Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Capabilities – Space; R5338

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).

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The Autonomy Capabilities Team develops functionality to automate single- and multi-agent teams of platforms in pursuit of mission objectives and acts as a central discipline-aligned focal-point for encouraging consistent usage of technical approaches across business portfolios. This team operates at all levels of the command-and-control hierarchy (from advanced control laws, through motion planning, and up to advanced tactical behaviors and multi-agent coordination) and across a multitude of mission sets, platform types, and operational domains (e.g., air, sea, space).

The team puts a strong emphasis on both fundamentals (e.g., aircraft kinematics/dynamics, trajectory design, optimization, information fusion, efficient algorithms, etc.) and software integration skillsets (e.g. structures, protocols, threading, interface management, etc.) to bring market-differentiating capabilities to customers that seamlessly operate within their integration contexts.

This position is perfect for an individual who enjoys solving complex problems across a diverse set of programs and integration contexts. An ideal candidate is expected to address operational system needs through a multitude of advanced methodologies that blend traditional control system approaches with advanced optimization. Developed solutions are expected to be integrated into real-world platforms with near‑term program impacts and rewards and so balancing theory with practice and rigorous implementation is paramount.

Focusing on the space portfolio, you’ll be creating autonomy capabilities for satellites and missile defense applications that span large‑scale distributed optimization, automated tasking and scheduling, track fusion, RPO operations, and space vehicle motion/behavior planning. In many of these applications, you’ll have the opportunity to build capabilities from the ground up and be the first to integrate them onto new platforms. You’ll traditionally start with shorter‑term R&D efforts or aligned customer programs but with the intent that successful efforts will grow into larger, multi‑year programs.

In many cases, the capabilities you will develop are at the cutting‑edge and so demonstrating the ability to operate in grey space and at the intersection of the state‑of‑the‑now and the state‑of‑the‑possible is both exciting and crucial.

Focusing on the space portfolio, you’ll be creating autonomy capabilities for satellites and missile defense applications that span large‑scale distributed optimization, automated tasking and scheduling, track fusion, RPO operations, and space vehicle motion/behavior planning. In many of these applications, you’ll have the opportunity to build capabilities from the ground up and be the first to integrate them onto new platforms. You’ll traditionally start with shorter‑term R&D efforts or aligned customer programs but with the intent that successful efforts will grow into larger, multi‑year programs.

In many cases, the capabilities you will develop are at the cutting‑edge and so demonstrating the ability to operate in grey space and at the intersection of the state‑of‑the‑now and the state‑of‑the‑possible is both exciting and crucial.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you’ll build and own autonomy behaviors that directly power our products, taking responsibility for key components from design through deployment. You’ll work across teams to turn complex mission needs into reliable, scalable software, balancing near‑term delivery with long‑term maintainability and performance. In this role, you’ll play a critical part in shaping how autonomy capabilities are designed,…