Senior Software Engineer, Autonomous Systems

Job Description

### About the Role

Join a customer-facing product engineering team building cloud and edge software for command and control of autonomous systems. You will help deliver reliable tools that connect sensors, robotic platforms, and AI-driven decision-making for demanding operational environments.

### What You'll Do

* Design, implement, and optimize backend and service-layer software for mission-critical autonomous systems.

* Build real-time data and messaging integrations across external services, sensors, effectors, and autonomous platforms.

* Develop systems that process heterogeneous sensor data for real-time state estimation and threat detection.

* Build AI- and LLM-enabled capabilities to assess situations and support rapid operational decisions.

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

* Collaborate 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 owning core backend services such as APIs, microservices, or middleware, and building real-time integrations between live external services.

* Proficiency in Rust, Python, C , or Java, and a degree in computer science or a related technical field.

* Experience in autonomy, such as robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles, or factory automation, and shipping software in a fast prototype-to-field environment.

* Practical software engineering experience beyond algorithms, simulation, or machine learning research; experience integrating LLMs, AI agents, or tool chains is beneficial.

* U.S. work authorization without sponsorship and eligibility to obtain a security clearance.

### Compensation \& Benefits

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

### Location

Hybrid in Palo Alto, California.