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Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company developing intelligent autonomy systems for unmanned platforms across air, maritime, space, and effects domains. The Autonomous Pilot Integration team builds end-to-end autonomy solutions that combine motion planning, perception, and tactical capabilities into deployable software.
In this Staff-level role, you will architect and implement autonomy software for unmanned platforms, including mission behaviors, platform-specific control logic, multi-agent coordination, contingency handling, and executive autonomy systems. You'll own features across the full development lifecycle: software-in-the-loop simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, vehicle-in-the-loop validation, and live field exercises. This is a hands-on position where your code directly operates real systems—whether flying, sailing, orbiting, or deployed operationally.
You'll serve as a technical leader within the team, leading small feature crews or sub-programs through design, integration, and delivery phases. You'll mentor mid-level engineers, guide architectural decisions, and represent the team to internal capability teams (Autonomy Capabilities, Perception) and external partners (vehicle/autopilot vendors, command-and-control providers). Close collaboration with cross-functional teams is essential.
The role requires strong software engineering fundamentals, experience with real-time systems, and comfort working in a fast-paced environment where code must perform reliably in high-stakes operational contexts. You should be motivated by seeing your work deployed in the real world and supporting U.S. Department of Defense and international defense customers.
