The Lead Edge Applications and Mission System is responsible to drive the technical direction, architecture, and delivery of our edge application platform for autonomous systems. This platform connects operators, autonomous platforms, mission data, and external command-and-control systems, supporting applications ranging from single-vehicle ground control to coordinated fleet operations and theater-level mission planning and execution.
You will shape a platform that customers and partners can readily integrate, extend, and adapt to new missions. The scope includes ground control stations (GCS), command and control (C2), integration with battle-management systems (BMS), fleet and configuration management, and agentic workflows that help operators plan, supervise, and manage autonomous robotic systems.
As the technical lead, you will combine deep defense-domain knowledge with strong software engineering judgment and a record of shipping operational products. You will remain directly involved in architecture, critical implementation work, and technical problem-solving while aligning engineering teams, product leaders, customers, and other stakeholders around a clear technical roadmap.
What you'll do:
- Own the platform architecture. Define and evolve the architecture across operator applications, backend services, mission data, integration interfaces, and edge deployment environments. Establish boundaries that allow teams to deliver capabilities independently while maintaining a coherent product.
- Enable the full range of mission applications. Guide the evolution from single-vehicle GCS workflows to multi-vehicle supervision, heterogeneous fleet operations, and applications supporting theater-level planning, execution monitoring, and battlespace management.
- Make customer extensibility a core capability. Establish APIs, SDKs, shared data models, extension mechanisms, and integration tooling that help customers and partners add platforms, data sources, applications, and workflows quickly. Preserve compatibility as the platform evolves.
- Lead C2 and BMS interoperability. Guide integration with external mission systems and comparable defense C2 environments. Enable the aggregation and exchange of vehicle state, mission information, sensor-derived data, and operational context.
- Advance operator and agentic workflows. Partner with autonomy, AI, product, and design teams to deliver intuitive planning, supervision, execution, and debrief experiences. Define clear operator authority, approval boundaries, observability, and evaluation criteria for AI-assisted workflows.
- Own fleet and configuration architecture. Establish capabilities for asset inventory, readiness and health monitoring, software and configuration versioning, compatibility management, controlled updates, rollback, and traceability across deployed autonomous systems.
- Engineer for edge applications in contested environment. Design for intermittent connectivity, constrained bandwidth and compute, distributed state, and recovery from partial failures. Ensure useful and predictable behavior in disconnected and degraded environments.
- Drive the technical roadmap and execution. Translate product strategy, customer needs, and operational feedback into architectural priorities, milestones, and measurable deliverables. Resolve dependencies and make explicit tradeoffs among near-term delivery, platform investment, reliability, and technical debt.
- Lead products through customer deployment. Partner with integration, test, field, and customer teams from initial requirements through acceptance, deployment, and sustainment. Use field experience, telemetry, and customer feedback to improve subsequent releases.
Required qualifications:
- 15+ years of professional software engineering experience, or an equivalent record of technical depth and impact, including substantial responsibility for complex production systems.
- 5+ years providing technical leadership as a technical lead, architect, Principal Engineer, or equivalent, with demonstrated influence across multiple teams and ownership of significant architectural decisions.
- Deep experience developing defense GCS and C2 applications, with working knowledge of mission planning, mission execution, operator workflows, and integration with broader battle-management environments.
- A demonstrated record of shipping and sustaining software products for defense customers, including responsibility for operational deployment, customer acceptance, and improvements informed by field use.
- Strong software architecture and implementation skills across distributed systems, application services, APIs, data management, and operator-facing software.
- Experience building extensible platforms used by multiple teams and external customers, including interface design, reusable capabilities, versioning, and integration across organizational boundaries.
- Experience with autonomous robotics applications, including fleet operations, configuration management, telemetry, and interactions between ground applications and platform-side autonomy.
- Strong understanding of networked systems and edge deployments, including performance, reliability, security, and behavior under limited or interrupted connectivity.
- Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous customer and stakeholder needs into technical roadmaps, executable plans, and delivered capabilities; excellent written and verbal communication.
- Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Robotics, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
Preferred qualifications:
- Direct experience developing or integrating platforms such as Lattice, other extensible defense C2/BMS products, or comparable mission-management systems.
- Experience with multi-domain operations, heterogeneous autonomous fleets, and the relationship between tactical GCS applications and higher-echelon mission systems.
- Experience delivering agentic or AI-assisted applications, including workflow orchestration, human-machine teaming, evaluation, and operator supervision.
- Experience with geospatial applications, common operational pictures, mission rehearsal, telemetry replay, or post-mission analysis.
- Experience with secure software delivery into defense environments, including collaboration with cybersecurity and authorization teams.
Skills Required
- 15+ years of professional software engineering experience or equivalent technical depth and impact
- 5+ years of technical leadership as a technical lead, architect, Principal Engineer, or equivalent
- Deep experience developing defense ground control station and command-and-control applications
- Working knowledge of mission planning, mission execution, operator workflows, and battle-management integration
- Record of shipping and sustaining software products for defense customers, including deployment and customer acceptance
- Strong software architecture and implementation skills across distributed systems, application services, APIs, data management, and operator-facing software
- Experience building extensible platforms for multiple teams and external customers, including interface design, reusable capabilities, versioning, and cross-organizational integration
- Experience with autonomous robotics applications, fleet operations, configuration management, telemetry, and ground-to-platform autonomy interactions
- Strong understanding of networked systems and edge deployments under limited or interrupted connectivity
- Ability to translate ambiguous customer and stakeholder needs into technical roadmaps and executable plans
- Excellent written and verbal communication
- Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Robotics, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience
- Experience with Lattice or comparable extensible defense C2/BMS platforms
- Experience with multi-domain operations, heterogeneous autonomous fleets, and tactical-to-higher-echelon mission systems
- Experience delivering agentic or AI-assisted applications, workflow orchestration, human-machine teaming, evaluation, and operator supervision
- Experience with geospatial applications, common operational pictures, mission rehearsal, telemetry replay, or post-mission analysis
- Experience with secure software delivery into defense environments and cybersecurity or authorization collaboration
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
-
Healthcare Strength — Company materials highlight comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with mental-health support and an EAP. Third-party benefits summaries also portray health coverage as a strong component of the package.
-
Retirement Support — Offerings include a 401(k) with employer matching, cited on the careers page and independent benefits directories. Multiple sources indicate a match exists, though exact formulas have varied over time and warrant confirmation.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Company communications describe equity for all full-time hires and stock benefits as part of total rewards. Independent listings also note company equity/RSUs as a standard element.
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.
Gallery
%203.jpg)
Shield AI Teams
.jpg)
Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
