Principal Engineer, C++/Integration (R4539)

Shield AI

About The Position

The Special Projects team at Shield AI is an elite force within the office of the CTO. It consists of a group of very senior (L5-L8) and highly experienced software engineering experts from diverse fields (aerospace, robotics, cloud infrastructure, game development, interactive media design, ...). The charter of this group is to steer technology development towards strategic alignment with the CTOâs vision, through tactical insertion into teams and technologies across the organization. Individuals within this team make direct and at times forward-sprinting contributions to all three pillars of Hivemind, Shield AIâs software ecosystem for developing and deploying resilient intelligent teaming for aircrafts. Hivemind consists of four products: EdgeOS (C++ based high-performance middleware for autonomy development), Pilot (autonomy for the edge built atop EdgeOS; a models-based, modular and open architecture C++ codebase), Forge (Shield AI's AI Factory for the design, development, and testing of Hivemind Edge systems; a service-oriented architecture leveraged through an SDK, CLI, and web portal; a Go, Python, Typescript codebase), Commander (Software and hardware to support rich human-in-the-loop and human-on-the-loop interactions with the Hivemind; a C++ based back-end for interaction with Pilot; and a web-application UI for mission planning, command and control by operators implemented in a Typescript/React codebase). The Special Projects team is chartered to operate effectively in ambiguity. This team owns a number of software and software/hardware products, and it tactically and strategically impacts the development of all foundational Hivemind products. This work happens should-to-shoulder with the product teams in some cases, and in a forward-sprinting manner within the Special Projects team in other cases. The result is direct contribution to products in the former, and development of reference implementations in the latter. The Special Projects team also functions as a pipeline for product and solution engineering teams across the organization. Individuals who enter the Special Projects team rapidly gain depth and breadth in their understanding of the Hivemind software ecosystem. This positions them well for leading technology development effort across the product and solution organization. This role is expected to contribute to commercial applications of Hivemind Enterprise.

Requirements

12+ years of related experience developing large, production quality software systems.
10+ years of experience with modern C++ (C++17 and beyond).
Strong knowledge of modern software engineering best practices; Experience with Git and code management tools; Good software hygiene regarding code documentation, unit testing, bug tracking.
Excellent grasp of software development and coding principles with high productivity in a mainstream language (e.g. Typescript, C++, Go, Python, etc.).
All-in on Generative AI tools for software engineering
Deep self-sufficiency in adopting new technologies, configuring managing local and cloud resources, maintaining a fast development pace within a complex technology stack
Expertise and deep experience with architectural design and implementation of large and complex distributed systems.
Experience with Linux, Docker, and CI/CD environments.
Excellent software hygiene regarding code documentation, unit testing, bug tracking.
Strong technical collaboration skills and a desire to develop new skills.
Excited by a fast-moving environment with a highly motivated group.
Demonstrated record of working hard, being a trustworthy teammate, holding yourself and others to high standards, and being kind to others.
Fluid intelligence that allows one to operate effectively in sometimes ambiguous conditions, while finding opportunities to drive technical efforts and force multiply.

Nice To Haves

Experience with in aerospace and/or robotics industries.
Hands-on experience with a major cloud platform (Azure, GCP, AWS).
Experience with team leadership, or as a technical project lead.
Passionate about developing high-quality and optimized software solutions.
Experience with containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.

Responsibilities

Create Reference Implementations: Create reference implementations for potential future products or product components, by integrating new hardware platforms, sensor suits, simulators and concepts of operation with the Hivemind SDK (C++) for commercial applications, with a focus on autonomy (âPilotâ) and simulation (part of âForgeâ)
Iterate Rapidly with Customer Feedback: Demonstrate developed architectures as solutions to the customer and gather feedback; iterate.
Explore Future Technologies: Explore and evaluate future hardware and software technologies that are relevant to Shield AIâs product roadmap and potentially high-ROI, but beyond the scope of current Direct and IRAD projects in engineering.
Identify areas of technical debt across the stack, analyze and synthesize solutions and paths towards achieving them.