{"id":696548,"url":"https://alion.io/job/aureliussystems-principal-robotics-software-engineer","title":"Principal Robotics Software Engineer","company":{"id":669079,"name":"Aurelius Systems","domain":"aureliussystems.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/aureliussystems","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":95,"open_postings":11,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":72,"computed_at":"2026-10-29T05:49:05Z"}},"role":"Robotics","role_family":"Robotics","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":235000,"max":305000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":305000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"ROS2","optional":true},{"name":"Rust","optional":true},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-05-04T19:09:15Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-05-04","last_verified_at":"2026-10-30T00:02:44Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":178,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":177},"description":"Who We Are:\nAurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.\nWe're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.\nOur namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate - small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.\nIn addition to our San Francisco lab, we’ve opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.\nThe Role and Your Impact:\nWe need a Principal Robotics Software Engineer to lead architecture across the Archimedes robotics stack: tracking, control, autonomy, and the infrastructure that lets us ship. You'll partner directly with our CTO and engineering leadership and own the path from prototype code to deployed software. You're the senior IC who's done this at scale, still writes the critical code, and knows how to take a research-y stack into a deployable product without breaking it.\nWhat You'll Own:\nArchitecture and technical direction for the whole robotics software stack\n\nPerformance and timing architecture: threading, process model and latency budgets across the system\n\nFormal release process, packaging and deployment hygiene for fielded systems\n\nCI/CD infrastructure and scaling the software org alongside QA\n\nMentorship of the robotics SWE team and the bar for code quality\n\nCross-functional alignment across controls, embedded, EE and optics\n\nThe path from prototype code to fielded software in customer hands\n\nWhat We're Looking For:\n10+ years shipping robotics or real-time, hardware-facing software\n\nDeep production C++ and real-time systems experience; still hands-on\n\nSenior IC track record at companies that shipped to customers or operators\n\nTrack record building and operating CI/CD for robotics or hardware-in-the-loop\n\nExperience taking software through formal release, packaging and deployment to end users\n\nWhere you probably come from: Senior or principal IC at robotics companies that shipped, defense robotics, AV, aerospace, or F1 and high-performance automotive programs that put software in front of operators.\nWe want to talk if: You've taken software from \"works on the dev's machine\" to \"works in the field for a customer.\" You know the difference between a prototype that demos and a release that survives.\nNot a fit if: Your background is web, backend or full stack, you're a researcher who hasn't shipped, you're a people manager without recent IC chops, or your robotics experience is benchmark-only.\nNice to Haves:\nROS2, and the judgment to know when not to use it\n\nRust or other systems languages\n\nSensor fusion or perception background\n\nDefense or safety-critical software release experience\n\nEducation: BS, MS or PhD in CS, Robotics, EE or equivalent. Track record matters more than degree.\nHow You Operate:\nExtreme bias for action. You ship working code on real hardware, not slideware\n\nYou debug from first principles, not intuition alone\n\nComfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment\n\nClear communicator across software, hardware, and operator-facing surfaces\n\nSelf directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told\n\nWhy Join Aurelius Systems:\nBuild more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.\n\nCareer velocity is real. With no middle management, there are no layers between you and impact.\n\nWork on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer - infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.\n\nJoin the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.\n\nHow We Work:\nCore hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 6. When we're sprinting toward a demo or field test, the team ramps up - nights, weekends, whatever it takes to ship. When the sprint lands, we ramp down. We don't manufacture intensity for show.\nBenefits:\nCompetitive salary and equity\n\nUnited Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage\n\nFlexible 18 days PTO plus 5 sick days\n\nTravel to field test events and range days\n\nCovered daily lunches and office snacks and drinks\n\nE-bike and scooter stipend up to $500\n\nDirect access to leadership and real ownership over your work\n\nExport Control Notice:\nThis role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require U.S. Person status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a U.S. Person: (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).","description_format":"text","description_chars":5139,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","optional":false},"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Air Defense","Defense Manufacturing"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-11T02:06:34Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":13,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.468,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":177,"expected_fill_days":72,"reasons":["conf:3","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-29T05:49:05Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":305000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/aureliussystems-principal-robotics-software-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/aureliussystems-principal-robotics-software-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-30T02:16:21Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":3033,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-31T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":669079},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=669079"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Faureliussystems-principal-robotics-software-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Faureliussystems-principal-robotics-software-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Faureliussystems-principal-robotics-software-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/aureliussystems-principal-robotics-software-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Faureliussystems-principal-robotics-software-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":696548}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"aureliussystems.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":696548},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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