Shield AI
Chief Engineer, Autonomy — Space Domain (R5150)
$211K–$316K
Washington, D.C. +2 · On-site · Full-time · Posted Jun 22, 2026
- Location
- Washington, D.C.
Dallas, Texas
San Diego, California - Experience
- 12+ years; progressively responsible experience in autonomy, space systems, aerospace, robotics, mission systems, ISR, satellite operations, distributed systems, or comparable technical fields.
- Education
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, aerospace engineering, electrical/computer engineering, systems engineering, applied mathematics, robotics, physics, or a related technical discipline; advanced degree preferred.
About the job
Serves as the senior technical authority delivering and sustaining mission-ready autonomy systems for national-security space missions, from architecture and integration through testing and on-orbit operations.
What you'll do
- Define and govern the space-autonomy architecture, technical execution, verification strategy, and operational readiness across the system lifecycle.
- Lead development of autonomous tasking, coordination, processing, exploitation, and dissemination capabilities across space, ground, and cloud/edge systems.
- Manage technical risks and customer-facing reviews, and build and mentor a multidisciplinary engineering organization.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s degree in a listed or related technical discipline.
- 12+ years of progressively responsible experience in relevant complex technical fields.
- Senior technical leadership experience accountable for end-to-end system outcomes.
- Experience delivering reliable software-intensive mission systems, leading multidisciplinary engineering teams, and supporting customer-facing technical work.
Nice to have
- Advanced degree; experience with national-security, defense, intelligence, civil-government, or commercial-space programs.
- Operational autonomy deployment, on-orbit or launch operations, mission assurance/cybersecurity, reusable autonomy platforms, or active TS/SCI clearance (or eligibility to obtain and maintain it).
Pay
USD 210,880–316,320 (per-year-salary) base salary
Tools
Hivemind, cloud/edge compute, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop, APIs
AI focus
Delivering operational autonomy for space missions, including automated planning and tasking, sensor fusion, event and anomaly detection, and data exploitation; the posting distinguishes this from research.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative