Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration – Weapons (R5400) at Shield AI
San Diego, CA
$195,200–$292,800
Jul 20, 2026
San Diego, CA
Jul 22, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior technical leadership role focused on building and deploying autonomy software for small air- and ground-launched platforms that operate in multi-agent fleets, often in disconnected environments. The work spans writing mission behaviors, multi-agent coordination, and platform integration through to live flight tests and operational deployments. It suits an experienced C++/Linux engineer with a background in complex embedded or autonomy software integration who is comfortable owning technical direction across multiple teams and external partners.
Senior level · 7+ years · San Diego, CA · Secret clearance · Full-time
Pay in the description: $195,200–$292,800
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $166,860 (middle half $131,418–$198,246). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The job title is not explicitly stated in the posting; the role is described as a senior technical lead on the Autonomous Pilot Integration team. The title has been inferred as an unspecified-level individual contributor based on the posting's framing.
Location is not explicitly stated, but Shield AI's primary engineering hub is San Diego, CA; the CBSA reflects that inference. The role involves ~10–20% travel to other offices, customer sites, and test ranges.
The degree requirement lists BS/MS 'or equivalent practical experience,' so no formal degree is hard-gated.
The clearance requirement is 'ability to obtain a SECRET clearance' — not an active clearance on day one, but it is a hard gate for employment.
PX4 and ArduPilot are listed together as interchangeable autopilot integration options under Preferred Qualifications and are captured as a single preferred skill with ArduPilot as an alternative.
UCI, OMS, MOSA, and WOSA are listed together as interchangeable C2/open-systems standards under Preferred Qualifications; TAK/CoT is listed alongside them but is a distinct tool and is captured separately.
The alt SOC (15-1299) reflects that this role sits at the intersection of autonomy software development and embedded/systems integration for defense platforms — a niche that doesn't map cleanly to a single standard occupation.
Requires a Secret clearance — the cleared population is a small fraction of this occupation, so the real candidate pool is materially smaller than the estimate below, which does not model clearance.
Read the full posting
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