Merlin Labs

Merlin Labs

Director, AI Core Software

Boston · Director · Contract

No sponsorshipDetected 36 days ago
C++CI/CDLinuxMachine LearningTensorFlowPyTorchData EngineeringLLMsMLOpsProduct StrategyPerformance ManagementHRISEmbedded SystemsAvionicsSystems EngineeringRoboticsSensorsControlsResearchLeadershipCommunicationPublic Speaking

About the role

  • About You: You are a technically deep software leader who has shipped production AI or autonomy systems in a safety-critical domain.
  • You're equally comfortable reviewing a pull request, debating system architecture, and presenting a roadmap to the executive team.
  • You want your work to matter, and there's nothing more meaningful to you than putting reliable autonomous systems into the sky.

Responsibilities

  • Define and drive the technical strategy for Merlin's AI Core platform, spanning perception, sensor fusion, decision-making, planning, and control.
  • Lead, grow, and mentor a multi-disciplinary team of AI engineers, robotics engineers, and software engineers working on flight-critical autonomy software.
  • Collaborate with the VP of Engineering and CTO to translate company-level objectives into clear, achievable technical roadmaps with well-defined milestones.
  • Own the architecture of the AI Core stack from data pipelines and model training infrastructure through to real-time onboard inference and control.
  • Partner closely with Flight Operations, Systems Engineering, and Certification teams to ensure AI Core software meets FAA and regulatory requirements.
  • Drive integration between AI Core components and the broader avionics and vehicle management systems.
  • Recruit senior engineering talent and build a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and psychological safety.
  • You hold yourself and your team to the highest standards of software quality and safety - not because the process demands it, but because you genuinely care about the integrity of what you build.

Requirements

  • You are a technically deep software leader who has shipped production AI or autonomy systems in a safety-critical domain.
  • 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 5 years in Physical AI technical leadership and engineering management roles.
  • Deep expertise in at least one of: real-time perception and sensor fusion, motion planning and control, large-scale next gen AI model training and deployment, or onboard inference systems.
  • Experience in deploying end-to-end Data strategy to collect, ingest and curate the data for AI model training, simulation and edge deployment.
  • Experience managing the managers, senior engineers and staff-level technical contributors, including performance management and career development.
  • Ability to define and communicate architectural decisions across organizational boundaries, including to non-technical stakeholders.
  • Proficiency in Pytorch, TensorFlow and C++ (or equivalent systems languages used in real-time embedded environments).
  • Comfort operating in a fast-paced, ambiguous startup environment where priorities and requirements evolve.
  • Proven track record of shipping production grade AI based autonomy in a safety-critical, deterministic and highly regulated environment (aerospace, automotive, industrial, medical, or similar).
  • Strong command of modern software engineering practices including AI model distillation, MLOps, CI/CD, rigorous testing strategies, and design-for-safety principles.
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • ability to document complex technical decisions clearly and concisely.

Nice to have

  • Background in vehicle dynamics, vehicle control systems, or avionics/Automotive software integration.
  • Familiarity with simulation-based validation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, or digital twin development.
  • Experience with airborne hardware platforms, embedded Linux, or real-time operating systems (RTOS).
  • Prior experience at a Series A-C deep tech startup.
  • Pilot's license or meaningful hands-on experience with aircraft operations.
  • Merlin Labs is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity.
  • All job offers are contingent upon the candidate passing background and reference checks.
  • Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Benefits

  • You thrive at the intersection of rigorous engineering and ambitious product vision, and you know how to build and motivate world-class teams working on hard, long-horizon problems.

Company info

  • Merlin is a venture backed aerospace startup building a non-human pilot to enable both reduced crew and uncrewed flight.
  • Backed by some of the world's leading investors, Merlin is scaling alongside our customers to begin leveraging autonomy today to solve some of aviation's biggest challenges.

Visa & Work Authorization

  • At this time, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or consider candidates who require visa transfers.
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This listing is sourced directly from Merlin Labs's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.