Shield AI
Senior Engineer, Autonomy and Motion Planning (R5263)
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Autonomy Software Engineer (Senior Level) – UK
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company dedicated to protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its portfolio includes products like Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT, and X-BAT aircraft, supported across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. For more information, visit www.shield.ai.
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About the Role
This position is part of the Autonomy team in the UK and is responsible for leading the delivery of autonomous behaviors into Shield AI’s products. The role may function as:
- Technical lead
- Senior individual contributor
- Team lead (with hands-on technical ownership)
The ideal candidate will embody unparalleled end-to-end ownership, driving the architecting, design, delivery, support, and evolution of safe and effective mission autonomy software across the entire product lifecycle.
What You’ll Do
- Develop tactical autonomy software enabling unmanned platforms to execute complex missions (air, land, sea, space) with minimal human supervision.
- Implement and test behaviors for:
- Multi-agent coordination
- Target engagement
- Reconnaissance & survivability in contested environments
- Navigate the entire software development lifecycle, from requirements capture through design, implementation, verification, and validation, using collaborative, high-quality software development workflows.
- Champion product-line thinking in technology roadmapping and behavior reuse across multiple projects.
- Design scalable, modular software subsystems capable of interacting with:
- Sensor processing
- State estimation
- Peer-to-peer communications
- Contingency management
- Actuation & payload interfacing
- Collaborate closely with internal & external teams, aligning on system interface requirements—including interactions with:
- Vehicle integration teams
- Operational subject matter experts (e.g., pilots, UAV operators).
- Act as a subject matter expert (SME) for software engineering, representing technical equities in cross-stakeholder discussions (engineering, business & sales leaders).
- Travel up to 20% to co-locate with end-users/other teams.
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Required Qualifications
- Degree: BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
- C++ Proficiency: Demonstrated production-level development expertise.
- 7+ years of experience in:
- Software subsystem scheduling & integration
- Behavior planning
- Task & resource allocation
- Motion planning
- Optimization or flight controls.
- Experience with collaborative software development tools (version control, issue tracking, code reviews, release).
- Proven ability to:
- Lead multi-disciplinary teams.
- Define technical direction.
- Manage full project lifecycles (concept → deployment).
- Capacity to:
- Self-direct career growth.
- Actively mentor junior engineers.
- Strengthen team cohesion & technical capacity.
- Allowance to:
- Obtain & maintain an active US Secret security clearance.
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Preferred Qualifications
- Experience across:
- Multiple Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) (concept → operational).
- Mission systems integration & flights demonstrations.
- Operational domain expertise, including:
- Collaborative mission planning/team behaviors.
- Red vs. blue force tactics (if applicable).
- Motion planning for diverse vehicle classes & constraints.
- Weapons & sensor assignments, collision avoidance, geofencing.
- Systems experience across:
- Multiple operational effects (e.g., strike, surveillance).
- Multiple domains (air, space, maritime, ground).
- Familiarity with:
- FOSS tools for robotics (e.g., ROS, OMPL, optimisation solvers).
- Simulation environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS).
- Practical knowledge of:
- Navigation & communication systems.
- Full product development lifecycle (opportunity → sustainment).
- Systems engineering methodologies.
- High-assurance processes (e.g., DO-178C or equivalent MIL-STDs).
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