Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors

Job overview

The Senior Staff Engineer, Autonomy Behaviors role is listed onsite in Washington, DC, with a salary range of $233,760–$350,640 per year. Shield AI develops intelligent systems with a mission to protect service members and civilians; the Autonomy Capabilities Team develops autonomy for single- and multi-agent platforms. The engineer designs and implements tactical autonomy and high-performance software, integrates behavior architectures and hybrid autonomy methods, and validates capabilities on real platforms. The work advances mission capabilities by combining rigorous algorithm development with practical integration, testing, and program support.

What you'll do

• Design tactical autonomy algorithms
• develop high-performance planning, decision-making, and behavior-execution software
• implement and test behavior architectures
• integrate classical autonomy and machine-learning methods
• collaborate with perception, planning, simulation, hardware, and flight-test teams
• deploy capabilities and participate in field tests and flight demonstrations
• analyze mission data
• research and prototype algorithms
• support defense programs. Team travel is typically 10–15% of the year.

What we're looking for

Skills & competencies

senior staff engineer

autonomy behaviors

washington dc

shield ai

$233,760–$350,640/year

tactical autonomy

robotics

unmanned aircraft

c++

python

machine learning

reinforcement learning

secret clearance

10–15% travel

Work arrangement

• Weekend coverage required

Benefits & perks

• For regular full-time employees, the offer package includes pay within the listed range, bonus, benefits, and equity.

Why this role

Full-time regular employee package may include bonus, benefits, and equity; ability to obtain a SECRET clearance is required.

About the employer

Shield AI is hiring for this role. Industry: Engineering Services. Sector: 54.