Director of Engineering, Hivemind Foundations - Shield AI

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company whose mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. In pursuit of this mission, Shield AI is building the world’s best AI pilot. Its AI pilot, Hivemind, has flown a fighter jet (F-16), a vertical takeoff and landing drone (V-BAT), and a quadcopter (Nova). The company has offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington DC and abroad. Shield AI’s products and people are currently in the field actively supporting operations with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. allies. 

Shield AI is seeking an expert software engineer and world-class leader to scale and guide our Hivemind Foundations team into the next productization phase. The Hivemind Foundation team is chartered with creating an integrated product that provides the foundational software layers upon which Hivemind Edge autonomy and Hivemind Commander services are constructed and operated. The product encapsulates three primary components: middleware, communications, and OS/security. As the leader of this team, you will oversee the team building, architecture, processes, and quality of execution to deliver this essential product to internal and external customers.

WHAT YOULL DO:

• Drive strategic initiatives within and adjacent to the core products of Hivemind Foundations

• Manage and grow a team of elite software engineers

• Oversee solutions to some of the most challenging foundational configuration and communication problems to multi-agent autonomy

• Engage as a thought leader to drive the highest quality software

• Ensure the Hivemind Foundations product has world-class capabilities, quality, and documentation

• Define the technical roadmap in collaboration with product management

• Communicate the status of the technical capabilities throughout the life-cycle

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• B.S. in Computer Science with 15+ years of work experience. Similar degree or equivalent practical experience acceptable. 

• You have rock-solid fundamentals in software engineering and the software development life cycle.

• You have extensive expertise modern C++ and the development of middleware, communications, and/or operation systems.

• You have demonstrated the ability to build, lead, train, and mentor a software engineering team at scale. 

• You are a relentless learner who can comfortably develop the specialized knowledge necessary for tactical leadership of a small software engineering team, and the perspective required for strategic leadership of a large engineering team.  

• You can recognize efficiency and inefficiency in software engineering processes; prioritize remedies based on accurate cost-benefit analysis; and then lead engineering teams through the design, development, deployment, and maintenance of the remedies. 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience with middleware or communications for multi-agent robotics

• Experience with unmanned air systems

• Experience with cyber security or airworthiness processes

$183,955 - $251,809 a year