Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy & Motion Planning

Shield AI
Bangalore, India
On-site

Who this role is best for

Strong fit for experienced software engineers who lead technical delivery and design autonomy systems, with a focus on multi-domain applications and cross-team collaboration.

Best fit for

  • Experienced software engineers with a track record in leading technical delivery and designing autonomy systems
    — “lead the delivery of autonomous behaviors into our products, acting as technical leads, senior individual contributors, and/or as team leads”
  • Candidates with expertise in multi-agent coordination and motion planning across varied domains
    — “Develop tactical autonomy software to enable unmanned platforms to perform complex missions across air, land, sea, and space domains”
  • Individuals with a systems mindset who can integrate software with sensor processing and actuation
    — “architect behaviors as scalable software subsystems, that may interact directly or indirectly with a breadth of system components”

Things to consider

  • Travel commitment up to 20% of the time may be necessary for co-location with teams and users
    — “Travel to co-locate with end-users and/or other teams up to 20% of the time”
  • This role requires ownership of entire software systems, including stakeholder engagement and roadmap management
    — “Capacity to [REDACTED] the technical owner for an entire software system, including stakeholder engagement, requirements definition, roadmap management”

How to stand out

  • Highlight leadership experience in full project lifecycles and cross-functional team coordination
    — “Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, set technical direction, and manage full project lifecycles from concept to deployment”
  • Showcase experience in motion planning and behavior design for autonomous systems in contested scenarios
    — “Implement and test behaviors that enable multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios”
  • Emphasize your ability to align with operational experts and manage integration requirements
    — “Collaborate with external teams, aligning on interfacing requirements between diverse systems”
  • Demonstrate a history of building reusable software components across product portfolios
    — “Champion a product-line mindset in technology road-mapping and to enable reuse of behaviors across multiple projects”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • development of tactical autonomy software
  • implementation of behaviors for unmanned platforms
  • championing product-line mindset
Typical background
computer scienceaerospace engineeringelectrical engineering

Skills & requirements

Required

C++Software Development LifecycleMulti-agent CoordinationMotion PlanningCollaborative Software Development

Preferred

PythonJavaFlight ControlsOptimization

Stack & domain

C++Autonomous BehaviorsMulti-agent CoordinationTarget EngagementReconnaissanceSurvivabilitySoftware Development LifecycleVersion ControlIssue TrackingCode ReviewsRelease ManagementSoftware Sub-system Scheduling And IntegrationBehavior PlanningTask And Resource AllocationMotion PlanningOptimizationFlight ControlsSensor ProcessingState EstimationPeer-to-peer CommunicationsContingency ManagementActuationPayload InterfacingLeadershipTechnical ExpertiseCollaborationProblem-solvingAttention To DetailTeamworkStakeholder EngagementRequirements DefinitionRoadmap ManagementTeam CoordinationDesignImplementationSustainmentEvolutionAutonomyUnmanned PlatformsAirLandSeaSpaceMission Autonomy SoftwareSoftware EngineeringSystems Engineering

About the role

Original posting from Shield AI via Lever

This position on the Autonomy team in India will lead the delivery of autonomous behaviors into our products, acting as technical leads, senior individual contributors, and/or as team leads that are also hands-on contributors. We expect candidates to demonstrate unparalleled end-to-end outcome ownership, driving the architecting, design, delivery, support, and evolution of safe and effective mission autonomy software throughout the entire product lifecycle.

What you'll do::

  • Develop tactical autonomy software to enable unmanned platforms to perform complex missions across air, land, sea, and space domains with minimal human supervision
  • Implement and test behaviors that enable multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios
  • Work throughout the entire of the software development lifecycle, from requirements capture through design, implementation, verification, and validation, utilizing tools and workflows consistent with collaborative high-quality software development
  • Champion a product-line mindset in technology road-mapping and to enable reuse of behaviors across multiple projects and portfolios
  • Utilize your software and systems expertise to architect behaviors as scalable software subsystems, that may interact directly or indirectly with a breadth of system components (e.g., sensor processing, state estimation, peer-to-peer communications, contingency management, actuation, and payload interfacing)
  • Leverage internal product and program-specific engineering teams to rapidly deliver state-of-the-art capabilities to vehicle platforms (whether internally and externally owned), with a clear path towards architecture and capability evolution over time
  • Collaborate with external teams, aligning on interfacing requirements between diverse systems, often working closely with vehicle integration teams and associated operational subject matter experts (e.g., fighter pilots, UAV operators, etc.)
  • Act as a subject matter expert for software engineering, representing software equities in a multi-stakeholder environment including engineering, business and sales leadership.
  • Travel to co-locate with end-users and/or other teams up to 20% of the time

Required qualifications::

  • BS /MS/PhD in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
  • Proficient in production-level C++ software development
  • 7+ years' experience in one or more of the following: software sub-system scheduling and integration, behavior planning, task and resource allocation, motion planning, optimization, or flight controls
  • Experience with collaborative software development tools for version control, issue tracking, code reviews, and release management
  • Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, set technical direction, and manage full project lifecycles from concept to deployment
  • Capacity to learn and grow individually, while mentoring junior team members effectively, building team cohesion and capacity
  • Desire to work in a highly collaborative, fast paced, enthusiastic, and mission-centric environment
  • Capacity to act as the technical owner for an entire software system, including stakeholder engagement, requirements definition, roadmap management, team co-ordination, design, implementation, sustainment, and evolution

Preferred qualifications:

  • Experience across a breadth of technology readiness levels (TRLs) and demonstration of bridging concepts from research-grade to operationally ready
  • Experience with mission systems integration, and ideally, hands-on experience supporting integration events and/or flight demonstrations
  • Experience across a multitude of application areas, including but not limited to:
  • Collaborative mission planning, behavior planning, synchronized teaming
  • Automated red force vs blue force tactics
  • Motion planning across a variety of vehicle classes, kinematic constraints, and team compositions
  • Weapons target assignment, Sensor target pairing, sensor-centric control laws
  • Collision avoidance, geofencing, and safety-monitoring
  • Experience in more than one operational effect (e.g., strike, air combat, surveillance,

Source: Shield AI careers (Lever)

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