2 days ago
San Mateo, CA, USAStaff+
Base Salary
$234k - $351k/yr
Responsibilities
- Design tactical autonomy algorithms for unmanned aircraft and other platforms across air, land, and sea domains.
- Develop high-performance C++ software for planning, decision-making, and behavior execution.
- Implement and test behavior architectures for multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability.
- Combine rule-based autonomy with learning-based methods such as reinforcement learning.
- Collaborate with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight-test teams.
- Deploy autonomy capabilities to real platforms and participate in field tests and flight demonstrations.
- Analyze mission logs and performance data to diagnose failures and improve behavior models.
- Research and prototype algorithms, identify capability gaps, and contribute to the autonomy roadmap.
- Own software systems across requirements, design, implementation, deployment, sustainment, and evolution.
- Lead multidisciplinary teams, set technical direction, support customer programs, and mentor junior engineers.
- Travel approximately 10–15% of the year to offices, customer sites, and flight-integration events.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree in computer science, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, robotics, mechanical engineering, or a related field.
- Production-level C++ software development proficiency.
- At least 7 years of experience in software subsystem scheduling and integration, behavior planning, task and resource allocation, motion planning, optimization, or flight controls.
- Experience with collaborative software development tools for version control, issue tracking, code reviews, and release management.
- Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, set technical direction, and manage projects from concept through deployment.
- Ability to act as technical owner for an entire software system and manage stakeholder engagement, requirements, roadmaps, coordination, design, implementation, sustainment, and evolution.
- Ability to mentor junior team members and build team cohesion.
- Eligibility to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance.
- Preferred experience spanning technology readiness levels and transitioning research-grade concepts to operational systems.
- Preferred mission systems integration experience, including integration events or flight demonstrations.
- Preferred experience with collaborative mission planning, behavior planning, synchronized teaming, tactics, motion planning, target assignment, sensor control, collision avoidance, geofencing, and safety monitoring.
- Preferred experience across multiple operational effects and domains such as air, space, maritime, or ground.
- Preferred experience with robotics software, simulation environments, navigation and communications systems, product delivery lifecycles, systems engineering, and high-assurance development processes.
Benefits
- Full-time regular employees receive pay within the listed range plus bonus, benefits, and equity.
- Temporary employees receive pay within the listed range plus a temporary benefits package applicable after 60 days.
- The position is full-time and typically requires approximately 10–15% travel.
- Offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.
Tech Stack
Categories
Robotics
About Shield AI
Founded in 2015, 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.