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Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy Capabilities – Maritime (R5363)

Shield AI· Hivemind Solutions Division – Flight System Integration
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Hybrid (Washington, D.C.), Hybrid (Boston, MA), Hybrid (San Diego, CA), Hybrid (Dallas, TX)$220.8k - $331.2kFull Time EmployeePosted 1mo ago

About the role

Senior Staff Engineer leading autonomy capabilities for maritime platforms (USVs/UUVs/UAVs) focusing on multi-agent teaming, advanced motion planning, localization, and safe automated operations across air, sea, and multi-domain contexts.

Responsibilities

  • Robust Motion Planning – Automate unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and/or unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) maneuvering through advanced motion planning and adherence to safety constraints including keep-out volumes, cooperative and uncooperative vehicles, and depth limitations
  • Localization and Tracking – Employ cutting edge approaches for passive and active localization by defining fusion modalities, sensor requirements, and observability-aware maneuvering capabilities to maximize information gleaned from single- or multi-agent sensor networks
  • Safe Maritime Operations – Keep vehicle safety as a central focus within autonomous behavior architectures to provide run-time assurance, ensure COLREGS adherence, and build operator trust in advanced mission autonomy
  • Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Collaboration – Develop distributed optimization and task allocation approaches for heterogeneous teaming to accomplish mission objectives by utilizing diverse capabilities of agents
  • Rigorous Software Development – Develop high-performance software modules that are well-tested, have clear interfaces and span-of-control, and are ready for mid-to-high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) insertions
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration – Collaborate with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and operational test to ensure seamless integration of autonomy solutions on real-world platforms
  • Deployment & Test Support – Deploy autonomy capabilities to real surface vehicles, supporting integration and demonstration events as well as analysis of mission logs to verify software performance
  • R&D and Road-mapping – Contribute to autonomy roadmaps by researching and prototyping new algorithms, identifying tactical capability gaps, and proposing novel solutions
  • Travel Requirement – Typically travel around 25% of the year to different office locations, customer sites, and flight integration events

Qualifications

  • BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
  • Typically requires a minimum of 10 years with a Bachelor's degree; 9 years with a Master's; 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent
  • Proficiency in C++ and Python, and familiarity with RTOS
  • Significant background in robotics technologies related to motion planning, behavior modeling, decision-making, or autonomous system design
  • Significant experience with unmanned system technologies and accompanying algorithms (ideally in the space domain)
  • Experience with simulation tools/environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS) for testing/validation
  • Strong problem-solving, communication, teamwork, and ability to operate in multidisciplinary environments
  • Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance

Skills

Required:Motion planningLocalization and trackingSafety and COLREGS adherenceDistributed optimization / multi-agent coordinationSoftware engineering best practices

Benefits

  • Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
  • Temporary benefits after 60 days for eligible roles
  • Equal opportunity employer with comprehensive benefits package (as described in offer)
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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