Senior Software Engineer, Autonomous Systems (C2/Backend/Service)

About the Role

Join a customer-facing product engineering team building command-and-control and autonomy software for robotic and autonomous systems. You will develop cloud and edge services that connect sensors, platforms, and AI-enabled decision-making for operational missions.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and optimize software for mission-critical autonomous systems.

• Develop services that process data from diverse sensors for real-time state estimation and threat detection.

• Build AI- and LLM-enabled systems that assess situations and support rapid operational decisions.

• Integrate sensors, effectors, and autonomous platforms, including systems operating individually or in groups.

• Engineer reliable, scalable, and fail-safe software for high-stakes environments.

• Work with robotics, hardware, sensing, and systems engineering teams to deliver integrated solutions.

What We're Looking For

• Four to ten years of backend or service-layer software engineering experience, with recent hands-on individual contributor work.

• Experience building and owning backend services such as APIs, microservices, or middleware, and real-time data or messaging integrations across live services.

• Proficiency in one or more of Rust, Python, C++, or Java, and a degree in computer science or a related technical field.

• Practical experience in autonomy, robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles, or factory automation, beyond algorithm, simulation, or ML research alone.

• Experience shipping software in a fast-paced, prototype-to-field environment.

• Experience integrating LLM systems or AI agents and building toolchains is helpful.

• US work authorization without sponsorship and eligibility to obtain a security clearance are required.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $145,000 to $275,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

Hybrid in Palo Alto, California.