Senior Full Stack Engineer

About the role

NODA is a veteran-owned, venture-backed technology company that is transforming how unmanned systems collaborate in complex, mission-critical environments. As a Senior Full Stack Engineer on this role, you will own the design and implementation of the backend services and operator interfaces that power autonomous vehicle orchestration platforms. You will build mission control applications, real-time data processing systems, and the APIs that connect human operators with autonomous fleets operating across multiple domains. Your daily work will bridge complex robotics systems with modern web applications, translating the needs of autonomy engineers into robust, scalable software solutions. You will work alongside a team that thrives on innovation, rapid iteration, and collaboration to push the boundaries of autonomy in defense, intelligence, and commercial sectors. Joining NODA means working on meaningful technology that has direct impact in mission-critical environments while contributing to a culture that values ownership, clarity, and execution.

Key facts

What you'll do

Build scalable backend APIs and microservices using Python and C++ within an event-driven architecture for real-time orchestration operations.

Design and implement event-driven data pipelines that process telemetry, sensor feeds, and mission data from heterogeneous vehicle fleets using publish/subscribe patterns.

Develop responsive operator interfaces using React for mission planning, fleet coordination, and system monitoring.

Create WebSocket-based communications for low-latency operator interactions with autonomous systems.

Build data transformation and aggregation services that prepare autonomous system data for operator consumption.

Implement secure, role-based access controls and authentication systems for multi-user mission control environments.

Design and maintain database schemas and query optimization for high-throughput operational data.

Collaborate with autonomy engineers to integrate vehicle control systems and sensor data streams.

Support integration with diverse autonomous platforms through RESTful APIs, ROS2 topics, and message queuing systems.

Ensure application resilience and performance through comprehensive testing, monitoring, and deployment automation.

Contribute to system architecture decisions that balance operational requirements with long-term maintainability and scalability.

Participate in code reviews, technical documentation, and knowledge sharing to elevate the overall quality of the engineering organization.

Apply best practices in software engineering to deliver reliable, secure, and performant features on an iterative release cadence.

Engage with customer and stakeholder feedback to refine operator workflows and improve system usability in real-world scenarios.

Take ownership of on-call responsibilities and incident response processes to support continuous availability of mission-critical services.

Requirements

5+ years of professional full-stack development experience building production systems.

Strong proficiency in C++ with experience in systems programming and performance optimization.

Expert-level Python skills with experience in FastAPI, Flask, or Django frameworks.

Experience with ROS2 middleware, including topics, services, and distributed robotics systems.

Proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript and React with modern development practices.

Strong database design and optimization skills (PostgreSQL, NoSQL).

Experience building real-time applications using WebSockets, message queuing, and event-driven data streaming.

Knowledge of RESTful API design principles, microservices architecture, and event-driven system patterns.

Understanding of Linux system programming and multi-threaded application development.

U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain a security clearance.

Nice to have

C++ multithreaded systems; GRPC/Protobuf; DB design/tuning.

Experience with robotics middleware beyond ROS2 (DDS, MQTT, or custom protocols).

Knowledge of autonomous vehicle systems (UAVs, USVs, UUVs) and associated data formats.

Experience with real-time data streaming technologies (Kafka, Redis Streams, ZeroMQ).

Familiarity with computer vision libraries and sensor data processing (OpenCV, PCL).

Experience with container technologies (Docker) and cloud deployment (AWS).

Understanding of networking fundamentals and distributed systems concepts.

Background in mission-critical or real-time system development.

Knowledge of geospatial data handling and coordinate system transformations.

Experience with observability tools (Grafana, Prometheus) and application performance monitoring.

Previous work in defense, aerospace, or autonomous systems industries.

Practical notes

Location: Austin, TX (Hybrid on-site, with up to 20% travel)

Clearance Requirement: U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain a security clearance