Sr. Engineering Manager, Discrete Planning for Autonomy (R4318)

Sorry, this job was removed at 11:47 a.m. (CST) on Thursday, Mar 19, 2026
Be an Early Applicant
San Diego, CA, USA
In-Office
220K-340K Annually
Aerospace • Artificial Intelligence • Machine Learning • Robotics • Software
Our mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.
The Role
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube

Job Description:
The Hivemind Pilot team is an agile group of engineers focused on building a state-of-the-art Autonomy Software Development Kit (SDK) that enables resilient autonomy and intelligence for a wide range of platforms in diverse environments. The Task Planning team in Pilot is responsible for enabling executive decision making by an agent or team-of-agents toward achieving complex and diverse missions. Capabilities to enable mission decomposition, task assignment / scheduling across teams of agents, contingency management and attrition handling are developed by this team.

As the Lead for Task Planning, you will lead a group of engineers to solve diverse discrete planning problems enabling execution of complex fully autonomous multi-agent missions on the edge in diverse adversarial environments. You will work closely with talented engineers to architect core systems, set standards for software engineering, drive strategic technical improvements, and mentor other engineers.

What you'll do:

  • Lead the technical direction and roadmap for a range of discrete planning capabilities including but not limited to robot team management, multi-agent task assignment, scheduling & coordination, intelligent failure handling, intelligent attrition management, and system explainability
  • Enable intuitive and easy workflows for SDK customers to develop customizations and extensions to successfully achieve their autonomy objectives and aspirations
  • Serve as the architect for the Task Planning stack to enable modularity, correctness and extensibility
  • Grow & mentor the autonomy and software engineers in the team via performance feedback, technical guidance and code reviews
  • Ensure high morale and excitement in the team by connecting day-to-day efforts to the big picture, ensuring alignment of personal goals with company objectives, and actively taking steps to set them up for success
  • Grow the team by identifying gaps and projecting headcount needs
  • Lead planning and execution for the team to ensure informed team commitments and timely delivery of those commitments
  • Work in close collaboration with other Pilot teams (State-estimation, Object tracking, Path & Motion Planning, Mapping) to ensure correctness and cohesiveness of the overall Pilot product
  • Work in collaboration with Program and Product managers to define a feasible technical roadmap for future autonomy solutions

Required qualifications:

  • M.S in Computer science, Aerospace or related engineering field
  • 9+ years of experience in engineering autonomous systems or equivalent engineering roles
  • 3+ years of people leadership experience leading teams of 4+ people
  • Experience with discrete planning (preferably in autonomy domain), behavior or motion planning
  • Demonstrated ability to take ideas from academic works, and polish them to enable production ready capabilities
  • Proficient in software delivery and managing execution toward tight timelines
  • Experience with C++11 or newer in a production environment
  • Experience in a collaborative development environment, focused on continuous integration/delivery & test-driven development
  • Strong knowledge of modern software engineering best practices
  • Demonstrated record of working hard, strong communication skills, being a trustworthy teammate, and being kind to others
  • Strong organizational skills

Preferred qualifications:

  • Experience in the autonomous vehicle industry
  • Ph.D. in Computer science, or related engineering field
  • 5+ years of people leadership experience
  • Experience leading a team that shipped commercial grade products
  • Experience in productizing prototypes into commercial products

#LI-KC3
#LE

Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

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

Salary 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. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

###

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. 

Similar Jobs

Applied Systems Logo Applied Systems

Associate Product Manager

Cloud • Insurance • Payments • Software • Business Intelligence • App development • Big Data Analytics
Remote or Hybrid
2 Locations
3040 Employees
85K-100K Annually

Airwallex Logo Airwallex

Account Executive

Artificial Intelligence • Fintech • Payments • Business Intelligence • Financial Services • Generative AI
Remote or Hybrid
San Francisco, CA, USA
2000 Employees

Airwallex Logo Airwallex

Director, Corporate Legal, Transactions & Capital Markets

Artificial Intelligence • Fintech • Payments • Business Intelligence • Financial Services • Generative AI
Remote or Hybrid
San Francisco, CA, USA
2000 Employees

Verkada Inc Logo Verkada Inc

Senior Software Engineer

Cloud • Hardware • Security • Software
In-Office
San Mateo, CA, USA
2000 Employees
130K-280K Annually
Get Personalized Job Insights.
Our AI-powered fit analysis compares your resume with a job listing so you know if your skills & experience align.

The Company
HQ: Port Melbourne, Victoria
0 Employees
Year Founded: 2015

What We Do

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide.

Why Work With Us

What makes Shield AI special is our people. We unlock the power of autonomy, and in the face of overwhelming odds and challenges, we find ways to win and make a difference for our customers. We bring together software, AI, and aerospace engineering disciplines to deploy the most intelligent aviation capabilities in the world.

Gallery

Gallery

Similar Companies Hiring

DIS-5027 Hybrid OFF TEST Thumbnail
Aerospace
US
10 Employees
Outpost Space Thumbnail
Aerospace • Defense
US
24 Employees
Kepler  Thumbnail
Fintech • Software
New York, New York
6 Employees

Sign up now Access later

Create Free Account

Please log in or sign up to report this job.

Create Free Account