Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy Capabilities – Maritime (R5363)

As a Senior Staff Engineer on the Autonomy Capabilities Team, you will lead the technical direction for the maritime portfolio, developing autonomy capabilities for USVs, UUVs, and cooperating UAVs. You will drive the evolution of autonomy architectures across multiple programs, combining deep technical expertise with systems-level thinking to meet current and future needs. You will mentor engineers and serve as a key expert for decomposing ambiguous customer needs into tangible design approaches. Your work will enable advanced single- and multi-agent teaming missions, from motion planning to tactical behaviors, with a focus on real-world integration and near-term program impact.

Responsibilities

• Robust Motion Planning – Automate unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and/or unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) maneuvering through advanced motion planning and adherence to safety constraints including keep-out volumes, cooperative and uncooperative vehicles, and depth limitations
• Localization and Tracking – Employ cutting edge approaches for passive and active localization by defining fusion modalities, sensor requirements, and observability-aware maneuvering capabilities to maximize information gleaned from single- or multi-agent sensor networks
• Safe Maritime Operations – Keep vehicle safety as a central focus within autonomous behavior architectures to provide run-time assurance, ensure COLREGS adherence, and build operator trust in advanced mission autonomy
• Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Collaboration – Develop distributed optimization and task allocation approaches for heterogenous teaming in order to accomplish mission objectives by maximally utilizing the diverse capabilities of agents to overall team advantage
• Rigorous Software Development – Develop high-performance software modules that are well-tested, have clear interfaces and span-of-control, and are ready for mid-to-high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) insertions
• Cross-Functional Collaboration – Collaborate with cross-functional teams including perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and operational test to ensure seamless integration of autonomy solutions on real-world platforms
• Deployment & Test Support – Deploy autonomy capabilities to real surface vehicles, supporting integration and demonstration events as well as analysis of mission logs to verify software performance and validate system operational effect
• R&D and Road-mapping – Contribute to autonomy roadmaps by researching and prototyping new algorithms, identifying tactical capability gaps, and proposing novel solutions that advance Shield AI’s mission
• Travel Requirement – Members of this team typically travel around 25% of the year (to different office locations, customer sites, and flight integration events).

Requirements

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and/or similar degree, or equivalent practical experience
• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 9 years and a Master’s degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as C++ and Python, and familiarity with real-time operating systems (RTOS).
• Significant background in robotics technologies related to motion planning, behavior modeling, decision-making, or autonomous system design.
• Significant experience with unmanned system technologies and accompanying algorithms (ideally in the space domain specifically)
• Experience with simulation tools and environments (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS) for testing and validation.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot and optimize system performance.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills, with the ability to work effectively in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment.
• Ability to obtain a SECRET clearance.

Nice to have

• Experience in multiple aerospace domains (e.g., air, land, sea, space)
• Experience across a breadth of methodologies from classical control through optimization and applied ML/RL
• Background in collaborative behaviors and swarm robotics
• Familiarity with domain-relevant DoD or government programs
• Hands-on experience supporting integration events, customer demos, and/or live exercises

Benefits

• Full-time regular employee offer package:
• Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
• Temporary employee offer package:
• Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
• Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.