Vehicle Autonomy Lead

About the role

HavocAI is seeking a Vehicle Autonomy Lead to head the team that builds, integrates, and fields the on‑vehicle autonomy stack for its autonomous surface vessels. This senior technical position combines hands‑on system design, code review, debugging, and field testing with strategic leadership of engineers across robotics, planning, and controls.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the technical execution of the on‑vehicle autonomy team, owning navigation, planning, control, behavior, safety logic, and execution capabilities.
• Define technical priorities, architecture, interfaces, and development standards for vehicle autonomy systems.
• Guide design decisions to meet reliability, latency, safety, compute, and mission performance constraints.
• Ensure the autonomy stack is robust, observable, testable, and ready for real‑world maritime operations.
• Mentor and support engineers through design, architecture, code, and test reviews.
• Establish strong engineering practices for integration, simulation, testing, and deployment.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with perception, mission software, embedded systems, hardware, and operations teams.

Required profile

• Extensive experience in robotics, autonomy software, motion planning, controls, and vehicle behavior.
• Proven track record delivering real‑world system integration for autonomous platforms.
• Comfortable moving between high‑level system design, detailed code work, debugging logs, and field test support.
• Strong leadership skills to set priorities, mentor teams, and drive fast, reliable delivery.

Required skills