Sr. Engineering Manager- Autonomy, Hivemind Pilot (R2424)
Shield AI
Software Engineering, Other Engineering
San Diego, CA, USA · San Diego, CA, USA · Oregon, USA
Posted on Jul 29, 2025
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Boston, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Kyiv (Ukraine), and Melbourne (Australia), Shield AI’s technology actively supports U.S. and allied operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn,X, YouTubeand Instagram.
The Hivemind Pilot team is an agile group of engineers focused on building a state-of-the-art Autonomy Software Development Kit (SDK) that enables resilient autonomy and intelligence for a wide range of platforms in diverse environments. This includes capabilities such as mission and task planning, path planning, state estimation, object tracking, sensing and mapping.
As a manager in the Pilot team, you will lead a group of engineers enabling execution of complex fully autonomous multi-agent missions on the edge in diverse adversarial environments. You will work closely with talented engineers to architect core systems, set standards for software engineering, drive strategic technical improvements, and mentor other engineers.
What you'll do:
- Lead the technical direction and roadmap for a range of autonomy capabilities including but not limited to multi-agent decision making, collaboration and coordination in adversarial and contested environments.
- Enable intuitive and easy workflows for SDK customers to develop customizations and extensions to successfully achieve their autonomy objectives and aspirations
- Grow & mentor the autonomy and software engineers in the team via performance feedback, technical guidance and code reviews
- Ensure high morale and excitement in the team by connecting day-to-day efforts to the big picture, ensuring alignment of personal goals with company objectives, and actively taking steps to set them up for success
- Grow the team by identifying gaps and projecting headcount needs
- Lead planning and execution for the team to ensure informed team commitments and timely delivery of those commitments
- Work in close collaboration with other Pilot managers and teams to ensure correctness and cohesiveness of the overall Pilot product
- Work in collaboration with Program and Product managers to define a feasible technical roadmap for future autonomy solutions
Required Qualifications:
- M.S in Computer science, Aerospace or related engineering field
- 9+ years of experience in engineering autonomous systems or equivalent engineering roles
- 3+ years of people leadership experience leading teams of 4+ people
- Experience with development and delivery of autonomy software such as planning, estimation, tracking, controls.
- Demonstrated ability to take ideas from academic works, and polish them to enable production ready capabilities
- Proficient in software delivery and managing execution toward tight timelines
- Experience with recent C++ versions in a production environment
- Experience in a collaborative development environment, focused on continuous integration/delivery & test-driven development
- Strong knowledge of modern software engineering best practices
- Demonstrated record of working hard, strong communication skills, being a trustworthy teammate, and being kind to others
- Strong organizational skills
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in multi-agent task planning, scheduling and collaboration
- Experience in the autonomous vehicle industry
- Ph.D. in Computer science, or related engineering field
- 5+ years of people leadership experience
- Experience leading a team that shipped commercial grade products
- Experience in productizing prototypes into commercial products
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Full-time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.
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Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.