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Staff Engineer, Autonomy Capabilities – Maritime (R5325)

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

About the role

Staff Engineer leading the technical delivery of complex maritime autonomy capabilities for USVs, UUVs, and cooperating UAVs, blending traditional control with advanced optimization to enable single- and multi-agent mission execution and integration into real-world platforms.

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 maximizing utilization of diverse capabilities
  • 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 performance
  • R&D and Road-mapping – Contribute to autonomy roadmaps by researching and prototyping new algorithms, identifying capability gaps, and proposing novel solutions
  • Travel Requirement – ~25% travel to offices, customer sites, and flight integration events

Qualifications

  • BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
  • Typically 7+ years with a Bachelor’s, or 6+ years with a Master’s, or 4+ years with a PhD; or equivalent
  • Proficiency in C++ and Python; familiarity with RTOS
  • Strong background in robotics technologies related to motion planning, behavior modeling, decision-making, or autonomous system design
  • Experience with unmanned system technologies and algorithms (ideally space domain)
  • Experience with simulation tools/environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS) for testing/validation
  • Strong problem-solving and collaboration skills
  • Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance

Skills

Required:Motion PlanningLocalization and TrackingSoftware DevelopmentC++Python
Nice to have:RTOS

Benefits

  • Full-time regular employee offer package: Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
  • Temporary employee offer package: Pay within range + temporary benefits package (after 60 days)
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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