Staff Software Engineer

What You'll Do:

• Tactical Autonomy Design – Design tactical autonomy algorithms to enable unmanned aircraft to perform complex missions across air, land, and sea domains with minimal human supervision.
• High-Performance Software Development – Develop high-performance software modules that incorporate planning, decision-making, and behavior execution strategies for dynamic and adversarial environments.
• Behavior Architecture Implementation – Implement and test behavior architectures that enable multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios.
• Hybrid Autonomy Integration – Work at the intersection of classical autonomy and machine learning, blending rule-based systems with learning-based methods such as reinforcement learning to achieve robust, adaptive behavior.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration – Collaborate with cross-functional teams including perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight test to ensure seamless integration of autonomy solutions on real-world platforms.
• Deployment & Field Testing – Deploy autonomy capabilities to real platforms and participate in field tests and flight demos, validating performance in operationally relevant conditions.
• Mission Data Analysis – Analyze mission logs and performance data to diagnose failures, optimize behavior models, and inform iterative development.
• R&D and Roadmapping – Contribute to the autonomy roadmap by researching and prototyping new algorithms, identifying tactical capability gaps, and proposing novel solutions that advance Shield AI’s mission.
• Program Support & Adaptation – Support defense-focused programs and customer needs by adapting autonomy solutions to evolving mission sets, compliance requirements, and operational feedback.
• Travel Requirement – Members of this team typically travel around 10-15% of the year (to different office locations, customer sites, and flight integration events).

Required Qualifications:

• BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
• Proficient in production-level C++ software development
• 7+ years' experience in one or more of the following: software sub-system 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
• Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, set technical direction, and manage full project lifecycles from concept to deployment
• Capacity to learn and grow individually, while mentoring junior team members effectively, building team cohesion and capacity
• Desire to work in a highly collaborative, fast paced, enthusiastic, and mission-centric environment
• Capacity to act as the technical owner for an entire software system, including stakeholder engagement, requirements definition, roadmap management, team co-ordination, design, implementation, sustainment, and evolution
• Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience across a breadth of technology readiness levels (TRLs) and demonstration of bridging concepts from research-grade to operationally ready
• Experience with mission systems integration, and ideally, hands-on experience supporting integration events and/or flight demonstrations
• Experience across a multitude of application areas, including but not limited to:
  • Collaborative mission planning, behavior planning, synchronized teaming
  • Automated red force vs blue force tactics
  • Motion planning across a variety of vehicle classes, kinematic constraints, and team compositions
  • Weapons target assignment, Sensor target pairing, sensor-centric control laws
  • Collision avoidance, geofencing, and safety-monitoring
  • Experience in more than one operational effect (e.g., strike, air combat, surveillance, reconnaissance, etc.) and more than one associated domain (e.g., air, space, maritime, ground, etc.)
  • Experience with FOSS software that is commonly used in robotic systems (e.g., ROS, OMPL, optimization solvers, etc.)
  • Experience with simulation tools and environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS) for testing and validation
  • Familiarity with practical aspects of navigation and communications systems
  • Experience across the product delivery lifecycle, from emerging opportunity through system acceptance, deployment, and sustainment
  • Familiarity with systems engineering methodologies
  • Familiarity with high-assurance software development processes (e.g., DO-178C or equivalent MIL-STD's)