Job Description:
As a member of the Software Autonomy team, you will be responsible for creating and maintaining all of control and autonomy algorithms within the VBAT code base. This is a full lifecycle development opportunity with algorithm development, software design and coding, unit tests, component tests, flight software qualification and flight test support. You will also be responsible for helping update and validate the simulation models as required.
Required qualifications:
Typically requires a minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 2 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD.
Proven track record of successfully shipping products, showcasing the ability to navigate through development cycles, overcome obstacles, and deliver high-quality solutions to meet project deadlines and exceed expectations in a fast-paced environment..
Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills, with a focus on delivering user-centric software solutions.
Experience working with control systems, specifically unmanned aerial systems and/or robotics to include
Outer loop path planning / trajectory synthesis
Integrating software in a hierarchical environment
Preferred qualifications:
Familiarity with continuous integration / delivery and test-driven development
Strong C++ and Python coding experience
Simulation model development, verification and validation
Controls knowledge with experience in
Linear system analysis
Gain/Phase margin analysis
Time response
Filter development and verification / validation
First order filters
Kalman filters
Bandpass filters
Skills Required
- Minimum 5 years related experience with Bachelor's degree (or 2 years with Master's, or PhD)
- Proven track record of shipping products through development cycles
- Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills
- Experience with control systems for unmanned aerial systems and/or robotics
- Outer loop path planning / trajectory synthesis experience
- Experience integrating software in a hierarchical environment
- Familiarity with continuous integration / delivery
- Familiarity with test-driven development
- Strong C++ coding experience
- Strong Python coding experience
- Simulation model development, verification and validation
- Controls knowledge: linear system analysis
- Controls knowledge: gain/phase margin analysis
- Controls knowledge: time response analysis
- Filter development and verification/validation (first order, Kalman, bandpass)
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage includes medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support, with company materials describing excellent coverage. Feedback suggests these offerings are comprehensive and consistently highlighted across official and third-party benefit lists.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity is granted to all full-time hires, with RSU structures and tools like Carta Tax intended to improve understanding and tax timing. Feedback suggests this broad-based ownership approach is a notable component of total rewards.
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Parental & Family Support — Benefits include paid parental leave, fertility support, childcare benefits, family medical leave, and onsite resources such as a Mother's Room. Feedback suggests the family-oriented offerings are more expansive than basic coverage.
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.
