What you'll do:
- Design, develop, and optimize ground control software that enables low-latency communication with UAVs and other autonomous platforms.
- Build high-performance client and server applications that support telemetry processing, mission planning, and real-time control.
- Implement responsive user interfaces with React and TypeScript for operator workflows and visualization of spatial data, sensor feeds, and mission state.
- Collaborate closely with teams across autonomy, embedded systems, backend, and UX to deliver integrated, field-ready solutions.
- Contribute to architectural decisions and system designs that ensure responsiveness, scalability, and fault-tolerance.
- Lead development efforts on key features or subsystems, from early design through deployment and iteration.
- Write high-quality, well-tested code and participate in peer design/code reviews.
Required qualifications:
- Senior: Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years of relevant experience, or Masters with 4+ years, or PhD with 2+ years.
- Staff: Bachelor’s degree with 7+ years of relevant experience, or Masters with 6+ years, or PhD with 4+ years.
- Senior Staff: Bachelor’s degree with 10+ years of relevant experience, or Masters with 9+ years, or PhD with 7+ years.
- Demonstrated experience building real-time or performance-sensitive applications—preferably for UAVs, robotics, autonomous vehicles, or simulation environments.
- Proficiency in a strongly typed programming language (e.g. C#, TypeScript, Java, C++) with exposure to lower-level systems or protocol integration.
- Experience with web technologies, especially React, TypeScript/JavaScript, and Node.js.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals including version control, testing, debugging, and performance profiling.
- Proven ability to deliver high-quality software as part of a collaborative engineering team.
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience with GCS software, mission planning tools, or real-time visualization platforms.
- Familiarity with API-driven systems using REST or gRPC, and communication protocols like WebSocket or custom telemetry formats.
- Knowledge of standards such as STANAG 4586, Cursor on Target (CoT), or MAVLink.
- Familiarity with containerized environments (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD practices.
- Exposure to distributed systems and cloud integration for telemetry data pipelines.
- Understanding of security best practices in control systems and networked applications.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree with 5+ years (Senior) or Masters/PhD with equivalent reduced experience; Staff/Senior Staff tiers available
- Experience building real-time or performance-sensitive applications (UAVs, robotics, autonomous vehicles, simulation)
- Proficiency in strongly typed languages such as C#, TypeScript, Java, or C++
- Experience with web technologies, especially React, TypeScript/JavaScript, and Node.js
- Strong software engineering fundamentals: version control, testing, debugging, performance profiling
- Proven ability to deliver high-quality software as part of a collaborative engineering team
- Experience with GCS software, mission planning tools, or real-time visualization platforms
- Familiarity with API-driven systems (REST or gRPC) and communication protocols like WebSocket or custom telemetry formats
- Knowledge of standards such as STANAG 4586, Cursor on Target (CoT), or MAVLink
- Familiarity with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes) and CI/CD practices
- Exposure to distributed systems and cloud integration for telemetry data pipelines
- Understanding of security best practices in control systems and networked applications
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
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.
