time Assurance product for autonomous aircraft. You will lead trajectory prediction and aircraft-response modeling, bridging safety logic with flight-control APIs, and collaborate with C/C++ engineers to deliver reliable software capable of flying, including support for Shield AI’s X-BAT UAV.

You will evolve TPAs, validate them with Python, simulation, HIL, and flight-test data, and guide multi-team efforts