Principal Engineer, Ground System Software (R5199)

Shield AI•Washington, DC

13h

About The Position

Shield AI is seeking an experienced Software Systems Engineer with a strong background in software design and development and a working knowledge of systems engineering processes, methodologies, and tools. This individual will play a key role in defining, developing, integrating, and validating complex software systems while ensuring alignment with system-level requirements, architecture, and program objectives. The ideal candidate combines deep technical software expertise with an understanding of systems engineering principles, including requirements management, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), verification and validation, configuration management, customer communications and cross-functional technical leadership.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical field.
8+ years of software engineering experience.
3+ years of software architecture or technical leadership experience.
Proficiency in a strongly typed programming language (e.g. C#, TypeScript, Java, C++) with exposure to lower-level systems or protocol integration.
Familiarity with software development lifecycle (SDLC) methodologies.
Understanding of systems engineering processes and standards.
Experience with requirements management and traceability practices.
Experience using version control and CI/CD tools.

Nice To Haves

Experience in aerospace, defense, robotics, autonomous systems, aviation, automotive, telecommunications, or other complex systems domains.
Experience with GCS software, mission planning tools, or real-time visualization platforms.
Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies.
Experience with systems engineering tools such as: Cameo Systems Modeler / MagicDraw IBM DOORS Next Jama Connect Stell JIRA Confluence
Experience with cloud-native architectures, containerization, and orchestration technologies.
Familiarity with Autonomy Government Reference Architectures, Open Mission Systems and Universal Command & Control Interface.
Ability to operate effectively across multiple engineering disciplines.
Strong systems thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to translate complex system requirements into practical software solutions.
Experience balancing technical, programmatic, and operational constraints.
Strong leadership and collaboration skills.
Interface Control Documents (ICDs) development and management

Responsibilities

Participate in the development of software architectures for complex, distributed, and mission-critical systems.
Engage in software design activities from concept through deployment and sustainment.
Work with software responsible engineers to develop and model high-quality, scalable, maintainable software solutions using modern programming languages, frameworks & System Modeling Tools.
Develop, review and maintain architecture diagrams to support government reference architectures.
Engage with internal stakeholders to develop software architecture behavior diagrams/ documents to support customer deliverables.
Communicate technical concepts effectively to engineering, program management, and customer stakeholders.
Collaborate with systems engineers to derive software requirements from system-level requirements and operational needs.
Ensure software solutions maintain traceability to stakeholder, system, and subsystem requirements.
Participate in architecture trade studies and technical decision-making activities.
Support system decomposition, interface definition, and allocation of requirements.
Contribute to system design reviews including SRR, PDR, CDR, TRR, and related technical milestones.
Work closely with hardware, network, test, and integration teams to ensure end-to-end system performance.