What You'll Do:
- Design and implement novel computer vision algorithms from scratch, optimised for real-time performance.
- Develop and maintain C++-based CV pipelines as part of autonomous mission systems.
- Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of AI, robotics, and optical engineers to deliver reliable edge solutions.
- Support the integration of deep learning models into broader CV systems, working closely with AI experts.
- Stay across current academic research and emerging techniques in computer vision and ML.
What You'll Bring:
- Deep proficiency in C++ and comfortable working in high-performance real-time environments.
- Strong experience writing custom computer vision algorithms, beyond just library use.
- Solid understanding of computer vision, image processing, and machine learning principles.
Bonus Points For:
- Experience in any of the following:
- Object detection, target tracking, or 3D reconstruction.
- SLAM, camera calibration, or behaviour analysis.
- Automated video surveillance or other related real-time vision systems.
- Familiarity with OpenCV and similar vision toolkits.
- Exposure to deep learning for image classification, recognition, or sequence modelling.
- Interest in combining deep learning and CV pipelines in real-time deployment scenarios.
- Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
- Previous Defence experience is highly desirable.
Why Shield AI?
- Build mission-critical vision and autonomy systems that make a real-world impact.
- Collaborate with some of the best minds in AI, autonomy, and defence technology.
- Hybrid role based in our Port Melbourne office.
- Salary + equity for permanent roles, with a strong career development pathway.
Skills Required
- Proficiency in C++
- Experience working in high-performance, real-time environments
- Experience writing custom computer vision algorithms (beyond library use)
- Solid understanding of computer vision, image processing, and machine learning principles
- Experience integrating deep learning models into computer vision systems
- Familiarity with OpenCV and similar vision toolkits
- Experience in object detection, target tracking, or 3D reconstruction
- Experience with SLAM, camera calibration, or behaviour analysis
- Experience with automated video surveillance or related real-time vision systems
- Master's or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
- Previous defence experience
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage includes medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support, with company materials describing excellent coverage. Feedback suggests these offerings are comprehensive and consistently highlighted across official and third-party benefit lists.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full-time hires, with RSU structures and tools like Carta Tax intended to improve understanding and tax timing. Feedback suggests this broad-based ownership approach is a notable component of total rewards.
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Parental & Family Support — Benefits include paid parental leave, fertility support, childcare benefits, family medical leave, and onsite resources such as a Mother's Room. Feedback suggests the family-oriented offerings are more expansive than basic coverage.
Shield AI Insights
What We Do
At Shield AI, you won't wait years to see your work reach the field. You'll build hardware and software that operates in the real world right now, in the hands of the people who depend on it. Hivemind, our AI pilot, has been flying since 2018. It has flown more than 30 platforms, including an F-16, and it now sits under a U.S. Air Force production contract for Collaborative Combat Aircraft. When you write code or shape a system here, you contribute to technology with a proven flight record and a clear production future. V-BAT flies intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions with an operational record that stretches from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific. It delivers eyes where they matter most, in the most demanding conditions on earth. The teams behind it watch their work get tested where the stakes are real. X-BAT takes its first flight this year. It's an AI-piloted fighter that needs no runway, built to operate where traditional aircraft can't. Join now and you help shape a program at its earliest, most formative stage. That's the kind of ground-floor work that defines a career. Do the most impactful work of your life, on problems that matter. Autonomy at this level asks a lot of you. You'll take on problems in perception, planning, and control that few teams anywhere are equipped to solve. You'll work across disciplines, from aerospace and robotics to machine learning and systems engineering, alongside people who hold themselves to an exacting standard and expect the same from you. Our mission is clear: protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. That purpose runs through every decision, every design review, and every deployment. It's why the work here carries a weight you can feel. Ready to join our mission? Explore our open roles and find where you fit.
Why Work With Us
Founded in 2015 by a former Navy SEAL, Shield AI builds AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft. Veterans aren't an afterthought here, they're at every level. It's why the work carries weight: AI pilots and uncrewed aircraft flying real missions, from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, protecting service members and civilians.
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Shield AI Teams
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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
