Senior Staff Software Engineer, Autonomous Pilot Integration – Weapons (R5398) at Shield AI
San Diego, CA
$233,760–$350,640
Jul 20, 2026
San Diego, CA
Jul 22, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A principal-level technical leadership role focused on autonomy software for small air- and ground-launched platforms operating in multi-agent fleets. The position owns architectural direction across a portfolio of programs, spanning mission behaviors, multi-agent coordination, and command-and-control interoperability, while guiding integration from simulation through live flight test. It suits a deeply experienced C++ and Linux systems engineer with a background in autonomous or robotic platforms who is comfortable mentoring senior engineers and engaging directly with defense customers.
Principal level · 10+ years · San Diego, CA · Secret clearance · Full-time
Pay in the description: $233,760–$350,640
“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; based on the scope (org-wide technical direction, portfolio-level architecture, mentoring Staff and Senior engineers, defining the hiring bar), this maps to a Principal-level individual contributor role rather than a people manager — though the alt SOC 11-3021 is plausible given the hiring/staffing responsibilities.
Location is not explicitly stated; Shield AI's headquarters is San Diego, CA, and the posting references multiple U.S. offices — San Diego is used as the best-fit CBSA.
Degree requirement is listed as 'BS/MS … or equivalent practical experience,' which means a degree is not a hard gate.
Secret clearance is listed as 'Ability to obtain' — the role gates on clearance eligibility, not an active clearance.
UCI, OMS, MOSA, WOSA, and TAK/CoT are listed together under Preferred Qualifications as interchangeable open-architecture standards; they are captured as preferred with cross-alternatives.
HivemindSDK is mentioned as part of the team's stack/context narrative rather than in a requirements section, so it is marked preferred.
The posting is sparse on specific named technologies beyond C++ and Linux in the required section; most other technical content describes domains (autonomy, multi-agent coordination, embedded systems) rather than concrete named tools.
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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