# Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors (R4588)

**Company:** [Shield AI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/shield-ai)
**Location:** Boston, MA, Washington, DC, San Diego, CA
**Role:** Embedded Engineering
**Salary:** $188k – $281k/yr
**Experience:** 7+ years
**Skills:** C++, ROS, Ompl, Motion Planning, Behavior Planning, Optimization, Flight Controls, Afsim, Ngts, Do-178C
**Posted:** 2026-04-29

> Leads development of tactical autonomy software for unmanned platforms across air, land, sea, and space domains. Architects scalable behaviors for multi-agent coordination, mission planning, and survivability; requires 7+ years in C++ and autonomy systems like planning and optimization.

## Job Description

## What You'll Do

- Develop tactical autonomy software to enable unmanned platforms to perform complex missions across air, land, sea, and space domains with minimal human supervision
- Implement and test behaviors that enable multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios
- Work throughout the entire software development lifecycle, from requirements capture through design, implementation, verification, and validation, utilizing tools and workflows consistent with collaborative high-quality software development
- Champion a product-line mindset in technology road-mapping and to enable reuse of behaviors across multiple projects and portfolios
- Utilize your software and systems expertise to architect behaviors as scalable software subsystems, that may interact directly or indirectly with a breadth of system components (e.g., sensor processing, state estimation, peer-to-peer communications, contingency management, actuation, and payload interfacing)
- Leverage internal product and program-specific engineering teams to rapidly deliver state-of-the-art capabilities to vehicle platforms (whether internally and externally owned), with a clear path towards architecture and capability evolution over time
- Collaborate with external teams, aligning on interfacing requirements between diverse systems, often working closely with vehicle integration teams and associated operational subject matter experts (e.g., fighter pilots, UAV operators, etc.)
- Act as a subject matter expert for software engineering, representing software equities in a multi-stakeholder environment including engineering, business and sales leadership
- Travel to co-locate with end-users and/or other teams up to 20% of the time

## 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)

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