This VP of Engineering role at Swarmer involves leading all engineering functions for a defense tech company that develops autonomous drone software. You will set technical strategy, own architecture decisions, build engineering processes, and scale the organization. The role reports to the CPO and manages engineering leads across cloud, onboard software, autonomy, QA, hardware integration, product, and field operations.

Responsibilities

Set technical strategy and own architecture decisions at the intersection of product and engineering, ensuring the system stays coherent as it scales
Ensure engineering effort is directed toward scalable, roadmap-aligned solutions rather than one-off work for individual clients or vendors
Prioritize ruthlessly — align integrations and new initiatives with business value, and be willing to say no or stop work that doesn't serve the roadmap
Build and own core engineering processes: pipelines, release management, testing, and incident response
Manage technical debt and align engineering execution with business priorities
Coordinate across cloud, onboard software, autonomy, QA, hardware integration, product, and field operations
Scale and lead the engineering organization, including engineering managers, team leads, and senior technical contributors

Requirements

Strong engineering leadership experience building complex, mission-critical, life-critical, or high-load enterprise/B2B systems
Experience managing teams of 50+ people
Embedded / hardware-close software experience — our systems run in the physical world with real constraints, and this experience is critical to making sound architectural calls in our context
Solid understanding of Linux-based edge systems, networking, containers, companion computers, and ARM platforms such as NVIDIA Jetson or Raspberry Pi
Experience with distributed systems and unreliable connectivity, including fault tolerance, recovery, observability, fleet management, and remote updates
Strong cloud and backend architecture knowledge, including APIs, databases, messaging, infrastructure, security, and production operations
Experience building reliable, safety-sensitive systems with strong testing, release, and incident-management practices
Business-minded approach — you understand why we're doing something, not just how to build it
Ability to define technical strategy, make architecture decisions, manage technical debt, and align engineering execution with business priorities
Proven experience scaling engineering teams and leading engineering managers, team leads, and senior technical contributors
Ability to coordinate across cloud, onboard software, autonomy, QA, hardware integration, product, and field operations
Strong communication skills and professional English

Nice to have

Miltech experience, especially Ukrainian miltech
Direct experience with drones, robotics, or autonomous systems
Experience with Python, C/C++, Podman, Docker, or similar technologies
Experience with simulation, software-in-the-loop, or hardware-in-the-loop testing
Knowledge of secure boot, device hardening, signed software, hardware-backed identity, or operation in degraded communication environments

Benefits

A chance to shape the core autonomy and perception systems at the heart of Ukraine’s defense tech ecosystem and its international expansion
Direct impact in a high-stakes industry where security decisions carry real-world consequences
Professional growth through working with cutting-edge defense technologies and exposure to international security best practices
Competitive salary, benefits package (insurance, paid sick leaves, 20 paid days off per year)
Benefits of the defense sector (reservation, etc)