As a Simulation Framework Engineer on the Simulation Framework Team, you will write the C++ and Python code, design adapters, and build custom plugins for our modeling and simulation (M&S) environments and core autonomy software. Your work is hands-on and technical, creating reusable, robust software patterns that abstract simulation details away from the core autonomy stack. Integration teams own program-level software integration; this role partners with and supports those teams by diagnosing framework, plugin, and interface issues in the simulation software the team designs and maintains.
You will write simulation plugins and software layers for DoD-recognized simulation backends including NGTS, AFSIM, Aechelon, HMSSimBlocks, and the emerging Hivemind Simulation Framework (HMSF). Rather than managing teams, you will focus on the hands-on execution of migrating HMSSimBlocks capabilities to HMSF—building baseline adapters, porting custom modules, and ensuring functional parity—while maintaining active support and backward compatibility for programs currently relying on HMSSimBlocks.
What you'll do:
- Write, compile, and maintain baseline software adapters, plugins, and interfaces in C++ and Python for AFSIM, NGTS, Aechelon, HMSSimBlocks, and HMSF.
- Execute the hands-on technical migration from HMSSimBlocks to HMSF, porting custom HMS simulation features to HMSF while maintaining active support for legacy HMSSimBlocks users.
- Design, implement, and maintain a reusable CIGI plugin layer across our simulation frameworks to enable seamless visual communication with Aechelon image generators.
- Ensure simulation frameworks and baseline plugins are designed for extensibility, writing clear templates and code architectures that allow other portfolios to plug in custom sensors or models.
- Maintain functional parity across simulation plugins with respect to CSF (Common Scenario Format) file loading, DDS communication capabilities, GRID interface standards, and Hivemind SDK updates.
- Support integration teams in debugging complex simulation-autonomy issues by analyzing framework behavior, network data, DDS traffic, and API call-stacks.
- Write robust unit tests, automated integration tests, and clear code documentation to ensure simulation stability.
Required qualifications:
- Typically requires a Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong software development background in C++ and Python within a Linux environment.
- Solid software engineering fundamentals, including version control (Git), automated testing, and disciplined debugging.
- Experience writing or maintaining plugins, baseline interfaces, or modeling frameworks for simulation environments such as AFSIM, NGTS, or similar.
- Familiarity with network protocols (UDP/TCP), DDS middleware, serialization, or interface standards (such as CIGI).
- Excellent technical troubleshooting skills and a desire to help other developers resolve integration bugs.
- Ability to obtain and maintain an active U.S. SECRET security clearance (U.S. citizenship required).
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience
- Strong software development experience in C++ and Python within a Linux environment
- Software engineering fundamentals, including Git, automated testing, and disciplined debugging
- Experience writing or maintaining plugins, baseline interfaces, or modeling frameworks for simulation environments such as AFSIM or NGTS
- Familiarity with UDP/TCP, DDS middleware, serialization, or interface standards such as CIGI
- Excellent technical troubleshooting skills
- Ability to obtain and maintain an active U.S. SECRET security clearance
- U.S. citizenship
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as excellent, with dental/vision and mental‑health support, and ancillary protections like life and disability appearing in benefit summaries. The breadth and perceived affordability of coverage are highlighted as a standout component of the package.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave is featured alongside enhanced maternity benefits, fertility and childcare support, and onsite resources such as a Mother’s Room. These elements are positioned as competitive and above the minimal baseline for the company’s stage.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full‑time hires, with RSUs, double‑trigger tax timing, and tools to model scenarios (e.g., through Carta Tax). Communications also reference a transition from options to RSUs, reinforcing access and maturity of ownership programs.
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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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
