Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Job Description:
The Special Projects team at Shield AI is an elite force within the office of the CTO. It consists of a group of very senior (L5-L8) and highly experienced software engineering experts from diverse fields (aerospace, robotics, cloud infrastructure, game development, interactive media design, ...). The charter of this group is to steer technology development towards strategic alignment with the CTO’s vision, through tactical insertion into teams and technologies across the organization. Individuals within this team make direct and at times forward-sprinting contributions to all three pillars of Hivemind, Shield AI’s software ecosystem for developing and deploying resilient intelligent teaming for aircrafts. Hivemind consists of four products: EdgeOS (C++ based high-performance middleware for autonomy development), Pilot (autonomy for the edge built atop EdgeOS; a models-based, modular and open architecture C++ codebase), Forge (Shield AI's AI Factory for the design, development, and testing of Hivemind Edge systems; a service-oriented architecture leveraged through an SDK, CLI, and web portal; a Go, Python, Typescript codebase), Commander (Software and hardware to support rich human-in-the-loop and human-on-the-loop interactions with the Hivemind; a C++ based back-end for interaction with Pilot; and a web-application UI for mission planning, command and control by operators implemented in a Typescript/React codebase).
The Special Projects team is chartered to operate effectively in ambiguity. This team owns a number of software and software/hardware products, and it tactically and strategically impacts the development of all foundational Hivemind products. This work happens should-to-shoulder with the product teams in some cases, and in a forward-sprinting manner within the Special Projects team in other cases. The result is direct contribution to products in the former, and development of reference implementations in the latter.
The Special Projects team also functions as a pipeline for product and solution engineering teams across the organization. Individuals who enter the Special Projects team rapidly gain depth and breadth in their understanding of the Hivemind software ecosystem. This positions them well for leading technology development effort across the product and solution organization.
This role is expected to contribute to commercial applications of Hivemind Enterprise.
What you'll do:
Create Reference Implementations: Create reference implementations for potential future products or product components, by integrating new hardware platforms, sensor suits, simulators and concepts of operation with the Hivemind SDK (C++) for commercial applications, with a focus on autonomy (“Pilot”) and simulation (part of “Forge”)
Iterate Rapidly with Customer Feedback: Demonstrate developed architectures as solutions to the customer and gather feedback; iterate.
Explore Future Technologies: Explore and evaluate future hardware and software technologies that are relevant to Shield AI’s product roadmap and potentially high-ROI, but beyond the scope of current Direct and IRAD projects in engineering.
Identify areas of technical debt across the stack, analyze and synthesize solutions and paths towards achieving them.
Required qualifications:
12+ years of related experience developing large, production quality software systems.
10+ years of experience with modern C++ (C++17 and beyond).
Strong knowledge of modern software engineering best practices; Experience with Git
and code management tools; Good software hygiene regarding code documentation,
unit testing, bug tracking.
Excellent grasp of software development and coding principles with high productivity
in a mainstream language (e.g. Typescript, C++, Go, Python, etc.).
All-in on Generative AI tools for software engineering
Deep self-sufficiency in adopting new technologies, configuring managing local and cloud resources, maintaining a fast development pace within a complex technology stack
Expertise and deep experience with architectural design and implementation of large and complex distributed systems.
Experience with Linux, Docker, and CI/CD environments.
Excellent software hygiene regarding code documentation, unit testing, bug tracking.
Strong technical collaboration skills and a desire to develop new skills.
Excited by a fast-moving environment with a highly motivated group.
Demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others.
Fluid intelligence that allows one to operate effectively in sometimes ambiguous conditions, while finding opportunities to drive technical efforts and force multiply.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience with in aerospace and/or robotics industries.
Hands-on experience with a major cloud platform (Azure, GCP, AWS).
Experience with team leadership, or as a technical project lead.
Passionate about developing high-quality and optimized software solutions.
Experience with containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
Principal:$220,000-$320,000
Senior Staff: $185,000-$270,000
Staff: $156,000-$230,000
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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.
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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.