Software Engineer, Shield AI
API's & Infrastructure
$179-330k
+ Bonus + Equity
Building AI aircraft pilots
Job no longer available
Building AI aircraft pilots
501-1000 employees
Job no longer available
$179-330k
+ Bonus + Equity
501-1000 employees
Company mission
Shield AI's mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of experience developing large-scale, production C++ systems with proven architectural leadership
- Expertise in modern C++ (C++17 and beyond) with deep experience designing and managing public-facing APIs
- Strong background in API lifecycle management, versioning, and maintaining contracts across distributed teams
- Professional experience with Linux environments, microservices, and distributed systems
- Demonstrated record of technical leadership, working effectively with geographically distributed teams, and delivering mission-critical systems
Desirable
- Experience with aerospace/defense industries, particularly command and control, mission planning, and UAV systems
- Knowledge of military interoperability standards (STANAG 4586, MAVLINK, UCI) and real-time data distribution
- Experience building secure, multi-tenant API platforms for government or defense customers
- Background in leading technical initiatives across matrix organizations with distributed stakeholders
- Track record of mentoring engineers and fostering collaborative development practices
What the job involves
- As a software engineer for our Hivemind Commander (HMC) team, you'll play a major role in shaping the technical vision for our foundational C++ services and public-facing APIs.
- The HMC Core Product is an extensible platform that enables human operators, third-party systems, and distributed teams to interact with active Hivemind Pilot (HMP) autonomy systems and aircraft.
- You'll help establish API standards and architectural principles that empower both internal and external distributed teams to build reliable integrations for mission planning, mission monitoring, and command & control workflows.
- Your technical leadership will help ensure our APIs scale globally while maintaining the high reliability standards required for mission-critical defense applications
- Contribute to the architecture and evolution of HMC's core C++ services and public-facing APIs, ensuring scalability and reliability across distributed teams
- Design and manage API contracts, versioning strategies, and documentation that enable seamless integration for internal and external partners
- Lead cross-functional collaboration with distributed teams to define interfaces that support mission planning, monitoring, and C2 workflows
- Drive the development of a robust command and control product with comprehensive documentation for customer and third-party use
- Establish service patterns, security frameworks, and CI/CD pipelines that maintain API quality and backward compatibility
- Mentor junior engineers on C++ best practices, API design principles, and distributed systems architecture to build team capabilities
Our take
Self-driving vehicles present enormous benefits for the transportation industry, with the potential to increase the safety and efficiency of cars, trucks, and commercial airlines. However, such technological innovation is less present within the military transportation sector, despite the benefits that AI piloting would produce for the operation of drones and aircraft.
Shield AI is developing Hivemind, an AI-driven pilot that can operate drones and aircraft autonomously, without needing GPS, communications, or pilots. In addition to navigation, the technology is also designed to facilitate indoor building clearance, integrated defense breaching, and has the ability to learn and autonomously execute aircraft missions.
Whilst similar AI-driven pilot software has begun to appear in Chinese military research programs, Shield AI's target is the US. By developing fully autonomous piloting integrations for any type of aircraft, the company aims to future-proof the US military without the need for bespoke aircraft design. It has generated massive amounts of funding to support continued scaling and R&D efforts.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 12 rounds)
Mar 2025
$240m
LATE VC
Oct 2023
$300m
SERIES F
Total funding: $1.0bn
Company benefits
- Excellent Medical Coverage
- Mental Health Employee Assistance Program
- Paid Parental Leave
- Pet Insurance
- Flexible Work Hours
- Work From Home Benefits
- Relaxed Dress Code
- Unlimited Snacks and Beverages
- Gym Discount (San Diego)
- Onsite Gym (DC)
- Commuter Benefits
- 401k services and match
- Stock Benefits
Company HQ
Marina, San Diego, CA
Leadership
Ryan Tseng
(CEO)Experience as CEO, CTO and Founder of WiPower from 2006 to 2010. Technical Lead for Wireless Power Program for Qualcomm from 2010 to 2013.
Brandon Tseng
(President)Naval Officer for the US Navy from 2009 to 2015.
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