Senior Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration – Emerging Domains (R5423

Founded in 2015, 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 and V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft. 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). Follow Shield AI on Linked In, X, Instagram, and You Tube.

The Autonomous Pilot Integration team for Emerging Domains builds autonomy solutions for new platforms and mission profiles outside Shield AI’s established portfolios—including space (satellites, missile defense), maritime (USV and UUV integration), and contestedlogistics(unmanned helicopters and related autonomous resupply platforms). The team takes on short-term R&D and integration efforts—often standing up the first autonomy on a brand-new platform or mission—with the intent that successful efforts grow into larger, multi-year programs.

We combine capabilities from the Autonomy Capabilities team (motion planning, tactics), the Perception team (e.g.,ViDAR, ATR), and theHivemindSDK—selectivelyleveragingexisting Shield AI autonomy solutions where they apply—to develop autonomy that runs on these new platforms. Our engineers write new autonomy code—such as mission behaviors, platform-specific control, multi-agent coordination, contingencies, and executive autonomy—and own it end-to-end from software-in-the-loop, to hardware-in-the-loop, to vehicle-in-the-loop, to live test exercise.

In this role,you’lldevelop and integrate autonomy capabilities across a variety of emerging-domain platforms while helpingestablishautonomy on systems that often have no existing autonomy baseline.

You’llwork closely with platform teams, the Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, and GCS teams, feature crews, and customer stakeholders to solve complex integration challenges and deliver mission-ready autonomy software. This is a hands-on role for engineers who enjoy working across diverse platforms, solving ambiguous technical problems, and seeing new capabilitiesoperatein real-world environments.

• Stand Up New Capabilities – Helpestablishautonomy on new platforms and mission areas by integrating existing Shield AI capabilities with platform-specific software and developing new autonomy where needed.
• Develop & Field Autonomy – Develop and integrate autonomy software onto emerging-domain platforms, including platform and autopilot integration, payload and sensor integration, mission behaviors, multi-agent coordination, and validation through software-, hardware-, vehicle-, and live testing.
• Platform Team Partnerships – Partner closely with platform teams to integrate autonomy capabilities,validateinterfaces, coordinate hardware/software compatibility, and support mission readiness.
• Collaboration Across Teams & Partners – Work with the Autonomy Capabilities, Perception, GCS teams, feature crews, and customer/program offices to deliver integrated autonomy solutions.
• Design & Documentation – Contribute to design reviews, ICDs, integration planning, and post-mortems while improving engineering rigor across teams.
• Pre-deployment Preparation – Build, configure,validate, and prepare mission-ready systems while coordinating release readiness with platform and capability teams.
• On-site Test & Mission Support – Support flight tests, maritime trials, ground testing, customer demonstrations, and operational exercises through system bring-up, troubleshooting, and mission execution.
• Hardware/Software Debugging – Diagnose and resolve integration issues across autonomy software, payload computers, embedded systems, and platform interfaces.
• Mission Data & Debrief Support – Capture mission data, reproduce issues in simulation, and partner with capability owners to rapidly improve future releases.
• Continuous Improvement – Develop tools and engineering processes that improve integration velocity, testing reliability, and mission readiness.
• C2 Interoperability & Standards – Implement andvalidateinterfaces with command-and-control systems while supporting…