Robotics Software Engineer

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones. We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system. Our namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses.

Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate, small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable. In addition to our San Francisco lab, we opened our Detroit manufacturing hub and field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.

We need a Robotics Software Engineer who writes fast, correct C++ that runs on real hardware. You’ll work on the Archimedes stack alongside our Lead Software Engineer, taking raw sensor data and turning it into tracking, control and autonomy that has to work in real time. Performance and accuracy matter more than anything. Your scope grows as fast as you do;

our Lead went from Founding Robotics Engineer to Lead in 12 months.

• Production C++ across the stack: sensor ingestion, tracking, control and autonomy
• Working directly with drivers and raw sensor data, not pre-packaged inputs
• Threading, process architecture and performance on the paths you own
• Timing and latency analysis, and making the fixes it points to
• Python tooling for testing, analysis and the range
• Debugging on hardware at weekly field tests

• 2+ years writing production C++ that runs on real hardware or real-time systems
• Comfort below the abstraction layer: threading, concurrency, memory, performance profiling
• You implement, not just design. You’ve shipped code you wrote
• Evidence you learn fast: you got effective in a new domain in months, not years

We’re domain agnostic. Robotics, AV, drones, aerospace, F1 or automotive, maritime, embedded systems, compilers, or low-level C++ game engine and 3D simulation work all fit. A robotics degree isn’t required; the robotics is learnable on the job.

You’ve written C++ where latency or timing actually mattered and you measured it. Bonus if your projects touch motion planning, dynamics, trajectory optimization, or state estimation.

You’re web, backend or full stack; your C++ is light and your real work is in Python; you’ve never had a full-time role; or you design systems but don’t implement them.

• ROS2 (a good signal, though we've moved past it)
• Rust or other systems languages
• Sensor integration and calibration
• Real-time Linux

BS, MS or PhD in CS, EE, Robotics or equivalent. Track record matters more than degree.

• Extreme bias for action. You'd rather build a prototype tomorrow than model it for a month
• You characterize your own systems before the field does
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment
• You debug from first principles, not intuition alone
• Clear communicator across mechanical, electrical, optical, and software teams
• Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

• Build more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.
• Career velocity is real. With no middle management, there are no layers between you and…