Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration - Emerging Domains

About the role

You will architect autonomy software modules that directly integrate with the HivemindSDK to enable first-time vehicle autonomy on emerging platforms. You will define and own the end-to-end software stack for new mission profiles in space, maritime, and contested logistics domains. You will lead technical design sessions that bring together perception, planning, and control engineers to align on a unified autonomy approach. You will collaborate with platform system engineers to ensure that autonomy capabilities meet demanding operational and safety constraints. You will drive the implementation of multi-agent coordination behaviors that allow multiple vehicles to execute a shared mission plan. You will diagnose and resolve complex integration issues that arise across software, hardware, and test environments under aggressive timelines. You will translate abstract mission requirements into concrete software capabilities that can be demonstrated in live exercises. You will mentor junior engineers on best practices for building robust, maintainable autonomy software under strict performance and reliability standards.

Key facts

What you'll do

Architect and implement mission behaviors that run on the HivemindSDK and integrate with vehicle-specific control layers.

Own the software architecture for platform-specific control systems, ensuring alignment with platform dynamics and operational constraints.

Develop and maintain software interfaces that allow the autonomy stack to communicate with heterogeneous sensors and payloads.

Integrate perception pipelines from the Perception team, such as ViDAR and ATR, into real-time autonomy workflows for new platforms.

Design contingency behaviors and fail-safe mechanisms that allow autonomous systems to respond robustly to degraded conditions.

Lead hardware-in-the-loop and software-in-the-loop test campaigns that validate autonomy features before vehicle-in-the-loop trials.

Coordinate with platform engineering teams to synchronize autonomy timelines with vehicle fabrication, integration, and test schedules.

Define and execute test matrices that demonstrate autonomy performance across diverse mission profiles and environmental conditions.

Collaborate with the Autonomy Capabilities team to adapt motion planning and tactics algorithms for emerging domain constraints.

Translate abstract mission objectives into executable autonomy plans that can be demonstrated in live field exercises.

Partner with cross-functional organizations to align autonomy roadmaps with program-level milestones and deliverables.

Support the deployment of autonomy stacks onto edge compute platforms that operate under strict size, weight, and power constraints.

Document technical decisions, interfaces, and integration procedures to ensure continuity and knowledge transfer across teams.

Proactively identify technical risks and work with stakeholders to develop mitigation strategies that keep programs on schedule.

Requirements

Candidates must have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

You must have 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with demonstrated delivery of complex software systems.

You must possess strong proficiency in C++ and Python for developing performance-critical autonomy software.

You must have hands-on experience with real-time systems, concurrency models, and low-latency communication patterns.

You must have experience integrating software across heterogeneous platforms, including embedded systems and cloud-based services.

You must be comfortable working with version control, build systems, and continuous integration pipelines in a fast-paced environment.

You must have a proven track record of debugging difficult issues in distributed or multi-process software environments.

You must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Defense security clearance, requiring U.S. citizenship.

You must be able to pass a federal background investigation that includes checks on your identity, citizenship, fingerprints, and references.

You must be eligible for employment in the United States and not require sponsorship for future employment authorization.

Nice to have

Prior experience with UAVs, USVs, UUVs, or other unmanned platforms is strongly preferred.

Experience with simulation tools and synthetic reality environments used for autonomy testing is highly valued.

Familiarity with defense programs and compliance with relevant security protocols is an advantage.

Experience contributing to open-source or internal SDKs that enable cross-team software reuse is preferred.

Practical notes

This is a full-time position based in Washington, DC.

U.S. citizenship is required to meet applicable security clearance requirements.

Travel may be required to support test programs, customer demonstrations, and cross-site collaboration.

Candidates must be eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship.

The position is subject to background investigation and security clearance processing.