Autonomy & Perception Software Engineer (C++)

About the role

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company building intelligent systems that protect service members and civilians. Its Perception team develops software that helps autonomous aircraft and vehicles understand their surroundings and make decisions in the real world. This role seeks an experienced engineer who enjoys solving difficult perception problems and turning them into reliable autonomy capabilities, working alongside autonomy, simulation, platform and test engineers.

Key responsibilities

• Develop perception algorithms and production software in modern C++
• Own features from design and implementation through integration, testing and delivery
• Investigate system behaviour using sensor data, simulation, logs and focused experiments
• Turn research and customer-driven work into reusable product capabilities
• Contribute to technical direction, review designs and code, and mentor other engineers

Required profile

• Experience delivering production C++ software for perception, robotics, autonomy or a related field
• Strong technical depth in at least one area: detection, tracking, computer vision, image processing, estimation (e.g. Kalman filtering) or sensor fusion
• Able to debug complex systems and write clear, maintainable code
• Sound technical judgment and a collaborative approach

Required skills

• Modern C++
• Python or similar tools for experimentation and data analysis
• Preferred: real sensors (EO/IR, radar, LiDAR, IMU), embedded or GPU deployment, resource-constrained compute environments

The role can be based in San Diego, San Mateo, Washington, DC or Orlando, with a hybrid schedule of three days per week in the office.