Staff Engineer - Safety-Critical Autonomy & RTA (C++)

Shieldai; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI in San Diego seeks a senior Safety-Critical Software Engineer to design and deliver high-performance, safety-critical software for autonomous systems. You will lead architecture decisions, mentor engineers, and collaborate across teams to ensure safe, certifiable operation of flight software.

The role requires extensive C++ experience, real-time expertise, and familiarity with airworthiness standards.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree (or 9 with a Master’s; or 7 with a PhD).
• Demonstrated excellence in designing and developing C++ safety-critical software with Real-Time guarantees.
• Experience mentoring other engineers to drive software quality.
• Experience integrating software on real-world physical systems and improving performance.
• Deep expertise in C++ architecture design patterns and practical implementation.
• Strong knowledge of DO-178C and MIL-HDBK-516.
• Strong Git and Linux development skills, with CI/CD practices.
• Track record of technical leadership and guiding teams through complex challenges.

Responsibilities

• Drive architecture, development, integration and testing of an extensible Run-Time Assurance module for safe autonomous operation.
• Collaborate with Foundations to integrate with low-assurance mission-autonomy software and high-assurance middleware.
• Specialize and test RTA across diverse platforms to ensure robust fail-safe behavior.
• Promote principled software development practices including code analysis, audit trails, and ADRs.
• Create artefacts for certifiability: ADRs, ICDs, system models, and documentation.
• Mentor Foundations engineers on safe software development practices to raise quality.

Skills

C++

Safety-critical

Real-Time

Git

Linux

CI/CD

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

MISRA C++

Job description

Shield AI in San Diego seeks a senior Safety-Critical Software Engineer to design and deliver high-performance, safety-critical software for autonomous systems. You will lead architecture decisions, mentor engineers, and collaborate across teams to ensure safe, certifiable operation of flight software.

The role requires extensive C++ experience, real-time expertise, and familiarity with airworthiness standards.