Senior Software Engineer Autonomous Pilot Integration Expeditionary
Shield AI is a U.S. defense-technology company developing mission-autonomy software and autonomous aircraft for military and allied operations.
Funding history
Investors
About Shield AI
Founded in 2015, Shield AI builds Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft for operations in contested, GPS- and communications-denied environments. Its current site also presents Aechelon synthetic-reality simulation and Vision Systems detection and tracking products.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will develop and integrate autonomy software for V-BAT and X-BAT, including mission behaviors, platform control, sensor integration, multi-agent coordination, contingencies, and executive autonomy. You will own major features from simulation through live flight tests, troubleshoot hardware and software integration, support deployments and operator events, and mentor teammates.
Requirements
- Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
- 5+ years of relevant experience or equivalent advanced-degree experience
- C++ development experience in real-time or embedded systems
- Linux-based development and embedded-systems experience
- Experience integrating complex software systems and troubleshooting hardware/software boundaries
- Experience supporting system integration, testing, or field events
- Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance
Responsibilities
- Develop and integrate autonomy software for V-BAT and X-BAT
- Own features from software-in-the-loop through live flight testing
- Integrate platform controls, payloads, sensors, and command-and-control interfaces
- Collaborate with aircraft, autonomy, perception, GCS, and customer stakeholders
- Lead technical execution, design reviews, and integration planning
- Build, configure, validate, and prepare mission-ready systems
- Support flight tests, customer demonstrations, training, and deployments
- Diagnose hardware and software integration issues
- Analyze mission data and improve integration reliability
- Implement and validate STANAG 4586, UCI, and OMS interfaces
- Travel 10–20% for offices, customer sites, training, tests, and exercises
Benefits
- Bonus
- Equity