Engineering Manager - Axion

Applied Intuition•Sunnyvale, CA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

Applied Intuition is building the toolchain for autonomy across air, land, sea, space and spectrum. The Axion product family is a modular, all-domain autonomy toolchain: simulation (Axion Sim), hardware/software integration (Axion Integrate), MLOps for ATR models (Axion MLOps), mission control UIs (Axion Mission Control), etc. The Axion team is mission-critical: enabling development, test, integration and deployment of collaborative autonomous systems in contested environments. You’ll be working at the intersection of high-fidelity simulation, autonomy software, hardware platforms, and human-machine interfaces. As an Engineering Manager on the Axion team, you will lead a cross-functional engineering group (software, simulation, integration, UI/UX) to deliver high-impact autonomy toolchain capabilities. You will drive engineering execution, mentor and grow a team of engineers, define technical roadmaps, hold the bar on quality, and collaborate closely with product, operations, hardware/integration teams, and defense customers. Your work will influence the architecture, scalability, performance, and field-readiness of Axion products.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (advanced degree preferred)
Proven experience (e.g., 3 – 5+ years) in software engineering roles with increasing responsibility, and at least 1 – 2 years in a leadership role (team lead, manager) delivering complex systems
Strong technical background: architecture, design, implementation and delivery of large-scale, high-performance software systems (ideally simulation, real-time, autonomy, robotics, or hardware integration)
Experience managing full software development lifecycle: requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment, maintenance
Experience in mentoring and growing engineering teams: recruiting, performance management, career development, building high-performing teams
Excellent collaboration and communication skills: able to work cross-functionally with product, UX/design, hardware/integration, operations, senior leadership
Comfort in a fast-paced, highly-ambiguous environment; ability to make thoughtful trade-offs between speed, quality, and scalability
US citizenship. You must already have or be eligible to receive an active US Top Secret security clearance upon onboarding to this role

Nice To Haves

Experience in autonomy, robotics, simulation or unmanned systems (air/land/sea) and tool-chain development
Familiarity with multi-domain systems (e.g., air/land/sea/spectrum) and heterogeneous fleets/platforms
Familiarity with real-time systems, sensor fusion, hardware/software integration, HIL/SIL testing, cloud infrastructure, large datasets
Demonstrated ability to lead architecture/design of modular, scalable software systems with high performance constraints

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and grow a team of engineers (individual contributors, leads) working on one or more Axion modules (e.g., simulation engine, mission-control UI, hardware integration pipeline)
Define and own the technical roadmap for your area: translate product vision into deliverables, ensure alignment with overall Axion strategy
Drive software engineering best practices: architecture design, code reviews, CI/CD, test automation, performance/scalability, quality metrics
Manage project execution: planning sprints/releases, monitoring progress, identifying risks/blockers, ensuring delivery of milestones on time and to quality
Work with product management and UX/design to refine requirements, make trade-offs, and ensure that the engineering roadmap maps to user/customer value and field readiness
Collaborate with hardware/integration and operations teams to ensure seamless delivery of autonomy toolchain across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), live platforms
Ensure the team is set up for high-impact: recruiting top talent, setting clear goals, fostering a culture of ownership, iteration, and innovation
Communicate status, risk, and outcomes to senior leadership; escalate as needed; provide engineering input for business decisions
Stay abreast of emerging technologies: simulation, autonomy, AI, real-time systems, human-machine interfaces, and help the team apply them