Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy - Behavior and Motion Planning (R6007) Software

Front Door Defense; Northern, San Diego (KY, CA); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Benefits

Equity

Job summary

Shield AI in San Diego is seeking a Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy, focusing on behavior and motion planning for autonomous systems. You will develop planning algorithms and ship production software in a multidisciplinary team.

The role spans trajectory planning, real-time systems, testing in simulation and on hardware, mentoring junior engineers, and shaping architecture while collaborating across disciplines.

Qualifications

• MS/PhD in CS, Robotics, or related field with 5+ years of experience.
• Proven C++ software development for motion planning and autonomous systems.
• Strong Python for prototyping and testing; Linux experience.
• Experience with concurrency, data races, deadlocks, and debugging.

Responsibilities

• Research and implement autonomous trajectory planning algorithms.
• Develop robust C++ software and Python prototypes.
• Create tests and evaluate planning stack in simulation and hardware.
• Diagnose algorithmic and software failures; optimize performance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to refine requirements.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to architecture.

Skills

C++

Python

Robotics

Motion planning

Linux

CI/CD

Concurrency

Mentoring

Education

Master's in CS/Robotics

PhD beneficial

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Linux

ROS

Simulation tools

Job description

Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy - Behavior and Motion Planning (R6007)

Lead development of autonomous motion planning stack for multi-agent Shield AI platforms

Location: San Diego, California

Compensation: $200,000 - 300,000 USD / year

About The Role

Pilot Team Software Engineer

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.

The Pilot team develops the algorithms and production software that enable intelligent systems to decide what to do and how to do it in uncertain, dynamic environments. Our work spans mission and task planning, motion planning, effects and action planning, and learned planning approaches. Depending on the team, you may work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, optimization, and real-time autonomous systems.

As a member of Behavior and Motion planning team, you will leverage your expertise in robotics to develop, deploy, and optimize path planning algorithms for autonomous systems that operate in complex, real-world environments. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver robust, scalable solutions that advance the state of Hivemind SDK. You will also contribute to developing technical requirements, test plans, and validating the performance of algorithms.

We are hiring software engineers across multiple experience levels. The scope of the role will be calibrated to the candidate's experience, from implementing and validating well-defined planning components to owning major technical capabilities, shaping architecture and roadmaps, and mentoring other engineers.

What you'll do:

• Research, design, and implement state-of-the-art algorithms for autonomous trajectory planning and control for single and multi-agent systems
• Build reliable, robust, and maintainable software, primarily in modern C++, with Python used for prototyping, analysis, automation, and testing.
• Develop comprehensive tests and evaluate planning stack performance in simulation and, where applicable, on real hardware.
• Diagnose complex algorithmic and software failures, including concurrency, performance, and integration issues.
• Collaborate with teams across the organization to refine requirements and deliver capabilities that meet operational needs.
• Contribute to the design and architecture of scalable, maintainable autonomy and software architecture
• Develop analysis tools to allow for rapid iteration
• Take new product features from ideation to verification, to flight testing, and all the way to maturation
• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior engineers
• Stay current with the latest advancements in robotics, and apply them to solve challenging problems

Projects you might work on:

• Motion planning that produces safe, dynamically feasible behavior under real-world constraints.
• Collaborative and distributed motion planning for multi-agent scenarios.
• Incorporating various types of motion and dynamics models into the planning stack.
• Write software that allows the customer to interact with payloads safely.
• Planning approaches that incorporate vision-language models (VLMs), vision-language-action models (VLAs), or other learned components.
• Validate the planning stack using software-, hardware-, and vehicle-in-the-loop simulation of complex autonomous missions.

Required qualifications:

• Master's degree in computer science, Robotics, or a related field and 5+ years of relevant professional experience or PhD with 4+ years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated experience through professional work, internships, research, or substantial projects building, testing, and debugging nontrivial C++ software for motion planning, robotics, autonomous systems, or a closely related algorithmic domain.
• Experience writing and debugging modern C++, including safe use of common concurrency patterns and the ability to diagnose issues such as data races, deadlocks, and lifetime errors.
• Working experience with Python for prototyping, analysis, automation, or testing.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, testing, debugging, version control, CI/CD, and maintainable software design.
• Practical experience developing and debugging software on Linux.
• Ability to communicate technical decisions and collaborate effectively across disciplines.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with motion planning for any platform (aerial, maritime, space, or ground), working on decentralized or distributed planning for multi-agent systems, or trajectory optimization.
• Experience applying VLMs or VLAs to motion planning in safety critical systems.
• Experience delivering software for fielded, real-time, safety-critical, or resource-constrained autonomous systems.
• Experience with software-in-the-loop or hardware-in-the-loop simulation, performance profiling, or distributed systems.
• Evidence of relevant technical depth through fielded systems, applied research, publications, open-source contributions, or robotics and autonomy competitions.

$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. 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.