As a Software Engineer on the HMS Factory Team, you will develop, implement, and maintain the automated testing frameworks, log analysis tools, and scenario-generation scripts built on top of the Hivemind Platform (HMP) SDK. Your work is highly technical and hands-on, directly enabling hundreds of autonomy and systems developers to rapidly verify AI Pilot behaviors across our expansive portfolio set. In this role, you will navigate complex environment boundaries between secure GovCloud and commercial ecosystems, tackling deep build-system challenges such as dependency migrations and establishing reliable artifact and source-mirroring pipelines across isolated networks.
You will write python-based analytics libraries, build custom wrappers around the HMP Forge test orchestrator, and programmatically generate complex testing environments using domain randomization. You will also participate in the hands-on prototyping and deployment of new distributed testing technologies like on top of the Forge Server to support massive batch-testing runs. Additionally, you will serve as a critical technical bridge, translating raw simulation telemetry into structured, high-fidelity insights while keeping mainline branches unified and stable in the face of varying program upgrade cadences.
What you'll do:
- Write, optimize, and maintain advanced Python-based data analysis pipelines and custom analyzers (such as the Shared Analysis Tool) to parse simulation runs, extract log data, and calculate mission performance metrics.
- Develop, debug, and maintain custom C++ or Python adapters and automated test orchestration wrappers around core HM Forge to satisfy program-specific validation requirements.
- Implement programmatic scenario-generation pipelines and write domain-randomization scripts to systematically test autonomy behaviors under highly varied environmental conditions.
- Analyze simulation log files, rosbags, and network captures to isolate, reproduce, and debug autonomy software defects or simulator failures.
- Build, test, and write Terraform or Kubernetes configuration files to prototype and deploy distributed orchestration templates on top of the Forge Server.
- Write reusable, clear step-by-step developer guides, API documentation, and workspace templates to help program engineers implement automated simulation tests.
- Design and evolve common telemetry ingestion, analysis, and reporting frameworks that enable consistent performance evaluation across HMS programs.
Required qualifications:
- Typically requires a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong software development background in Python, particularly for data analysis, scripting, and automation tooling (utilizing libraries like NumPy, Pandas, or similar).
- Hands-on experience with automated test orchestration, CI/CD, simulation environments, and container-based architectures (Docker, Kubernetes).
- Solid software engineering fundamentals, including version control (Git), automated testing, and disciplined debugging practices in a Linux environment.
- Familiarity with distributed compute frameworks or container orchestration tools is highly preferred.
- Strong technical problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot complex, asynchronous software systems.
- Ability to obtain and maintain an active U.S. SECRET security clearance (U.S. citizenship required).
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, or related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
- Strong software development background in Python for data analysis, scripting, and automation (experience with NumPy, Pandas or similar).
- Hands-on experience with automated test orchestration, CI/CD, simulation environments, and container-based architectures (Docker, Kubernetes).
- Solid software engineering fundamentals including version control (Git), automated testing, and disciplined debugging practices in a Linux environment.
- Experience developing or maintaining C++ or Python adapters and test orchestration wrappers.
- Experience building Terraform or Kubernetes configuration files and deploying distributed orchestration templates.
- Familiarity with distributed compute frameworks or container orchestration tools.
- Ability to obtain and maintain an active U.S. SECRET security clearance (U.S. citizenship required).
What the Team is Saying
Shield AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Company materials describe excellent medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside a mental‑health EAP. Site perks such as an onsite gym in DC and a gym discount in San Diego support a health‑focused offering.
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Retirement Support — Careers materials highlight a 401(k) with company match as part of the standard package. A Total Rewards overview emphasizes retirement features within a broader, transparent compensation view.
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Career-Linked Recognition & Rewards — Compensation for in‑demand technical and senior go‑to‑market roles is described as competitive, with visible engineering ranges and top‑end packages. This points to meaningful upside tied to role, level, and scarce skills.
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.
