What you'll do:
- Establish navigation performance requirements and error budgets for safety-critical applications
- Support decomposition of navigation requirements into allocations for sensors, estimation algorithms, and software components
- Design detailed software architecture for state estimation implementations, including module interfaces and data flow
- Design and implement Extended Kalman Filter algorithms for navigation applications, with broad understanding of state estimation theory and alternative filtering approaches
- Implement tightly-coupled and loosely-coupled GNSS/INS integration algorithms
- Integrate diverse sensing modalities (vision, RF, celestial etc.) into multi-sensor fusion framework for GPS-degraded environments
- Develop fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) strategies for navigation systems
- Implement integrity monitoring and protection level calculations for safety-critical operations
- Develop verification and validation test plans for navigation algorithms
- onduct performance analysis including Monte Carlo simulation, covariance analysis, and flight test data evaluation
- Document navigation system design, requirements allocation, and compliance evidence
- Support safety assessment activities including failure modes and effects analysis
- Provide technical guidance on navigation architecture and state estimation approaches
- Support trade studies evaluating navigation sensor suites and fusion strategies
- Mentor junior engineers on state estimation theory and implementation
Required qualifications:
- MS or PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or related field
15+ years of experience developing state estimation algorithms for aerospace navigation applications - Demonstrated experience implementing GNSS/INS integration solutions
- Experience with safety-critical system development and certification processes
- Deep understanding of state estimation theory
- Experience implementing multi-sensor fusion algorithms in production systems
- Strong background in inertial navigation, GNSS positioning, and sensor error modeling
- Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python/MATLAB for algorithm development and analysis
- Understanding of integrity monitoring, protection levels, and safety assessment methods
- Experience with requirements management and verification/validation processes for certifiable systems
- Understanding of GPS/GNSS signal structure, error sources, and performance characteristics
- Knowledge of IMU error models, calibration, and Allan variance analysis
- Familiarity with alternative navigation sensors (camera, RF ranging, celestial, etc.)
- Understanding of navigation performance metrics (accuracy, integrity, continuity, availability)
- Must be eligible to obtain a clearance
- Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance desired.
Preferred qualifications:
- PhD in relevant field with focus on state estimation or navigation
- Direct involvement in certified navigation system development from requirements through flight test
- Experience with specialized navigation approaches (vision-aided navigation, terrain-referenced navigation, celestial navigation, etc.)
- Publications or patents in navigation or state estimation
- Experience with GPS/GNSS jamming and spoofing mitigation techniques
Skills Required
- MS or PhD in Computer Science, Software, Electrical, Aerospace, Mechanical, Applied Math, or related field
- 15+ years experience developing state estimation algorithms for aerospace navigation applications
- Demonstrated experience implementing GNSS/INS integration solutions
- Experience with safety-critical system development and certification processes
- Deep understanding of state estimation theory and alternative filtering approaches
- Experience implementing multi-sensor fusion algorithms in production systems
- Strong background in inertial navigation, GNSS positioning, and sensor error modeling
- Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python/MATLAB for algorithm development and analysis
- Understanding of integrity monitoring, protection levels, and safety assessment methods
- Experience with requirements management and verification/validation processes for certifiable systems
- Understanding of GPS/GNSS signal structure, error sources, and performance characteristics
- Knowledge of IMU error models, calibration, and Allan variance analysis
- Familiarity with alternative navigation sensors (camera, RF, celestial) and integration
- Understanding of navigation performance metrics (accuracy, integrity, continuity, availability)
- Must be eligible to obtain a security clearance
- Ability to obtain a S//SAR level security clearance
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 Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
