Manager of Engineering, Autonomy Capabilities (R5412)

What You'll Do:

• Lead and Grow the Team – Manage a team of autonomy engineers, typically 5–10 people. Own performance, growth, leveling, engagement, and delivery while providing regular coaching, feedback, and technical mentorship.

• Build the Team – Identify the skills needed within your area, partner closely with recruiting, conduct interviews, maintain a high hiring bar, and help close and onboard strong candidates.

• Own Technical Delivery – Lead autonomy capabilities from initial design through integration, validation, and field deployment. Translate program objectives into clear technical priorities, execution plans, and ownership across the team.

• Set Technical Direction – Define technical approaches and architectures for mission autonomy, balancing reuse of existing Shield AI capabilities with new development required for specific platforms and missions.

• Develop Tactical Autonomy – Guide the development of motion planning, tactical behaviors, multi-agent coordination, track fusion, perception-aware decision-making, and weapons- or sensor-target assignment for platforms operating in complex and communications-constrained environments.

• Remain Technically Engaged – Stay close to the code and contribute directly where it provides the most value, including prototyping capabilities, reviewing critical designs, investigating difficult problems, and supporting key delivery milestones. This is a manager role, not a managing-only role.

• Drive Engineering and Integration Rigor – Ensure the team develops high-performance, well-tested software with clear interfaces and the reliability required for operational deployment. Lead design reviews and strengthen development, testing, and integration practices.

• Navigate Ambiguity and Changing Priorities – Make sound technical, staffing, and sequencing decisions when requirements are incomplete or program priorities shift. Communicate changes clearly and protect the team’s ability to execute.

• Partner Across Teams and With Customers – Collaborate with Perception, Platform Integration, Simulation, Hardware, Flight Test, and Program teams, as well as U.S. and international defense customers, to shape requirements, resolve technical tradeoffs, and successfully integrate autonomy onto real-world platforms.

• Lead Testing and Continuous Improvement – Own validation across software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, and live test environments. Use mission data and test results to diagnose failures, improve capabilities, and inform the team’s technical roadmap.

• Travel Requirement – Members of this team typically travel approximately 10–15% of the year to other Shield AI offices, customer sites, integration events, flight tests, and demonstrations.