What You'll Do:
- Architect and implement high-performance C++ and Python systems across cross-platform environments.
- Lead the design and integration of distributed systems, simulation tools, and third-party hardware/software.
- Define and enforce technical direction, design patterns, and integration practices across projects.
- Guide teams in building robust messaging and API layers (e.g., gRPC, REST, ZeroMQ) that bridge critical system components.
- Own the evolution and support of CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI, Docker, Conan, and CMake.
- Lead debugging and optimization of real-time and multi-threaded systems across a range of domains.
- Drive end-to-end integration efforts, including planning, implementation, and verification across simulation and operational systems.
- Serve as a force multiplier by mentoring other engineers and contributing to shared tooling and process improvements.
- Evaluate and incorporate new technologies that improve system performance, stability, and developer efficiency.
Required Qualifications:
- Typically requires a minimum of 7 years of related experience with a
- Bachelor’s degree; or 5 years and a Master’s degree; or 4 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
- Advanced experience designing and maintaining large C++ systems, with fluency in C++14/17/20 and comfort navigating legacy C++98/03 codebases.
- Proficiency in Linux/Unix environments, including system-level development and debugging tools.
- Strong systems integration background with practical experience in distributed systems, real-time processing, and hardware/software interfaces.
- Significant experience with CI/CD systems, containerization (e.g., Docker), and build tooling (e.g., CMake, Conan).
- Proficiency in Python and familiarity with other scripting and automation tools.
- Deep knowledge of Linux environments (Windows experience is a bonus).
- Demonstrated success leading efforts involving 10+ contributors, including technical planning and mentorship.
- Strong understanding of networking concepts and communication protocols.
- Active SECRET clearance.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Real-time or distributed simulation experience (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS, or similar).
- Familiarity with message-passing infrastructure and web-service technologies like gRPC, REST APIs, and message queues.
- Familiarity with open standards like UCI and OMS, and an understanding of data buses and interface protocols common in avionics and aircraft systems.
- Experience integrating simulation with autonomy frameworks or real-time operators.
- Experience developing and integrating with modeling or analysis pipelines.
- Ability to obtain a TS/SCI clearance.
Skills Required
- Minimum 7 years related experience (or 5 years with Master's, or 4 years with PhD, or equivalent)
- Advanced experience designing and maintaining large C++ systems; fluency in C++14/17/20 and comfort with legacy C++98/03
- Proficiency in Linux/Unix environments, system-level development and debugging tools
- Strong systems integration background with distributed systems, real-time processing, and hardware/software interfaces
- Significant experience with CI/CD, containerization (Docker), and build tooling (CMake, Conan)
- Proficiency in Python and familiarity with scripting and automation tools
- Demonstrated success leading efforts involving 10+ contributors, including technical planning and mentorship
- Strong understanding of networking concepts and communication protocols
- Active SECRET security clearance
- Real-time or distributed simulation experience (e.g., AFSIM, NGTS)
- Familiarity with gRPC, REST APIs, message-passing infrastructure and message queues
- Familiarity with open standards like UCI and OMS and avionics data buses/interface protocols
- Experience integrating simulation with autonomy frameworks or real-time operators
- Experience developing/integrating modeling or analysis pipelines
- Ability to obtain TS/SCI clearance
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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Shield AI Teams
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Shield AI Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
