Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy (R4715)
Shield AI
Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Posted on Mar 19, 2026
Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Job Description:
Shield AI is a venture-backed defence technology company building intelligent autonomous systems for aircraft. Our mission is to protect service members and civilians through AI and autonomy.
We’re on the lookout for an experienced Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy to join our Hivemind Solutions team and help design, build, and deploy real-world autonomous capabilities for uncrewed systems. This is a hands-on engineering role, blending software development with robotics, perception, and path planning. You’ll be joining a high-performing team shaping the future of AI pilots for solving real-world problems.
If you’re a capable C++ developer with a passion for robotics and autonomy, this is your chance to make a real impact.
What you'll do:
- Design and implement autonomous behaviours for uncrewed aircraft.
- Work with real sensor data and build robust sensor fusion solutions.
- Develop and test autonomy systems in high-fidelity software and hardware in-the-loop simulations.
- Integrate Shield AI autonomy products together with third-party aircraft and systems.
- Collaborate across AI, robotics, and systems engineering teams to deliver integrated solutions.
- Contribute to architecture, code quality, design reviews and best practices.
- Lead and Mentor junior engineers
As an Autonomy Engineer, you’ll work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, task & motion planning and controls.
Required qualifications:
- A tertiary level qualification in Computer Science, Mechatronics, Software Engineering, Aerospace, Robotics or a related field
- Significant professional experience in robotics, autonomy, perception or aerospace systems
- Strong experience in modern C++
- Significant experience in building and delivering reliable software systems, ideally in fast-paced environments
Preferred qualifications:
- Experience managing small (2-4) to medium (4-7) size technical teams.
- Prior experience with uncrewed systems, especially in the air domain
- Defence industry experience
- Significant experience in one or more of the following domains:* State Estimation
- Real-Time Systems
- Guidance, Navigation and Control
- Path Planning
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.
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, colour, 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.