Director, Autonomy

Saab•San Diego, CA

13d•$237,000 - $319,900

About The Position

Looking to shape the future of autonomy at enterprise scale? Skapa by Saab is seeking a Director of Autonomy to define and evolve Saab’s enterprise autonomy strategy across multi-domain unmanned systems. This role serves as the senior technical authority for autonomy across Skapa by Saab, establishing the technical vision, architectural principles, and organizational direction guiding autonomy development for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and unmanned surface vessels (USVs). The Director of Autonomy bridges advanced research, platform integration, and mission application — ensuring technical coherence, long-term scalability, and operational relevance across the autonomy portfolio.

Requirements

MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Software Engineering, or related technical discipline.
12+ years of experience in autonomy, AI/ML, robotics, or advanced technology development, including leadership of complex technical teams and senior technical leaders.
Demonstrated experience defining enterprise-level technical strategy and architecture across multiple concurrent programs or initiatives.
Deep understanding of autonomy architectures, including multi-agent systems, perception and sensor fusion, decision-making, and control.
Proven ability to translate mission and business objectives into executable autonomy roadmaps and investment priorities.
Experience guiding advanced autonomy capabilities from research maturity through integration and operational application.
Working knowledge of AI/ML development pipelines, simulation-based development, and autonomy test & evaluation methodologies.
Strong enterprise systems thinking across heterogeneous unmanned platforms.
Experience engaging directly with U.S. DoD customers, research organizations, and strategic partners
Effective executive communicator capable of influencing senior leadership and representing autonomy capabilities externally.
Must hold or be able to obtain a U.S. DoD security clearance and be a U.S. Citizen.
Willingness to travel up to 50% in support of customer engagements and demonstrations.

Responsibilities

Define and evolve Skapa’s enterprise autonomy strategy across multi-domain unmanned systems.
Establish the technical vision, architectural standards, and guiding principles for autonomy development, ensuring consistency across platforms and programs.
Build, lead, and scale a high-performing autonomy organization, including technical leaders and managers.
Serve as the senior autonomy advisor to executive leadership, providing insight on capability gaps, technology risk, investment direction, and strategic positioning.
Shape autonomy investment priorities and portfolio direction across IRAD and strategic customer-funded efforts.
Provide strategic technical guidance to major autonomy initiatives, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture and long-term capability objectives.
Represent Skapa’s autonomy capabilities to customers, partners, and strategic stakeholders through technical briefings, reviews, and thought leadership engagements.
Support growth efforts through technical positioning, customer engagement, and shaping of differentiated autonomy strategies for priority pursuits.
Promote best-in-class engineering practices for autonomy software, simulation, integration, and validation — without assuming direct program execution ownership.