Top Senior C++ Jobs in Washington, DC

Lead development and technical delivery of maritime autonomy capabilities for USVs, UUVs, and cooperating UAVs. Design motion planning, localization, tracking, safety assurance, COLREGS-compliant behaviors, and heterogeneous multi-agent collaboration. Build high-performance, well-tested software, integrate it onto real platforms, support deployment and demonstrations, analyze mission logs, and contribute to R&D roadmaps. Collaborate across perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and operational test teams while helping customers define requirements and technical approaches.

Lead technical direction for maritime autonomy capabilities across multiple programs. Develop motion planning, localization, tracking, safe maritime behaviors, COLREGS-compliant operations, and heterogeneous multi-agent collaboration for USVs, UUVs, and UAVs. Build and integrate high-performance, rigorously tested software; support deployment, vehicle testing, demonstrations, and mission-log analysis. Mentor engineers, guide architecture and roadmaps, research new algorithms, and collaborate across perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and operational test teams. Travel is typically about 25%.

Develop and deploy autonomy software for unmanned surface, underwater, and aerial vehicles in maritime missions. Responsibilities include motion planning, localization and tracking, safety assurance, COLREGS adherence, multi-agent coordination, distributed optimization, rigorous software testing, platform integration, deployment support, mission-log analysis, and autonomy R&D. The role also involves cross-functional collaboration, customer and demonstration support, roadmap development, and mentoring junior engineers. Travel is typically approximately 25% annually.

Lead and grow a team of autonomy engineers to stand up autonomy on novel platforms (space, maritime, rotorcraft), own delivery from design through fielding, write and integrate latency-sensitive autonomy code, coordinate with platform and cross-functional teams, support live tests and deployments, and evolve R&D efforts into longer-term programs.

Lead and grow a small autonomy engineering team to design, integrate, validate, and field autonomy software for launched effects. Own delivery, hiring, mentoring, technical direction, ICDs, pre-deployment validation, live test support, hardware/software debugging, and cross-team collaboration for multi-agent and air-gapped fleet deployments.

Lead and grow a 5–10 engineer autonomy integration team for V-BAT/X-BAT, owning delivery, hiring, mentoring, and technical health. Drive integration of autonomy software (mission behaviors, VTOL transitions, multi-agent coordination), collaborate tightly with aircraft, perception, and capability teams, run ICDs and field tests, and support live exercises and deployments (20–30% travel).

Develop, integrate, and field autonomy software for unmanned platforms; lead a small technical team through design-to-deployment; author ICDs; perform hardware/software debugging, system bring-up, simulation testing, and mission support; mentor engineers and coordinate with internal teams and external integrators. Travel ~10-20%.

Integrate and deploy autonomy software onto unmanned aircraft, prepare flight-ready systems, support on-site flight tests, debug hardware/software issues, collect and analyze flight data, collaborate across autonomy, GNC, and test teams, and support certification, compliance, and process improvements.

Lead and manage a perception engineering team developing production-quality C++ perception and state-estimation software (A-PNT) for GNSS-degraded environments. Integrate and test sensor fusion, computer vision, and estimator frameworks on aerial platforms, validate with simulation and real data, and collaborate with hardware, test, and cross-functional teams.

Design, develop, and field high-performance Ground Control Station and C2 software using C++/Qt/QML and QGroundControl. Lead architecture and technical direction, mentor engineers, define APIs/ICDs, debug integration/latency issues, support field tests, implement post-mission debrief tools, and ensure interoperability with C2 standards.

Lead simulation-driven testing and automation for autonomy software: develop automated regression/integration/system tests, build and maintain simulation-based test frameworks and tools (SIL/HIL/VIL), diagnose issues with developers, scale simulation infrastructure, create test plans, and integrate test coverage into CI/CD pipelines using Python.

Lead design and implementation of tactical autonomy behaviors for unmanned platforms. Develop, test, and deploy multi-agent coordination, motion/behavior planning, and survivability features across vehicles while owning end-to-end system lifecycle and collaborating with integration teams and end users.

Lead design, integration, and fielding of autonomy software on unmanned platforms. Develop mission behaviors, platform control, multi-agent coordination, and deployment pipelines; own validation from simulation to live tests. Drive technical strategy, cross-team architecture, standards compliance, mentor senior engineers, and support on-site test/mission operations and hardware/software debugging.

Lead systems engineering for Hivemind-based autonomy products: define and manage requirements, develop system architectures and trade studies, coordinate hardware/software interfaces, support integration/verification/validation and testing, and identify and mitigate technical risks across the system lifecycle.

Develop, integrate, and field autonomy software on unmanned platforms; own end-to-end integration from simulation to live tests; debug embedded/latency-sensitive systems; support on-site flight/sea/space tests; ensure C2 interoperability and improve deployment/test tooling and processes.

Integrate autonomy software onto unmanned aircraft, prepare and validate flight-ready systems, support on-site flight tests, debug hardware/software integration, capture and analyze flight data, collaborate with autonomy/GNC/systems teams, improve integration processes, and assist with certification and compliance. Travel ~30-40% for tests and field events.

Design, implement, and own tactical autonomy behaviors for unmanned platforms. Develop and test multi-agent coordination, motion and behavior planning, target engagement, and survivability features. Work across the software lifecycle, integrate with sensor, estimation, communications, and control systems, contribute to shared frameworks, and support platform integration and testing (travel up to 20%).

Lead architecture and implementation of high-performance C++ and Python systems, integrate distributed systems and hardware/software, manage CI/CD pipelines, debug and optimize real-time multi-threaded systems, guide end-to-end integration and verification, mentor engineers, and evaluate new technologies to improve system performance.

Integrate autonomy software onto unmanned aircraft, prepare and validate flight-ready systems, support on-site flight tests, debug hardware/software interactions, capture and analyze flight data, collaborate with autonomy/GNC/systems teams, and support certification and compliance. Frequent travel (~30-40%) for field tests.

Develop and maintain Python-based analytics, automated test orchestration, and scenario-generation pipelines for autonomy simulation. Build adapters in C++/Python, analyze logs/rosbags, deploy distributed orchestration with Terraform/Kubernetes, and create telemetry ingestion and reporting frameworks to validate AI Pilot behaviors across secure and commercial environments.

Design and implement tactical autonomy algorithms and high-performance software for unmanned air/land/sea platforms. Build behavior architectures, integrate classical and learning-based methods, run simulations and field tests, analyze mission data, and support defense programs and deployments.

Design and implement full‑stack, low‑latency web-based Ground Control Station and C2 systems (map-centric UIs, real-time telemetry, video streaming), lead architecture and APIs, mentor engineers, support field tests and mission deployments, and ensure interoperability with C2 standards.

Lead and manage software engineering teams to design, build, and integrate enterprise applications. Drive coding, testing, code review, CI/CD practices, and mentor staff while overseeing project planning, budgeting, and client delivery to meet timelines and quality standards.

Design, implement, and optimize cloud and edge software for mission-critical autonomous systems. Process heterogeneous sensor data for real-time state estimation and threat detection, integrate sensors and effectors, build LLM/AI-driven decision systems, and engineer scalable, reliable, fail-safe solutions for tactical and operational missions while collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.

Develop, integrate, and field autonomy software for expeditionary unmanned aircraft (V-BAT/X-BAT). Own features from software-in-the-loop to live flight tests, collaborate with aircraft and perception teams, lead technical integration, support field deployments and mission testing, and troubleshoot hardware/software issues.