Skip to content
NEXTMOVEFDE careers · United States

Senior Software Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors (R4588)

AI summary of the role

Senior software engineer on the Autonomy Capabilities Team, developing tactical autonomy behaviors for unmanned platforms across air, land, sea, and space.

No longer in the current catalog. Last included 2026-09-09. Check the employer’s posting for availability.

What you’ll do

  • Develop tactical autonomy software for unmanned platforms across air, land, sea, and space with limited human supervision
  • Implement and test behaviors for multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios
  • Contribute across the software development lifecycle from requirements through verification and validation
  • Collaborate with senior engineers to build scalable, maintainable software components integrating with broader system architecture

What you’ll bring

  • BS/MS/PhD in CS, Aerospace, EE, Robotics, ME, or related field
  • Proficient in production-level C++ software development
  • 5+ years' experience in software sub-system scheduling/integration, behavior planning, task/resource allocation, motion planning, optimization, or flight controls
  • Experience with collaborative development tools (version control, issue tracking, code reviews, release management)

Technologies

C++ · ROS · OMPL · optimization tools · simulation tools · DO-178C · flight controls · motion planning · behavior planning · multi-agent coordination

About Shield AI

Builds AI pilot software, aircraft, and vision systems that let militaries and OEMs develop, deploy, and operate mission autonomy in contested environments.

Unicorn

Source and classification

Internal deployment & tooling · Evidence for this classification:

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. The Autonomy Capabilities Team develops functionality to automate single- and multi-agent teams of platforms in pursuit of mission objectives and acts as a central discipline-aligned focal-point for encouraging consistent usage of technical approaches across business portfolios. This team operates at all levels of the command-and-control hierarchy (from advanced control
More from the job description

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. The Autonomy Capabilities Team develops functionality to automate single- and multi-agent teams of platforms in pursuit of mission objectives and acts as a central discipline-aligned focal-point for encouraging consistent usage of technical approaches across business portfolios. This team operates at all levels of the command-and-control hierarchy (from advanced control laws, through motion planning, and up to advanced tactical behaviors and multi-agent coordination) and across a multitude of mission sets, platform types, and operational domains (e.g., air, sea, space). The team puts a strong emphasis on both fundamentals (e.g., aircraft kinematics/dynamics, trajectory design, optimization, information fusion, efficient algorithms, etc.) and software integration skillsets (e.g. structures, protocols, threading, interface management, etc.) to bring market-differen [... source excerpt omitted ...] xpected to be integrated into real-world platforms with near-term program impacts and rewards and so balancing theory with practice and rigorous implementation is paramount. What You'll Do: Develop tactical autonomy software to enable unmanned platforms to perform complex missions across air, land, sea, and space domains with limited human supervision Implement and test behaviors supporting multi-agent coordination, target engagement, reconnaissance, and survivability in contested scenarios Contribute across the software development lifecycle, including requirements, design, implementation, verification, and validation, following established engineering best practices Coll [... source excerpt omitted ...] ilities to vehicle platforms, helping ensure successful integration and iteration over time Collaborate with cross-functional and external teams to align on interfaces and system requirements Apply strong software engineering fundamentals to solve complex technical problems, while continuing to grow domain expertise in autonomy and robotics systems Travel up to 20% to support integration, testing, and collaboration with end-users and partner teams 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 5+ years' experience

How jobs are selected

Employer postings · Data from · Sources