Principal Robotics Software Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 8, 2026. First seen by Alion on Nov 6, 2026. Clera scores B on the Alion truth index.
About the Role
Join a defense technology team developing autonomous robotic systems for countering unmanned aircraft. As the most senior individual contributor on the robotics team, you will write critical production code and help ensure the system performs reliably on real hardware.
What You'll Do
Write and own production C++ across the robotics software stack.
Establish timing and safety contracts across perception, tracking, control, and autonomy.
Turn prototype software into repeatable field releases through packaging, deployment, CI/CD, quality assurance, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
Mentor and grow the robotics team while remaining hands-on with code.
Debug hardware and field issues, including during regular range tests.
What We're Looking For
At least 10 years of hands-on robotics software engineering experience, with shipped systems and recent coding experience.
Production C++ experience on physical robotic systems, with breadth across sensors, perception, tracking, control, middleware, and deployment.
Experience taking a robotics stack from prototype to repeatable use in field, operator, fleet, or customer settings.
Experience owning system-wide timing, threading, and latency, and building release, CI/CD, quality assurance, or hardware-in-the-loop processes.
Experience mentoring or growing a team while continuing to code as an individual contributor.
Familiarity with ROS or ROS2, cameras, IMUs, encoders, or gimbal systems is useful. Defense, aerospace, or safety-critical software experience and an active security clearance are also valued.
Must be a U.S. Person due to export control requirements.
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary is $235,000 to $305,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
Location
On-site five days per week in San Francisco, California, with range days included.