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Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration – Weapons (R5398)

Shield AI· Hivemind Solutions Division – Flight System Integration
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Washington, D.C., San Diego, California, Boston, Massachusetts, Dallas, Texas$233.8k - $350.6kFull Time EmployeePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Senior technical leader responsible for defining the technical direction and leading the integration of autonomy capabilities for launched effects platforms, with end-to-end ownership from software-in-the-loop to live fielded systems.

Responsibilities

  • Technical Strategy & Portfolio Leadership – Define the long-term technical direction for the Launched Effects portfolio; drive common integration patterns, architecture, and engineering strategy that enable scalable fleet operations across current and future programs.
  • Develop & Field Autonomy – Guide the development and integration of mission autonomy, platform interfaces, executive autonomy, multi-agent coordination, and fleet-scale deployment capabilities while ensuring successful operational delivery across launched effects programs.
  • Collaboration Across Teams & Partners – Build strong technical partnerships across the Autonomy Capabilities team, Perception team, feature crews, autopilot vendors, C2 providers, customer organizations, and engineering leadership; influence architecture and technical direction beyond the portfolio.
  • Design & Documentation – Lead cross-functional architecture reviews, interface standards, ICDs, and post-mortems while raising engineering rigor and technical consistency across multiple organizations.
  • Mentorship & Organizational Growth – Mentor Staff and Senior engineers, develop future technical leaders, contribute to engineering standards and leveling, and partner with managers on senior hiring.
  • Pre-deployment Preparation – Guide Capability Release planning, fleet-scale deployment strategies, mission validation, and operational readiness across multiple programs.
  • On-site Test & Mission Support – Provide senior technical leadership during critical flight tests, customer demonstrations, and operational exercises where deep systems integration expertise is required.
  • Hardware/Software Debugging – Lead resolution of the organization’s most complex autonomy integration challenges spanning software, embedded systems, networking, platform interfaces, and operational environments.
  • Mission Data & Debrief Support – Drive post-mission analysis, identify systemic improvements, and influence long-term technical investments based on operational learnings.
  • Continuous Improvement – Drive organization-wide improvements to engineering processes, testing infrastructure, integration workflows, developer experience, and mission reliability.
  • C2 Interoperability & Standards – Define technical strategy for command-and-control interoperability; shape interface evolution with internal and external stakeholders while driving adoption of common message and open-systems standards (e.g., UCI, OMS, MOSA, WOSA, TAK/CoT).
  • Hiring & Developing Technical Talent – Define the technical hiring bar for senior engineering roles, partner with engineering managers on long-term staffing strategy, and help grow the organization's technical capabilities.
  • Travel Requirement – Members of this team typically travel around 10–20% of the year to different office locations, customer sites, operator training events, flight tests, and integration exercises.

Qualifications

  • BS/MS in a relevant engineering discipline or equivalent practical experience.
  • Typically requires 10+ years of relevant experience.
  • Expert-level C++ and Linux systems development experience.
  • Demonstrated experience defining technical strategy across multiple engineering teams or programs.
  • Proven track record influencing architecture and solving highly complex autonomy integration challenges.
  • Experience mentoring senior engineers and driving engineering excellence across an organization.
  • Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.

Skills

Required:C++Linux systemsTechnical strategyAutonomy integrationMentoring & leadershipSecurity clearance

Benefits

  • Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
  • Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits.
Last updated Oct 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Shield AI

Autonomy for the world.

Our mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.

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