Shield AI

Our mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.

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Jobs//San Diego, CA//Developer + Engineer//

Principal Software Engineer, Architecture and Integration (R2562)

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Employer Provided Salary: 210,119-315,179 Annually

Introduction to Shield AI

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company whose mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. In pursuit of this mission, Shield AI is building the world’s best AI pilot. Its AI pilot, Hivemind, has flown a fighter jet (F-16), a vertical takeoff and landing drone (V-BAT), and a quadcopter (Nova). The company has offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington DC and abroad. Shield AI’s products and people are currently in the field actively supporting operations with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. allies.

Hivemind Design (HMD) is an innovative simulation, data science, and infrastructure team at Shield AI. We own the tools for designing, developing, testing, deploying, and evaluating instances of the Hivemind AI pilot and commander. Our software products enable companies to construct and control sophisticated autonomous systems, and therefore we are transforming the future of autonomy. We are committed to excellence, driving innovations that prepare autonomous agents for the most critical missions.

The Hivemind Design product is Shield AI's AI Factory; a service-oriented architecture leveraged through an SDK, CLI, and web portal. Our focus is on leveraging both virtualized and bare-metal infrastructure to orchestrate autonomous agents in sophisticated simulations, dynamically configure test beds, and pioneer software configurations and deployments on robotic systems. The HMD team is not only solving problems; we are tasked with setting new benchmarks in technology and delivering unparalleled user experiences.

We pride ourselves on a diverse team of experts from fields such as computer science, aerospace, game design, and distributed simulation systems. This diversity fuels our innovative spirit, in an environment that values creativity, teamwork, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.

As a Principal Engineer on the Hivemind Design (HMD) team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the architecture and ensuring seamless integration among HMD’s simulation software, hybrid cloud infrastructure/APIs, and the core autonomous system development, which is predominantly implemented in C++ within the Hivemind product organization. This position provides a unique opportunity to significantly influence the development and commercialization of cutting-edge autonomous systems, leveraging your expertise to drive innovation and excellence within our dynamic ecosystem.

What You'll Do:

Serve as a key liaison between the Simulation, API, Infrastructure team and C++ development teams within the Hivemind organization, ensuring seamless integration and utilization of the hybrid cloud infrastructure for autonomous system development.
Lead architectural design and integration efforts, establishing best practices and guiding principles for the development, testing, documentation, and deployment of autonomous systems.
Develop cutting-edge tools for building and deploying the next generation of autonomous systems.
Drive the adoption of HMD tooling and best practices across teams, enhancing efficiency and reliability of software development and deployment processes.
Contribute to the strategic direction of software commercialization, ensuring our solutions meet market demands and comply with regulatory standards.

Required Qualifications:

Typically requires a minimum of 15 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 14 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 12 years experience; or equivalent experience.
10+ years of hands-on experience in designing and developing production quality software systems.
5+ years of experience in C++11 or later, with the ability to understand and interface with complex C++ codebases.
Extensive experience with cloud technologies and architectures, preferably with a focus on hybrid cloud environments
Strong background in DevOps practices, including continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, automation tools, and infrastructure as code. Proficiency with CLI tools and software distribution methods, such as Debian packages.
Demonstrated ability in software architecture and modeling, with the capacity to design scalable, maintainable, and secure systems.
Experience in the commercialization of software, including understanding market needs, regulatory requirements, and the software development lifecycle.
Demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others
Experience with Go or Python

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience with integrating diverse systems and technologies, particularly in environments where autonomous systems are developed, tested, analyzed, and commanded.
Ability to work effectively with teams across different disciplines, translating technical requirements and ensuring alignment between infrastructure capabilities and software development needs.
Excellent communication and documentation skills, capable of engaging with technical and non-technical stakeholders alike to ensure clear understanding and alignment on integration strategies.
Experience building CLIs or software installers
Experience with CUE
Experience with simulation software

#LI-AM1

#LF

Total package details:

Regular employee positions: Salary within range listed above + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee positions: Hourly within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

*Interns/Military Fellows/Part-time not eligible for bonus, benefits or equity

Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check.

If you're interested in being part of our team, apply now!

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

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Ellen Cappo

Manager of AI Systems and Integration

Human-Robot Collaboration

The Teamwork AI Dreams Are Made Of

Ellen Cappo, a manager of engineering systems, is tasked with the unique challenge of adapting robot behaviors to facilitate teamwork. “Teaming robots is an exciting and distinctive goal,” Cappo told Built In. There may be no method more apt than leveraging human teamwork to eke collaborative sensibilities from AI. “We use human experts to build artificial intelligence — to design tests, review data and come up with solutions to complex problems,” Cappo explained. The process becomes more meta when the team employs AI to evaluate its work. “We use AI to develop AI,” she added.

Every goal our company sets out to accomplish is supported by integrity. The scenario-testing and debugging we use ensures that we can hand our final product to customers with confidence.

Jazz Myres

Technical Director for V-BAT

High-Stakes Engineering

Aligning AI Experts for a Cause

Jazz Myres is no stranger to pressure at Shield AI, where human lives hang in the balance of high-stakes projects. “All the teams at Shield AI are working on extremely fast-paced projects and large-scale products,” Myres said, going on to describe products that save the lives of frontline servicepeople. Myres’ role as a technical program director places her at the crux of these challenges — which she sees as a privilege. “I get to learn from and utilize the experience of subject matter experts in a variety of fields and pull those technical skills together to make an end product,” she said.

Shield AI is capable of iterating at the cutting-edge of technology. We maintain our intellectual and technological autonomy in the defense sector, which is quite unique in this field.

Paolo Fermin

Machine Learning Engineer

Where AI Takes Flight

Rising to Challenges of AI, Autonomy and Robots

For Machine Learning Engineer Paolo Fermin, the daily grind at Shield AI is anything but. “The novelty of our tech sets every experience at work apart from anything I’ve received from textbooks, school and training,” he said. Fermin is part of a team tasked with migrating and adapting legacy code to a new system. He is as thrilled as he is patient about the painstaking process. “We’re working towards a really unique method of reinforcement learning wherein the hybrid involvement of AI, scripted behavior and human pilots can be used to make something fly and accomplish a mission,” Fermin said.

The work we’re doing to make the AI development process easier is a foundational component of the company’s mission to provide AI solutions that deter conflict and protect military service members.

What are Shield AI Perks + Benefits

Shield AI Benefits Overview

Medical, Dental, and Vision
Access to medical (HMOs & PPOs), including dental and vision. Shield AI pays 90% for employees and 75% for dependents. Life insurance policies are available including Voluntary Term Life and AD&D.

Retirement Services
Invest in your future with 401K matching retirement services provided by Vanguard. Shield AI fully matches the first 3% of contributions and matches half of your next 2%, coming out to ~4% match from us.

Paid Parental Leave
Shield AI offers up to 12 weeks paid parental leave for mothers AND fathers. We want you to be present and support your family. While you're out, your team has your back!

Learning and Development
We offer leadership-specific training, expert speakers, and 24/7 access to Udemy. Shield AI encourage all teammates to take 1 hour per week to learn or sharpen a skill. We call it a DEAL hour (Drop Everything And Learn).

Paid Time Off
You accrue 6.15 hours of paid time off (PTO) per paycheck. This is ~12 hours/month or ~20 days per year. However, you can take up to and accumulate a maximum of 336 hours (42 days) of PTO total.

Company Events & Merch
If Monday-Friday isn't enough time with teammates, there's always the weekend! From pickleball tournaments to company baseball games and happy hours, we love spending time with each other. You can do so in custom company merch, which has included Patagonia, JBL and Lululemon.

Culture

Volunteer in local community

Open door policy

OKR operational model

Team based strategic planning

Open office floor plan

Employee resource groups

Employee-led culture committees

Quarterly engagement surveys

In-person all-hands meetings

The witty team at the Eagles Wing in DC loves to stand up during weekly standup!

Flexible work schedule