Chief Engineer
Leads architecture, technical decision-making, and delivery for autonomous unmanned aircraft systems across defense and internally funded programs. Requires 10+ years in autonomy or UAS platforms, high-reliability software delivery experience, and leadership of engineering teams.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Serve as the Chief Engineer on Shield AI projects focused on developing and deploying autonomy solutions for unmanned aircraft from Group 2 to Group 5.
- Lead a team advancing Hivemind Autonomy and shaping defense autonomy architectures.
- Define and assign technical objectives, make key engineering decisions, and ensure the quality and completeness of technical deliverables.
- Provide technical leadership and oversight across Internal Research and Development (IRAD) initiatives and defense contracts.
- Support defense and internally funded development programs as a customer-facing engineering leader.
- Contribute to government contract proposal writing.
Requirements
- Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a similar field.
- 10+ years of industry experience in autonomy and/or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) platforms, such as defense technology or self-driving vehicles.
- 7+ years delivering software into production or certifiable environments with high reliability.
- Understanding of guidance, control, and navigation (GNC), including controls, estimation, and planning.
- Understanding of robotics stacks, including controls, estimation, perception, and planning.
- Understanding of software development processes and effective software deployment.
- Experience defining technical scope and managing technical requirements, product architectures, interface control documents (ICDs), and other system-level design documentation.
- Demonstrated problem-solving skills using a scientific and technical approach.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Excellent leadership skills, including driving a team of 6–20 engineers.
Nice-to-haves
- UK security clearance.
Skills
Autonomy Systems, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Hivemind Autonomy, Systems Architecture, Robotics, Controls, State Estimation, Perception, Motion Planning, Software Deployment, Technical Requirements, Product Architecture, Interface Control Documents, Systems Engineering
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