What you'll do:
- Develop and implement real-time state estimation algorithms including inertial navigation, sensor fusion, and alternative navigation methods for GPS-denied or degraded environments.
- Integrate data from IMUs, GNSS receivers, visual odometry, magnetometers, barometers, and radar into robust estimation frameworks.
- Design sensor processing pipelines focused on accuracy, robustness, and system-level fault tolerance.
- Collaborate with autonomy, software, and hardware teams to ensure end-to-end integration of navigation and PNT systems.
- Conduct simulation, lab testing, and field trials to evaluate algorithm performance under real-world conditions.
- Stay current on advancements in state estimation and navigation technologies and help adapt new innovations into deployable solutions.
Required qualifications:
- Typically requires a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience with a bachelor’s degree; or 2 years with a master’s degree; or 1 years with a PhD; or equivalent practical experience.
- Familiarity with algorithms.
- Proficient in C++11 or newer in real-time environments.
- Comfortable working in Linux, with experience using standard command-line tools and scripting.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with a collaborative mindset.
- Demonstrated success working in fast-paced development cycles and delivering high-quality results.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience developing and deploying real-time navigation or sensor fusion algorithms using IMUs, GPS, or other sensors.
- Strong understanding of filtering and estimation techniques (e.g., Kalman filters, EKF, UKF, particle filters).
- Experience implementing inertial navigation algorithms in degraded or GPS-denied conditions.
- Exposure to visual odometry or computer vision-based navigation approaches.
- Experience optimizing code for performance on compute-constrained platforms.
- Familiarity with CUDA or hardware acceleration techniques (e.g., FPGAs).
- Experience transitioning navigation solutions from research into production environments.
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials describe excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside a mental‑health EAP. Site perks such as an onsite gym in DC and a gym discount in San Diego support a health‑focused offering.
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Retirement Support — Careers materials highlight a 401(k) with company match as part of the standard package. A Total Rewards overview emphasizes retirement features within a broader, transparent compensation view.
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Career-Linked Recognition & Rewards — Compensation for in‑demand technical and senior go‑to‑market roles is described as competitive, with visible engineering ranges and top‑end packages. This points to meaningful upside tied to role, level, and scarce skills.
Shield AI Insights
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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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Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
