Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy

The role

You will own and evolve the autonomy stack by extending robotic foundations with agentic AI. You will lead architectural direction for perception, planning, and control systems running onboard swarm vehicles.

What you will do

• Own and evolve the autonomy stack.
• Harden and extend inter-robot and C2 communication protocols.
• Revisit and defend technical tradeoffs regarding compute and decision making.
• Take autonomy capability from integration and test into fielded operation.
• Mentor and technically guide a growing team of robotics engineers.
• Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field.
• 3+ years building soft-real-time embedded systems.
• Deep expertise in at least one systems language (Golang, Rust, or C/C++).
• Proven experience deploying and validating robotics algorithms (Dubins planning, SLAM, Kalman filters, particle filters, A*, behavior trees, reinforcement learning, etc.).
• Working knowledge of embedded systems (SPI/I2C/serial protocols, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, microcontroller programming).
• Strong networking fundamentals (NAT, mDNS, UDP/TCP, multicast, firewall configuration).
• Excellent software engineering practices with emphasis on testable, reliable code.

Nice to have

• Experience with perception systems, sensor fusion, or multi-target tracking (Kalman-based trackers, JPDA, MHT, or similar).
• Contributions to deployed robotics or IoT systems requiring complex edge processing (aerospace, autonomous vehicles, etc.).
• Experience with robotics middleware (DDS/ROS2, ZeroMQ, gRPC) and serialization formats (Protobuf).
• Familiarity with government UxS interoperability standards (OMS/UCI, STANAG 4586, FACE).
• Hands-on electronics skills (breadboarding, soldering, schematic interpretation, datasheet analysis).
• Deep learning experience.
• Active Secret clearance

Benefits

• Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company
• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Medical, dental, vision, and 401k
• PTO and paid sick leave
• Monthly wellness stipend
• Daily catered lunch (office)
• Paid parental leave

Before you apply

• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance.
• Applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Depart

About the company

Swarm Aero is building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The team has aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.