Chaos Industries
Principal Autonomy Software Engineer
$246K–$339K
El Segundo, California, United States +1 · Principal · Full-time · Posted Sep 10, 2026
- Location
- El Segundo, California, United States
Los Angeles, California, United States - Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Aerospace/Mechanical/Electrical Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
- Visa sponsorship
- Must be a U.S. Person (citizen or lawful permanent resident).
About the job
Sets technical direction and builds field-ready autonomy software for distributed defense systems, from sensor perception and planning through deployment and testing.
What you'll do
- Own end-to-end autonomy architecture and define product strategy and technical roadmaps.
- Build and productionize autonomy software for resource-constrained edge hardware; establish engineering, safety, simulation, and evaluation standards.
- Lead and mentor engineers, align cross-functional teams, and translate operator needs into testable requirements.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent work experience.
- Hands-on track record designing and shipping autonomy or robotics software that has run on real hardware in the field; ownership of complex systems through production deployment.
- Expert-level proficiency in C++/RUST and Python, with software design expertise for real-time, safety-critical, or resource-constrained systems.
- Strong autonomy mathematics foundation, hands-on experience with robotics/autonomy frameworks or tooling, and ability to lead technically across teams.
Nice to have
- Master’s or PhD in a relevant technical field; experience in defense, aerospace, or another mission-critical domain.
- Depth in multi-agent coordination, swarming, or distributed autonomy; experience deploying ML or autonomy stacks to embedded, GPU-accelerated, or edge-compute hardware; active U.S. security clearance.
Pay
$246,000 - 339,000 USD base salary
Tools
C++, RUST, Python, ROS/ROS2, EO/IR, RADAR, RF, LiDAR
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative