The Hivemind Pilot group in Hivemind Enterprise org builds algorithms and production platform-agnostic AI/autonomy software that enable teams of edge systems to perceive, reason and act toward achieving mission objectives in complex and dynamic mission environments. Our work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and real-time autonomous systems.
As an Autonomy Integration Lead, you will be responsible for bringing together various autonomy components into integrated reference implementations that enable targeted concept of operations, and taking these through software-in-loop and hardware-in-loop verification. You will draw on your breadth in autonomy to ensure harmonious execution of all autonomy components for effective mission enablement.
What you'll do:
- Build and maintain stable Pilot integrated implementations, reference configurations, reusable test fixtures, and representative end-to-end examples.
- Partner with component teams as they add capabilities to the shared integration environment, maintain the integration baseline, and help resolve gaps in shared workflows, test harnesses, or extensibility.
- Develop and maintain automated software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop tests that exercise behavior across autonomy components.
- Develop and maintain glue layer between mission autonomy software and platform software for easy integration and deployment of the stack.
- Investigate failures across system boundaries. Reproduce and instrument each problem, isolate the responsible layer, fix integration-owned defects, and give the owning team clear evidence when a component or infrastructure change is required.
- Support deployment of the integrated autonomy stack to representative hardware, including software configuration, telemetry, interface troubleshooting, and lab or field debugging.
- Work with the Flight Operations team to define test objectives, prepare integrated software and instrumentation, assess test readiness, support troubleshooting during test events, and analyze integration failures afterward.
- Write and maintain setup guides, reference configurations, troubleshooting runbooks, and executable examples. Contribute technical material to Pilot training.
Projects you might work on:
- Drive strategy and implementation diverse set of autonomy reference integrations to serve various representative missions.
- Develop workflows and tooling to enable seamless deployment of autonomy software on edge devices.
- Develop documentation to assist a user of the product to easily pull together custom autonomy integrations
Preferred qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, or equivalent practical experience.
- Demonstrated experience through professional work, internships, research, or substantial projects building, testing, and debugging nontrivial C++ software for perception, planning, robotics, autonomous systems, or a closely related algorithmic domain.
- Experience writing and debugging modern C++, including safe use of common concurrency patterns and the ability to diagnose issues such as data races, deadlocks, and lifetime errors.
- Working experience with Python for prototyping, analysis, automation, or testing.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, testing, debugging, and maintainable software design.
- Practical experience developing and debugging software on Linux.
- Practical experience working with build / dependency management systems such as Conan or Nix.
Preferred qualifications:
- Master’s degree in AI. Computer Science, Robotics or similar.
- Breadth of experience across the autonomy stack (Perception, Localization and Planning).
- Experience with multi-agent autonomy
- Experience applying VLMs or VLAs to planning, reasoning, tool use, or autonomous decision-making.
- Experience delivering software for fielded, real-time, safety-critical, or resource-constrained autonomous systems.
- Experience with software-in-the-loop or hardware-in-the-loop simulation, performance profiling, or distributed systems.
#LE
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, or equivalent practical experience
- Professional, internship, research, or substantial project experience building, testing, and debugging nontrivial C++ software for perception, planning, robotics, autonomous systems, or a related algorithmic domain
- Experience writing and debugging modern C++, including safe concurrency patterns and diagnosing data races, deadlocks, and lifetime errors
- Working experience with Python for prototyping, analysis, automation, or testing
- Strong software engineering fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, testing, debugging, and maintainable software design
- Practical experience developing and debugging software on Linux
- Practical experience with build or dependency management systems such as Conan or Nix
- Master's degree in AI, Computer Science, Robotics, or a similar field
- Breadth of experience across perception, localization, and planning
- Experience with multi-agent autonomy
- Experience applying VLMs or VLAs to planning, reasoning, tool use, or autonomous decision-making
- Experience delivering software for fielded, real-time, safety-critical, or resource-constrained autonomous systems
- Experience with software-in-the-loop or hardware-in-the-loop simulation, performance profiling, or distributed systems
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
