Manager, Engineering - Software Integration (R5237)

Shield AI•San Diego, CA

1d•$160,000 - $240,000

About The Position

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company founded in 2015, dedicated to protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. The company develops products like Hivemind autonomy software and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, with a global presence supporting operations worldwide. The Hivemind Integration & Test team focuses on integrating, validating, and improving the Hivemind ecosystem, which includes autonomy behaviors, sensor processing, multi-agent coordination, ground-control systems, and embedded platforms. The goal is to ensure autonomy developers can efficiently build, test, and deploy autonomous applications for real-world missions. This role involves leading a team responsible for integrating, validating, and scaling the Hivemind autonomy platform across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and operational environments. The position requires both technical leadership and people management, guiding engineers in developing integration and test capabilities while also engaging in hands-on system integration, validation, and customer-focused workflows. The individual will become a power user of the Hivemind SDK, identify platform gaps from a customer perspective, and drive improvements. Collaboration with Engineering, Product, and Program teams is key to integrating new autonomy capabilities, evaluating feature completeness, and ensuring customers can efficiently build, test, and deploy mission-ready autonomous systems. This role bridges technical leadership, engineering execution, and real-world autonomy applications.

Requirements

Typically requires a minimum of 7 years of related experience with a bachelor’s degree in CS, Comp Eng, Robotics, or a related field; or 6 years and a master’s degree; or 4 years with a PhD.
Proficiency in programming languages including Python or C++.
Experience with autonomous systems or middleware.
Demonstrated experience designing integration workflows, communicating system dependencies, and triaging and reporting integration defects across subsystem boundaries.
Strong problem-solving skills and a proven track record of delivering high-quality software solutions.
Excellent communication skills, capable of collaborating effectively across various teams and presenting to customers or technical leadership.
Experience leading software integration engineers and owning integration roadmaps and release schedules.

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated experience building complex systems with a strong understanding of software architecture and design principles.
Experience with hardware or embedded systems.
Expert knowledge of Python.
Experience with ROS.
Experience with white box testing.
Familiarity with networking, operating-systems, and radio communications.
Experience supporting customer applications.

Responsibilities

Mentor and develop a team of engineers focused on software integration, system validation, and developer experience.
Establish team priorities, drive execution, and foster a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement.
Actively contribute to system integration, validation, and debugging activities and develop deep expertise in our autonomy stack.
Guide the architecture and implementation of integration frameworks, deployment workflows, and configuration management tools that streamline validation across Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), and flight environments.
Review system logs, telemetry, and rosbag data to diagnose integration defects.
Lead cross-functional investigations, establish corrective actions, and create tooling that accelerates debugging and issue resolution.
Ensure integrated capabilities meet product requirements and interface specifications.