Staff Autonomy Engineer- Behavior and Motion Planning (R6007)

The role

You will research, design and build path and motion planning algorithms for autonomous systems that work in complex, real-world settings. You will write mainly modern C++ and test performance in simulation and, where it applies, on real hardware. The scope of the role depends on your experience, from well-defined planning components to owning major capabilities.

What you will do

• Research, design and implement algorithms for autonomous trajectory planning and control for single and multi-agent systems
• Build reliable, maintainable software, primarily in modern C++, with Python for prototyping, analysis, automation and testing
• Develop comprehensive tests and evaluate planning stack performance in simulation and on real hardware where applicable
• Diagnose complex algorithmic and software failures, including concurrency, performance and integration issues
• Collaborate across the organization to refine requirements and deliver capabilities that meet operational needs
• Contribute to the design and architecture of scalable, maintainable autonomy software
• Take new product features from ideation through verification, flight testing and maturation
• Mentor and give technical guidance to junior engineers
• Stay current with advances in robotics and apply them to hard problems
• Validate the planning stack using software-, hardware- and vehicle-in-the-loop simulation of complex autonomous missions

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, applied mathematics, operations research or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Demonstrated experience building, testing and debugging nontrivial C++ software for optimization, motion planning, robotics, autonomous systems or a closely related algorithmic domain
• Experience writing and debugging modern C++, including safe concurrency patterns and diagnosing data races, deadlocks and lifetime errors
• Working experience with Python for prototyping, analysis, automation or testing
• Strong software engineering fundamentals: algorithms, data structures, testing, debugging, version control, CI/CD and maintainable design
• Practical experience developing and debugging software on Linux
• Ability to communicate technical decisions and collaborate across disciplines
• Senior-level candidates: Master's degree in computer science, Robotics or a related field and 5+ years of relevant professional experience, or PhD with 4+ years of relevant experience

Nice to have

• Experience with behavior or motion planning for any platform (aerial, maritime, space or ground), decentralized or distributed planning for multi-agent systems, or trajectory optimization
• Experience with multi-objective optimization problems
• Experience using solvers such as Gurobi, OR-Tools or CPLEX
• Experience applying VLMs or VLAs to motion planning, reasoning, tool use or autonomous decision-making in safety-critical systems
• Experience delivering software for fielded, real-time, safety-critical or resource-constrained autonomous systems
• Experience with software-in-the-loop or hardware-in-the-loop simulation, performance profiling or distributed systems
• Evidence of technical depth through fielded systems, applied research, publications, open-source contributions or robotics and autonomy competitions

Benefits

• Equity for full-time regular employees
• Bonus for full-time regular employees
• Benefits package for full-time regular employees
• Temporary benefits package for temporary employees, applicable after 60 days of employment

Before you apply

• All offers are contingent on a cleared background check and possible reference check
• Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits
• Salary is influenced by skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and work location

About the company

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company whose mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation technologies.