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
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Job Description:
Shield AI’s Hivemind autonomy team is developing next‑generation multi‑target tracking and sensor fusion capabilities that enable resilient, mission‑ready autonomous systems. We are seeking engineers—from experienced senior contributors through subject matter experts—to design, implement, and deploy the tracking stack that powers Hivemind Pilot across all domains and platforms.
In this open‑rank role, you will bring deep expertise in target state estimation, multi‑sensor data fusion, and tracking theory (e.g., Bayesian filtering, statistical inference, association algorithms, dynamics modeling), combined with strong proficiency in modern C++ for production deployment. You will help drive the technical roadmap, develop high‑performance tracking algorithms, evaluate system performance across simulation, HITL, and flight test environments, and mentor teammates commensurate with your level. Your work will directly advance state‑of‑the‑art autonomy capabilities for our U.S. and international customers.
What you'll do:
Research, design, and implement state‑of‑the‑art multi‑target tracking and data association algorithms.Develop production‑quality C++ software for deployed military aviation platforms, ensuring deterministic, real‑time performance.Build and maintain comprehensive unit, integration, and system‑level tests validating algorithm correctness and robustness.Enhance and calibrate sensor models within advanced simulation and HWIL environments.Collaborate on feature planning, decomposition, and milestone execution within an agile development framework.Contribute to flight‑test planning, performance analysis, benchmarking, and regression evaluation.(Principal-level applicants) Provide technical leadership, design reviews, algorithmic mentorship, and subject‑matter expertise across the autonomy organization.
Required qualifications:
Strong to expert proficiency in modern C++ (C++11 or newer) and object‑oriented design principles.Professional experience deploying C++ software into embedded or real‑time systems, ideally for DoD or aerospace applications.Hands‑on experience designing and implementing state estimation algorithms (e.g., KF, EKF, UKF, ESKF) for real‑world systems.Demonstrated ability to develop, optimize, and maintain complex tracking or sensor fusion algorithms.Experience with CI pipelines, automated testing frameworks, and high‑reliability software practices.Familiarity with MATLAB or Python for prototyping is acceptable; however, primary development experience must be in C++. Candidates with MATLAB‑dominant backgrounds are unlikely to be a fit.
Preferred qualifications:
Experience designing, developing, and deploying multi-target tracking systems for defense applications across one or more domains: air, maritime, ground, or space.Familiarity with tracking architectures for radar, EO/IR, acoustic, RF, AIS, ADS-B, or ELINT sensors.Experience building and tuning error budgets, developing performance models, and conducting sensitivity analyses for estimation/tracking accuracy.Hands-on experience implementing and optimizing multi-hypothesis tracking (MHT), joint probabilistic data association (JPDA), or random finite set (RFS)-based filters.Exposure to distributed or hierarchical fusion, including track-to-track fusion or multi-platform coordination.Experience supporting requirements derivation, verification, and validation of tracking systems in DoD or IC programs, especially in operationally representative environments.Understanding of target dynamics modeling, including kinematic and non-kinematic state representations (e.g., turn rate models, coordinated motion, behavioral cues).Familiarity with sensor registration, line-of-sight geometry reconstruction, time synchronization, and calibration of extrinsic and timing offsets.(For Principal-level candidates) Demonstrated technical leadership building multi-year road maps and leading high-performing teams through design and deployment of modern trackers. This role can be based remotely or located in one of our offices: San Diego, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, DC, or Boston.Staff: $187,000-$281,000Senior Staff: $228,000-$342,000Principal: $270,000-$400,000
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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.
