Staff Engineer, Safety-Critical Software (R4598)

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 Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Job Description:

The Hivemind Pilot team is an agile group of engineers focused on building a state-of-the-art Autonomy Software Development Kit (SDK) that enables resilient autonomy and intelligence for a wide range of platforms in diverse environments. The Safety-Critical Software Team in Pilot is responsible for developing safety augmentation capabilities against strict airworthiness development standards for Hivemind Pilot. This allows Hivemind Enterprise customers to develop and fly cutting-edge autonomy solutions with confidence, with a clear path to certification.

As a member of the Safety-Critical Software Team, you will work with a group of engineers to develop cutting-edge safety-critical, high-performance and robust software that serves as a safety monitor between the low-assurance mission autonomy system and the flight control system, bounding unsafe behavior and ensuring safe flight. You will work closely with talented engineers to architect and develop core systems, set standards for software engineering and mentor other engineers.

What you'll do:

• Drive architecture, development, integration and testing of an extensible, configurable Run-Time Assurance (RTA) module that ensures safe operation of autonomous systems in diverse, adversarial conditions.
• Work closely with other engineers in Pilot to design and integrate with the low-assurance mission-autonomy software.
• Specialize, integrate and test the RTA capability on a diverse set of platforms in various conditions to ensure robust fail-safe behavior.
• Drive principled software development practices across Pilot including but not limited to code analysis, audit trail, principled review processes.
• Collaborate with the team to generate artifacts that enable certifiability of Pilot software, including but not limited to static & dynamic analysis reports, software documentation, system models.
• Mentor and guide Pilot developers on practices of safe software development to enhance software quality and assurance.

Required qualifications:

• Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 9 years with a Master's degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
• Demonstrated excellence in designing and developing C++ based safety-critical software systems with Real-Time guarantees.
• Experience working as a mentor to other engineers in a role driving software best practices to enhance software quality.
• Experience integrating software on real-world physical systems and driving up performance and reliability.
• Proven expertise in C++ software architecture design patterns and their practical implementation.
• Strong knowledge of software assurance certifications such as DO-178C and MIL-HDBK-516.
• Strong Git and Linux development skills, along with modern software development practices (e.g., CI/CD, test-driven development).
• A track record of technical leadership, with the ability to set and maintain high standards, guide teams through complex technical challenges, and collaborate effectively.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience developing against strict C++ coding standards (e.g., MISRA C++, JSF AV C++)
• Hands-on experience with airworthiness certifications such as MIL-HDBK-516, DO-178C.
• Experience taking a solution through a certification process and achieving a certification.

$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.

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.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.