{"id":3740458,"url":"https://alion.io/job/dominion-dynamics-mission-autonomy-development-engineer","title":"Mission Autonomy Development Engineer","company":{"id":43023,"name":"Dominion Dynamics","domain":"defendthedominion.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/dominion-dynamics","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":3,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-11-10T06:52:35Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Ottawa, Canada","Montreal, Canada"],"countries":["CA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Imitation Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Verification & Validation","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-03T16:39:58Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-03","last_verified_at":"2026-11-10T19:39:19Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":68,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":68},"description":"Reports to: Senior Vice President, Aerospace Engineering\nType: Full-Time\nThe Role\nYou will develop the autonomy that flies the platform. Dominion Dynamics is building a sovereign Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) for RCAF and NORAD missions. Our autonomy and C2 layer, AuraNet, is a Canadian alternative to closed foreign stacks, purpose-built for the Arctic operating environment and near-peer threat, and our digital proving ground, AuraSim, lets us design, train, and validate autonomous tactical behaviour before it ever reaches a test platform.\nWorking directly with mission systems, tactics, simulation, and test stakeholders, you'll turn operational intent into executable behaviour using a hybrid approach: behaviour trees for structured, auditable, doctrine-anchored tactics, and learned policies (RL/IL) where adaptive, high-dimensional decision-making wins. You'll then prove that behaviour in simulation and help roll it out onto test platforms.\nThis is a build-and-deploy role, not a research-only role. You'll own autonomy end-to-end - from a tactician's whiteboard to a policy running on a test aircraft. The behaviours you build won't sit in a paper; they'll fly.\nWhat You'll Do\nElicit and codify tactical behaviour. Work with pilots, tacticians, and capability stakeholders to translate combat employment into clear, testable autonomy requirements.\n\nDesign hybrid autonomy. Architect and implement behaviour trees for structured tactical logic and integrate learned policies where they outperform, deciding deliberately where each belongs and how they hand off. Map behaviours against our PA/MA/CA autonomy taxonomy and Capability Register.\n\nDevelop teaming behaviour. Build multi-agent coordination, target engagement, and survivability across cooperating platforms.\n\nBuild in simulation. Stand up and instrument scenarios in AuraSim to develop, train, and stress behaviours against representative threat and mission sets across our operating environment.\n\nTrain and validate learned policies. Work within our RL training pipeline - reward shaping, curriculum design, and large-scale rollouts - and validate policy behaviour against doctrine and mission requirements.\n\nVerify and validate. Test behaviours through the full V&V lifecycle, including safety and constraint enforcement.\n\nDeploy and test on hardware. Take behaviours from sim to test platforms: integration with the runtime autonomy stack, HIL/SIL testing, flight-test support, and closing the loop on observed vs. simulated performance.\n\nAnalyse mission data. Use mission logs and performance data to diagnose failures and refine behaviour models.\n\nCollaborate across the team. Work across simulation, sensors/perception, hardware, and flight test to integrate autonomy end-to-end.\n\nWhat You Bring\nStrong software engineering fundamentals (Python and/or C++), with experience building autonomous or decision-making systems.\n\nHands-on experience with behaviour trees and/or learned policies (reinforcement or imitation learning) - ideally both, and a clear sense of when to use which.\n\nExperience developing and validating autonomy in simulation environments, including scenario design and instrumentation.\n\nComfort taking systems from simulation to real platforms - integration, testing, and iterating against real-world performance.\n\nAbility to work directly with operational stakeholders and turn tactical intent into engineering requirements.\n\nSound software practices - version control, code review, CI, and test discipline.\n\nNice to Have\nTactical knowledge of aircraft combat employment: BVR/WVR engagement, sensor and weapon employment, EW/survivability, or air battle management. Background as aircrew, a weapons/tactics instructor, an operational analyst, or an equivalent test/training environment is a major asset.\n\nExperience in a test-and-evaluation or flight-test setting.\n\nNo defence background required.\nWe've hired people who didn't tick every box. If this is the work you want to do, please apply anyway.\nWhy Join Us\nBuilding something meaningful starts with the right people.\nAt Dominion Dynamics, you’ll:\nShape Canada’s future by building real defence capability for the CAF and our allies.\n\nMake decisions that ship in a high-trust environment with short feedback loops and rapid iteration.\n\nMove fast, field faster, and work directly with the operator - our systems are in the field with the CAF now.\n\nHave an impact from day one with equity, responsibility, and direct access to leadership.\n\nIf you’re curious, hands-on, and driven by the opportunity to make a difference, this is where you belong!\nCompensation & Benefits\nCompetitive base salary and company equity*\n\nComprehensive health benefits\n\nAdditional equity granted based on impact*\n\nWe use AI tools to support parts of the hiring process, including screening and reviewing responses. Final hiring decisions are always made by people and follow all applicable privacy and employment laws in Canada.\n*Equity awarded to full time employees only.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5011,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["C4ISR"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-04T11:39:39Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":10,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.362,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":67,"expected_fill_days":30,"reasons":["conf:3","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-11-10T06:52:35Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/dominion-dynamics-mission-autonomy-development-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/dominion-dynamics-mission-autonomy-development-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-10T23:48:57Z","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":137,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-11T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"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":43023},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=43023"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fdominion-dynamics-mission-autonomy-development-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"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%2Fdominion-dynamics-mission-autonomy-development-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"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%2Fdominion-dynamics-mission-autonomy-development-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/dominion-dynamics-mission-autonomy-development-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fdominion-dynamics-mission-autonomy-development-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3740458}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"defendthedominion.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3740458},"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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