Ground Control Software; GCS Engineer

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With nine offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide.

Job Description: We’re looking for a Software Engineer to join our team developing next-generation Ground Control Station (GCS) applications for unmanned aerial systems (UAS). This role is ideal for engineers with a strong foundation in real-time, performance-sensitive software who also bring experience with modern web technologies.

You’ll work on mission-critical software that bridges responsive user interfaces with robust backend systems, enabling human operators to plan, command, and monitor autonomous assets with precision and reliability.

• Design, develop, and optimize ground control software that enables low-latency communication with UAVs and other autonomous platforms.
• Build high-performance client and server applications that support telemetry processing, mission planning, and real-time control.
• Implement responsive user interfaces with React and Type Script for operator workflows and visualization of spatial data, sensor feeds, and mission state.
• Collaborate closely with teams across autonomy, embedded systems, backend, and UX to deliver integrated, field-ready solutions.
• Contribute to architectural decisions and system designs that ensure responsiveness, scalability, and fault-tolerance.
• Lead development efforts on key features or subsystems, from early design through deployment and iteration.
• Write high-quality, well-tested code and participate in peer design/code reviews.

• Bachelor’s degree with 4+ years of relevant experience, or Masters with 3+ years, or PhD with 1+ year.
• Demonstrated experience building real-time or performance-sensitive applications—preferably for UAVs, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or simulation environments.
• Proficiency in a strongly typed programming language (e.g. C#, Type Script, Java, C++) with exposure to lower-level systems or protocol integration.
• Experience with web technologies, especially React, Type Script/JavaScript, and Node.js.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals including version control, testing, debugging, and performance profiling.
• Proven ability to deliver high-quality software as part of a collaborative engineering team.

• Experience with GCS software, mission planning tools, or real-time visualization platforms.
• Familiarity with API-driven systems using REST or gRPC, and communication protocols like Web Socket or custom telemetry formats.
• Knowledge of standards such as STANAG 4586, Cursor on Target (CoT), or MAVLink.
• Familiarity with containerized environments (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD practices.
• Exposure to distributed systems and cloud integration for telemetry data pipelines.
• Understanding of security best practices in control systems and networked applications.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed toequal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.