Shield AI

Shield AI

Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration – Weapons (R5398)

Washington, DC · Staff+ · Part-time

No sponsorship$234k-$351kDetected 13 hours ago
C++LinuxRecruitingEmbedded SystemsLeadershipCollaborationMentoring

About the role

  • Its products include Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft.
  • For more information, visit www.shield.ai.
  • Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Responsibilities

  • drive common integration patterns, architecture, and engineering strategy that enable scalable fleet operations across current and future programs.
  • Develop & Field Autonomy - Guide the development and integration of mission autonomy, platform interfaces, executive autonomy, multi-agent coordination, and fleet-scale deployment capabilities while ensuring successful operational delivery across launched effects programs.
  • Collaboration Across Teams & Partners - Build strong technical partnerships across the Autonomy Capabilities team, Perception team, feature crews, autopilot vendors, C2 providers, customer organizations, and engineering leadership
  • Design & Documentation - Lead cross-functional architecture reviews, interface standards, ICDs, and post-mortems while raising engineering rigor and technical consistency across multiple organizations.
  • Mentorship & Organizational Growth - Mentor Staff and Senior engineers, develop future technical leaders, contribute to engineering standards and leveling, and partner with managers on senior hiring.
  • Hardware/Software Debugging - Lead resolution of the organization's most complex autonomy integration challenges spanning software, embedded systems, networking, platform interfaces, and operational environments.
  • Mission Data & Debrief Support - Drive post-mission analysis, identify systemic improvements, and influence long-term technical investments based on operational learnings.
  • Continuous Improvement - Drive organization-wide improvements to engineering processes, testing infrastructure, integration workflows, developer experience, and mission reliability.
  • Technical Strategy & Portfolio Leadership - Define the long-term technical direction for the Launched Effects portfolio; drive common integration patterns, architecture, and engineering strategy that enable scalable fleet operations across current and future programs.
  • Collaboration Across Teams & Partners - Build strong technical partnerships across the Autonomy Capabilities team, Perception team, feature crews, autopilot vendors, C2 providers, customer organizations, and engineering leadership; influence architecture and technical direction beyond the portfolio.

Requirements

  • BS/MS in a relevant engineering discipline or equivalent practical experience.
  • Typically requires 10+ years of relevant experience.
  • Expert-level C++ and Linux systems development experience.
  • Demonstrated experience defining technical strategy across multiple engineering teams or programs.
  • Proven track record influencing architecture and solving highly complex autonomy integration challenges.
  • Experience mentoring senior engineers and driving engineering excellence across an organization.
  • Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.

Nice to have

  • Extensive experience with launched effects, autonomous systems, or distributed robotic platforms.
  • Experience defining autopilot integration strategies and multi-agent autonomy architectures.
  • Experience leading fleet-scale or disconnected operational deployments.
  • Experience with UCI, OMS, MOSA, WOSA, TAK/CoT, or similar open architectures.
  • Experience shaping engineering practices across multiple teams or organizations.
  • All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.
  • 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.

Compensation

  • #LI-ED1 #LD 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)

Benefits

  • Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits.
  • 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.

Company info

  • Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems.
  • We combine capabilities from the Autonomy Capabilities team (motion planning, tactics), the Perception team (e.g., track fusion), and the HivemindSDK to develop the autonomy software that runs on launched effects platforms, then integrate, validate, and field it on the real hardware-for U.S. and international defense customers.
  • Our engineers write new autonomy code-such as mission behaviors, platform-specific control, multi-agent coordination, contingencies, and executive autonomy-and own it end-to-end from software-in-the-loop, to hardware-in-the-loop, to vehicle-in-the-loop, to live test exercise.

Equal opportunity

  • equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer.
  • If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
Apply directly at Shield AI →Create a free account for alerts like thisView Shield AI immigration profile

This listing is sourced directly from Shield AI's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.