Autonomy Engineer- Behavior and Motion Planning (R6007)

•

• Research, design, and implement state-of-the-art algorithms for autonomous trajectory planning

and control for single and multi-agent systems.

• Build reliable, robust, and maintainable software, primarily in modern C++, with Python used for

prototyping, analysis, automation, and testing.

• Develop comprehensive tests and evaluate planning stack performance in simulation and, where

applicable, on real hardware.

• Diagnose complex algorithmic and software failures, including concurrency, performance, and

integration issues.

• Collaborate with teams across the organization to refine requirements and deliver capabilities

that meet operational needs.\

• Contribute to the design and architecture of scalable, maintainable autonomy and software

architecture.

• Take new product features from ideation to verification, to flight testing, and all the way to

maturation.

• Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior engineers.
• Stay current with the latest advancements in robotics, and apply them to solve challenging

problems.

• - Motion planning that produces safe, dynamically feasible behavior under real-world constraints.
• Collaborative and distributed motion planning for multi-agent scenarios.
• Effects and action planning that connects mission intent to executable autonomous behaviors.
• Incorporating various types of motion and dynamics models into the planning stack.
• Write software that allows the customer to interact with payloads safely.
• Planning approaches that incorporate vision-language models (VLMs), vision-language-action models

(VLAs), or other learned components.

• Validate the planning stack using software-, hardware-, and vehicle-in-the-loop simulation of

complex autonomous missions.

•

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, applied mathematics, operations research, or

a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• Demonstrated experience through professional work, internships, research, or substantial projects

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 use of common concurrency patterns

and the ability to diagnose issues such as data races, deadlocks, and lifetime errors.

• Working experience with Python for prototyping, analysis, automation, or testing.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, testing,

debugging, version control, CI/CD, and maintainable software design.

• Practical experience developing and debugging software on Linux.
• Ability to communicate technical decisions and collaborate effectively across disciplines.
• For 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.

• - Experience with behavior/motion planning for any platform (aerial, maritime, space, or ground),

working on decentralized or distributed planning for multi-agent systems, or trajectory optimization.

• Experience working on 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 relevant technical depth through fielded systems, applied research, publications,

open-source contributions, or robotics and autonomy competitions.

#LI-KC3 #LD

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.

###

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.