Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors

Shield AI•Washington, DC

About The Position

The Autonomy Capabilities team at Shield AI has assembled a diverse team of experts in software, robotics, control systems, optimization, and data analysis to create software solutions that greatly evolve the capabilities of our customers. The team is responsible for developing autonomous behaviors within Shield AI’s industry-leading mission autonomy software stack and deploying them across a breadth of platforms, including the Anduril Fury, Northrup Grumman Talon, Shield AI V-Bat, and other first- and third-party autonomous vehicles. We work in close coordination with specialist teams in software integration, hardware, and test engineering to solve some of the hardest problems facing our customers. Staff Software Engineers on the Autonomy Behaviors team will lead the delivery of autonomous behaviors into our products, acting as technical leads, extremely senior individual contributors, and/or as team leads that are also hands-on contributors. We expect Staff Engineers to demonstrate unparalleled end-to-end outcome ownership, driving the architecting, design, delivery, support, and evolution of safe and effective mission autonomy software throughout the entire product lifecycle.

Requirements

BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
Proficient in production-level C++ software development
7+ years' experience in one or more of the following: software sub-system scheduling and integration, behavior planning, task and resource allocation, motion planning, optimization, or flight controls
Experience with collaborative software development tools for version control, issue tracking, code reviews, and release management
Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, set technical direction, and manage full project lifecycles from concept to deployment
Capacity to learn and grow individually, while mentoring junior team members effectively, building team cohesion and capacity
Desire to work in a highly collaborative, fast paced, enthusiastic, and mission-centric environment
Capacity to act as the technical owner for an entire software system, including stakeholder engagement, requirements definition, roadmap management, team co-ordination, design, implementation, sustainment, and evolution
Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Secret security clearance

Nice To Haves

Experience across a breadth of technology readiness levels (TRLs) and demonstration of bridging concepts from research-grade to operationally ready
Experience with mission systems integration, and ideally, hands-on experience supporting integration events and/or flight demonstrations
Experience across a multitude of application areas, including but not limited to: Collaborative mission planning, behavior planning, synchronized teaming, Automated red force vs blue force tactics, Motion planning across a variety of vehicle classes, kinematic constraints, and team compositions, Weapons target assignment, Sensor target pairing, sensor-centric control laws, Collision avoidance, geofencing, and safety-monitoring
Experience in more than one operational effect (e.g., strike, air combat, surveillance, reconnaissance, etc.) and more than one associated domain (e.g., air, space, maritime, ground, etc.)
Experience with FOSS software that is commonly used in robotic systems (e.g., ROS, OMPL, optimization solvers, etc.)
Experience with simulation tools and environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS) for testing and validation
Familiarity with practical aspects of navigation and communications systems
Experience across the product delivery lifecycle, from emerging opportunity through system acceptance, deployment, and sustainment
Familiarity with systems engineering methodologies
Familiarity with high-assurance software development processes (e.g., DO-178C or equivalent MIL-STD's)

Responsibilities

Develop tactical autonomy software to enable unmanned platforms to perform complex missions across air, land, sea, and space domains with minimal human supervision
Implement and test behaviors that enable multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios
Work throughout the entire of the software development lifecycle, from requirements capture through design, implementation, verification, and validation, utilizing tools and workflows consistent with collaborative high-quality software development
Champion a product-line mindset in technology road-mapping and to enable reuse of behaviors across multiple projects and portfolios
Utilize your software and systems expertise to architect behaviors as scalable software subsystems, that may interact directly or indirectly with a breadth of system components (e.g., sensor processing, state estimation, peer-to-peer communications, contingency management, actuation, and payload interfacing)
Leverage internal product and program-specific engineering teams to rapidly deliver state-of-the-art capabilities to vehicle platforms (whether internally and externally owned), with a clear path towards architecture and capability evolution over time
Collaborate with external teams, aligning on interfacing requirements between diverse systems, often working closely with vehicle integration teams and associated operational subject matter experts (e.g., fighter pilots, UAV operators, etc.)
Act as a subject matter expert for software engineering, representing software equities in a multi-stakeholder environment including engineering, business and sales leadership.