Senior Autonomous Systems Engineer
About The Position
MITRE’s Autonomous and Intelligent Systems Department works to enable effective and safe adoption of embodied AI for critical challenges across sectors including defense, healthcare, transportation, and law enforcement. The department combines expertise in missions, technology, and innovation to develop insights and solutions for sponsors and partners. The Senior Autonomous Systems Engineer provides technical leadership on cross-functional teams evaluating and improving autonomous systems. The role applies autonomy and AI expertise to assess systems, advise sponsors, contribute to research initiatives, and help shape the adoption of autonomy on robotics hardware and cloud-based computing environments. The engineer also helps develop departmental strategy for high-consequence autonomy applications, including assurance, testing and evaluation, and societal implications. The position requires at least 50% hybrid on-site work. The hired candidate must obtain a DoD Secret clearance within one year of hire; U.S. citizenship is required for security-clearance eligibility.
Requirements
- Typically, at least 5 years of autonomy and AI experience with a relevant bachelor’s degree; or 3 years with a master’s degree; or a Ph.D. with relevant experience and ability to contribute immediately at this job step; or an equivalent combination of autonomy-related education and work experience.
- Broad understanding of autonomous systems across multiple domains, including Department of War, military services, the Intelligence Community, DHS, industry, and academia.
- Deep experience in one or more robotics-related fields, such as computer vision, deep learning, machine learning, control theory, human-machine teaming, or multi-robot systems.
- Ability to explain autonomy-specific challenges involving perception, reasoning, behaviors, and collaboration; understand real-world application constraints; discuss critical issues; and identify capability gaps.
- Familiarity with state-of-the-art autonomy research and tools, including ROS 2 and Docker.
- Ability to work independently and rapidly learn new technologies, techniques, processes, languages, platforms, and systems.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to build and maintain strong relationships with sponsors and stakeholders.
- Demonstrated leadership skills, including leading teams, developing and managing schedules, communicating risks, and managing budgets.
- Experience developing, proposing, and executing autonomy-focused research initiatives.
- Ability and willingness to obtain and maintain a DoD Secret clearance within 12 months of hire; U.S. citizenship is required to be eligible for a security clearance.
- Ability to work at least 50% hybrid on-site.
Nice To Haves
- Advanced degree in a related field such as robotics, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, electrical engineering, or computer science.
- Experience with software development in a production setting.
- Knowledge of advances in autonomy and AI evaluation capabilities in industry and academia.
- Domain knowledge of swarming systems, red teaming, counter-UxS, robotic test and evaluation, agentic AI, manufacturing robotics, and/or missile defense.
- Experience configuring and writing software for open-source flight controllers, such as ArduPilot or PX4, and tools such as Mission Planner or QGroundControl.
- Experience with rapid prototyping, including fabrication and electronics.
- Experience field-testing autonomous systems, particularly unmanned aerial systems.
- Knowledge of or experience with edge computing, C-SWAP (compute, size, weight, and power) platforms, and/or surrogate or scaled platforms.
- Experience working on or leading teams implementing and evaluating AI and autonomy algorithms.
- Active DoD Top Secret clearance.
Responsibilities
- Provide technical leadership on cross-functional teams evaluating and improving autonomous systems.
- Maintain knowledge of advances in autonomy and robotics capabilities.
- Use technical expertise to evaluate and improve AI and autonomy system performance.
- Provide thought leadership on adopting autonomy and AI technology on robotics hardware and cloud-based computing environments.
- Evaluate autonomy or AI solutions and advise sponsors based on their requirements.
- Work in robotics-related fields such as computer vision, deep learning, machine learning, planning, human-machine teaming, and multi-robot systems.
- Build capabilities in one or more Autonomous Systems growth areas, such as maritime autonomy, healthcare robotics, or space robotics.
- Help define and execute departmental and divisional strategy for high-consequence autonomy applications, including assurance, testing and evaluation, and societal implications.
- Develop, propose, and execute autonomy-focused research initiatives.
- Lead teams, develop and manage schedules, communicate risks, and manage budgets.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
