Senior Software Engineer, Autonomous Systems

ABOUT THE ROLE Join a customer-facing product engineering team building cloud and edge software for command and control of autonomous systems. You will help deliver reliable tools that connect sensors, robotic platforms, and AI-driven decision-making for demanding operational environments. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Design, implement, and optimize backend and service-layer software for mission-critical autonomous systems. - Build real-time data and messaging integrations across external services, sensors, effectors, and autonomous platforms. - Develop systems that process heterogeneous sensor data for real-time state estimation and threat detection. - Build AI- and LLM-enabled capabilities to assess situations and support rapid operational decisions. - Engineer scalable, reliable, and fail-safe software for high-stakes environments. - Collaborate with robotics, hardware, sensing, and systems engineering teams to deliver integrated solutions. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - Four to ten years of backend or service-layer software engineering experience, with recent hands-on individual contributor work. - Experience owning core backend services such as APIs, microservices, or middleware, and building real-time integrations between live external services. - Proficiency in Rust, Python, C++, or Java, and a degree in computer science or a related technical field. - Experience in autonomy, such as robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles, or factory automation, and shipping software in a fast prototype-to-field environment. - Practical software engineering experience beyond algorithms, simulation, or machine learning research; experience integrating LLMs, AI agents, or tool chains is beneficial. - U.S. work authorization without sponsorship and eligibility to obtain a security clearance. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS Base salary: $145,000 to $275,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available. LOCATION Hybrid in Palo Alto, California.