Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Capabilities

About the role

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. The company builds Hivemind autonomy software, the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies, with offices and facilities across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The technology it develops actively supports operations worldwide. The Autonomy Capabilities Team develops the functionality that automates single-agent and multi-agent teams of platforms in pursuit of mission objectives. The team also acts as a central, discipline-aligned focal point that encourages consistent use of technical approaches across business portfolios.

As a Senior Software Engineer on this team, you will work at all levels of the command-and-control hierarchy, from advanced control laws, through motion planning, up to advanced tactical behaviors and multi-agent coordination. Your work will span a wide range of mission sets, platform types, and operational domains, including air, sea, and space. This is a deeply technical role for engineers who want to build software that actually flies, navigates, and decides in complex, contested environments. You will be expected to lead technically, mentor peers, and push for engineering quality across the autonomy stack.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design and implement software for autonomous platform behavior across single-agent and multi-agent operations.
• Develop control laws, motion planning, and tactical behavior layers within the autonomy stack.
• Build multi-agent coordination logic that lets teams of platforms work toward shared mission objectives.
• Work across air, sea, and space domains and adapt autonomy software to different platform types.
• Collaborate with discipline leads to keep technical approaches consistent across business portfolios.
• Contribute to architecture decisions that affect command-and-control from low-level control to high-level tactics.
• Write performant, reliable code and participate in rigorous code review and testing practices.
• Integrate autonomy software with simulation, synthetic reality, and hardware-in-the-loop systems.
• Debug complex distributed systems and improve observability and monitoring of autonomous behaviors.
• Mentor and guide more junior engineers and help raise the technical bar of the team.
• Work closely with mission-focused engineers and operators to understand real operational requirements.
• Document design decisions, trade-offs, and technical approaches for future maintainability.

Requirements

• Strong background in software engineering with production C++, Python, or similar languages.
• Experience in robotics, autonomy, motion planning, or control systems.
• Solid understanding of real-time systems, concurrency, and performance-sensitive software.
• Ability to reason about complex multi-agent systems and mission-level behavior.
• Experience with simulation and testing methodologies for safety-critical software.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills across multidisciplinary teams.
• A track record of shipping complex software in a team environment.
• Willingness to work in a fast-paced, mission-driven defense technology setting.

Nice to have

• Background in guidance, navigation, and control algorithms.
• Experience with aerospace, maritime, or space platforms.
• Familiarity with ROS, simulation environments, or synthetic reality tools.
• Experience with software in safety-critical or regulated environments.
• Advanced degree in robotics, computer science, or a related field.

Skills & tools

• C++ and Python
• Motion planning
• Control theory
• Multi-agent systems
• Simulation and testing
• Real-time systems
• Software architecture
• CI/CD and observability

Practical notes

• Compensation is not posted and should be discussed directly with the recruiting team.
• This is a full time role based in Boston, Massachusetts.
• The work touches safety-relevant autonomy, so rigor and testing discipline are expected.
• You may interact with teams across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.
• Expect fast-moving programs and a strong emphasis on mission outcomes.

Project highlights

• Build autonomy capabilities that operate across air, sea, and space domains.
• Develop software that automates single-agent and multi-agent teams toward mission objectives.
• Create consistent technical approaches that scale across multiple product portfolios.
• Work across the full command-and-control hierarchy, from control laws to tactical behavior.

Why you should apply

• You will work on technology with a direct mission to protect service members and civilians.
• The autonomy problems here are genuinely hard and technically rewarding.
• You will own meaningful pieces of a system used in real-world operations worldwide.
• You will collaborate with some of the sharpest minds in robotics and defense AI.
• The company is well funded and scaling across multiple regions and product lines.