Staff Engineer, Safety-Critical Software (R5826)

Shield AI; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI is seeking an accomplished engineer to join the Hivemind Foundations team. You will help design and implement a Run-Time Assurance module ensuring safe operation of autonomous systems, interfacing with low- and high-assurance software.

The role emphasizes safety, reliability, and scalable architecture across diverse platforms. The ideal candidate has 10+ years in safety-critical C++ with RT constraints, Git/Linux expertise, and a track record mentoring engineers through certifications

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing and developing C++ safety-critical software with real-time guarantees.
• Mentor engineers and drive software engineering best practices to improve quality.
• Experience integrating software on real-world physical systems to improve reliability.

Responsibilities

• Drive architecture, development, integration and testing of a Run-Time Assurance module.
• Collaborate to integrate with low-assurance mission-autonomy software and high-assurance middleware.
• Specialize and test RTA across platforms to ensure robust fail-safe behavior.
• Promote principled software development practices, audits and documentation.
• Create artifacts to enable certifiability: ADRs, ICDs, system models and reports.
• Mentor Foundations developers on safe software development practices.

Skills

C++ safety-critical

Real-Time systems

Software architecture

Mentoring engineers

Git

Linux

CI/CD

Safety certifications

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Tools

Git

Linux

MISRA C++

DO-178C

MIL-HDBK-516

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-BAT aircraft, 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 . Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn , X , Instagram , and YouTube .

Job Description:

The Hivemind Foundations team is an agile group of engineers focused on building a state-of-the-art Autonomy Software Development Kit (SDK) that enables resilient autonomy and intelligence for a wide range of platforms in diverse environments. The Safety-Critical Software Team in Hivemind Foundations is responsible for developing safety augmentation capabilities against strict airworthiness development standards for Hivemind Foundations. This allows Hivemind Enterprise customers to develop and fly cutting-edge autonomy solutions with confidence, with a clear path to certification.

As a member of the Safety-Critical Software Team, you will work with a group of engineers to develop cutting-edge safety-critical, high-performance and robust software that serves as a safety monitor between the low-assurance mission autonomy system and the flight control system, bounding unsafe behavior and ensuring safe flight. You will work closely with talented engineers to architect and develop core systems, set standards for software engineering and mentor other engineers.

What you'll do:

• Drive architecture, development, integration and testing of an extensible, configurable Run-Time Assurance (RTA) module that ensures safe operation of autonomous systems in diverse, adversarial conditions.
• Work closely with other engineers in Foundations to design and integrate with the low-assurance mission-autonomy software and high-assurance middleware.
• Specialize, integrate and test the RTA capability on a diverse set of platforms in various conditions to ensure robust fail-safe behavior.
• Drive principled software development practices across Foundations including but not limited to code analysis, audit trail, principled review processes.
• Collaborate with the team to generate artifacts that enable certifiability of Foundations software, including but not limited to static & dynamic analysis reports, software documentation, architecture decision records (ADRs), interface control diagrams (ICDs), system models.
• Mentor and guide Foundations developers on practices of safe software development to enhance software quality and assurance.

Required qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 9 years with a Master’s degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
• Demonstrated excellence in designing and developing C++ based safety-critical software systems with Real-Time guarantees.
• Experience working as a mentor to other engineers in a role driving software best practices to enhance software quality.
• Experience integrating software on real-world physical systems and driving up performance and reliability.
• Deep expertise in C++ software architecture design patterns and their practical implementation.
• Strong knowledge of software assurance certifications such as DO-178C and MIL-HDBK-516.
• Strong Git and Linux development skills, along with modern software development practices (e.g., CI/CD, test-driven development).
• A track record of technical leadership, with the ability to set and maintain high standards, guide teams through complex technical challenges, and collaborate effectively.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience developing against strict C++ coding standards (e.g., MISRA C++, JSF AV C++)
• Hands-on experience with airworthiness certifications such as MIL-HDBK-516, DO-178C.
• Experience taking a solution through a certification process and achieving a certification.

$200,000 - $300,000 a year

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.

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.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.