Vice President of Autonomy

Merlin Labs•Boston, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

We’re building the brains of the airplane. As the Vice President of Autonomy, you’ll lead the team responsible for developing Merlin’s core autonomy software—spanning flight control, navigation, perception, decision-making, and higher-level mission behaviors. This role sits at the heart of the Merlin Pilot product and is critical to our mission of enabling safe, airworthy, and intelligent autonomous flight across a diverse fleet of aircraft. You will manage a high-performing software team focused on building and integrating autonomy layers that operate in real time on safety-critical airborne platforms. You'll partner closely with the Systems Engineering, Compute Platform, and Simulation teams to ensure delivery of robust, testable, and airworthy software aligned to the broader product roadmap. This is a hands-on leadership role—equal parts technical strategy/innovation, people leadership, and delivery accountability.

Requirements

BS/MS in Computer Science, Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
10+ years of experience in autonomy software development, with 5+ years in engineering leadership roles.
Deep expertise in one or more autonomy domains: GNC, path planning, multi-agent coordination, behavior trees/state machines, etc.
Strong track record delivering real-world autonomy systems in aviation, defense, robotics, or space.
Familiarity with safety-critical software development and relevant standards (DO-178C, MISRA, etc.).
Experience managing complex software teams, including agile workflows and large codebases.
Skilled in C, C++, Python, and real-time systems development.
Excellent cross-functional collaboration and communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Pilot experience
Experience developing autonomy software for airworthy aircraft (Part 23/25 or military equivalents).
Familiarity with AI/ML integration and assurance for autonomy systems.
Experience with simulation frameworks (e.g., Gazebo, FlightGear, custom SIL/HIL setups).
Understanding of embedded systems, partitioned OS environments (ARINC 653), and software abstraction layers.

Responsibilities

Lead the Autonomy Software team developing flight, mission, and campaign autonomy capabilities for the Merlin Pilot.
Define and evolve software architecture in partnership with the Chief Product Officer, CTO, Chief Architect and Systems Engineering team.
Ensure on-time delivery of modular, testable, and airworthy autonomy software that meets system-level performance and safety requirements.
Oversee software development, integration, and test across all layers of autonomy—perception, planning, guidance/navigation/control (GNC), decision-making, and behavior modeling.
Drive use of modern software practices, including modern version control and release techniques, automated builds, simulation-in-the-loop testing, and traceable requirements.
Collaborate closely with Simulation, Compute Integration, and Systems teams to enable effective development and validation workflows.
Foster a strong technical culture focused on clarity, ownership, safety, and continuous improvement.
Mentor and grow engineers and technical leads within the team.
Partner with the VP of Merlin Pilot Engineering to align staffing, schedule, and priorities to the product roadmap.
Support regulatory and customer engagements, including technical documentation and test plans for certification/accreditation where required.