Shield AI

Staff Engineer, Software Integration (R5236)

Shield AI$150K — $220K *
Aerospace & Defense
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Minimum 7 years of experience in software integration or autonomous systems with relevant degree.
  • Proficient in Python or C++ programming languages.
  • Experience with middleware and autonomous systems integration.
  • Skilled in designing integration workflows and triaging integration defects.
  • Proficient in simulation tools and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing.
  • Strong expertise in CI/CD pipeline development.
  • Excellent collaboration and communication skills.

Responsibilities

  • Become an expert in integrating autonomous robotics systems.
  • Configure and integrate multi-agent systems in various environments.
  • Understand the entire system from sensor inputs to autonomous decision-making.
  • Collaborate with teams to integrate new algorithms and capabilities into the platform.
  • Lead integration of software onto new robotic hardware.
  • Develop integration tooling and frameworks for efficient deployment.
  • Analyze system logs to diagnose and resolve integration defects.

Benefits

  • Bonus opportunities based on performance.
  • Equity options available.
  • Comprehensive benefits package for full-time employees.
  • Temporary benefits package for eligible short-term employees.
Full Job Description
Job Description:

The Hivemind Quality team is committed to ensuring our autonomy platform delivers a seamless developer experience and enables customers to build world-class autonomous systems. We focus on integrating, validating, and continuously improving the Hivemind ecosystem-spanning autonomy behaviors, sensor processing, multi-agent coordination, ground-control systems, and embedded platforms. Our mission is to ensure that autonomy developers can efficiently build, test, and deploy autonomous applications that meet real-world mission objectives.

We are seeking an experienced Software Integration Engineer passionate about autonomy development. In this role, you will become a power user of the Hivemind SDK, deeply understanding its capabilities and identifying gaps from a customer perspective. You will develop and validate customer use cases, evaluate the ease of use for autonomy developers, and provide actionable feedback to Engineering and Product teams. You will play a critical role in integrating new autonomy capabilities into the platform, assessing feature completeness, and anticipating novel customer workflows and edge cases. This position bridges the gap between engineering development and real-world autonomy applications-ensuring our platform empowers customers to build reliable, mission-ready autonomous systems.

What you'll do:

  • Become a systems integration expert for autonomous robotics: Develop deep expertise in our AI-powered autonomy stack.
  • Learn to configure, deploy, and integrate multi-agent systems across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, and flight platforms.
  • Understand the full system end-to-end-from sensor inputs to autonomous behaviors.
  • Integrate new capabilities into the autonomy stack: Collaborate cross-functionally with development teams to bring autonomy algorithms, perception pipelines, middleware, and platform interfaces into the integrated product. Ensure seamless interoperability between components.
  • Enable platform bring-up and validation: Lead the integration of autonomy software onto new robotic hardware platforms.
  • Configure sensor drivers, communication interfaces, and platform adapters to enable full autonomy stack functionality on prototype and production vehicles.
  • Develop integration tooling & infrastructure: Architect and implement integration frameworks, deployment scripts, and configuration management tools that streamline bringing new capabilities into Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), and flight environments.
  • Support cross-platform compatibility: Work with other integration engineers to ensure the autonomy stack operates reliably across all supported platforms, operating systems, and deployment configurations. Identify and resolve integration issues across system boundaries.
  • Analyze system behavior and root-cause issues: Evaluate system logs, telemetry, and rosbag data to diagnose integration defects. Collaborate with developers to isolate issues to specific subsystems and drive resolution. Create analysis tooling to accelerate debugging.
  • Optimize integration workflows and CI/CD: Partner with DevOps teams to streamline integration pipelines, reduce build-to-deploy cycle times, and ensure robust continuous integration of new features. Define integration checkpoints and criteria for release readiness.
  • Validate system requirements and interface contracts: Work with engineers to ensure integrated capabilities meet product requirements and interface specifications. Assist in developing tooling to verify end-to-end system compliance and traceability.


Required qualifications:

  • Typically requires a minimum of 7 years of related experience with a bachelor's degree in CS, Comp Eng, Robotics, or a related field; or 6 years and a master's degree; or 4 years with a PhD.
  • Proficiency in programming languages including Python or C++.
  • Experience with autonomous systems or middleware.
  • Demonstrated experience designing integration workflows, communicating system dependencies, and triaging and reporting integration defects across subsystem boundaries.
  • Proficiency with simulation tools and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing environments.
  • Strong expertise with CI/CD pipelines.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and a proven track record of delivering high-quality software solutions.
  • Excellent communication skills, capable of collaborating effectively across various teams and presenting to customers or technical leadership.


Preferred qualifications:

  • Demonstrated experience building complex systems with a strong understanding of software architecture and design principles.
  • Experience with hardware or embedded systems.
  • Expert knowledge of Python.
  • Experience with ROS.
  • Experience with white box testing
  • Familiarity with networking, operating-systems, and radio communications.


$150,000 - $220,000 a year

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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.

About Shield AI

Shield AI is a defense technology company that develops artificially intelligent systems for military applications. The company was founded in 2015 by Brandon Tseng, Ryan Tseng, and Andrew Reiter, and is headquartered in San Diego, California. Shield AI's products include autonomous drones and software that can be used for reconnaissance, surveillance, and other military operations. The company's mission is to reduce the number of military casualties by providing soldiers with better intelligence and situational awareness. Shield AI has received funding from a number of investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund.
Learn more about Shield AI
Size
200 employees
Industry
Founded
2015

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