{"id":119181,"url":"https://alion.io/job/merlin-labs-director-ai-core-software","title":"Director, AI Core Software","company":{"id":46278,"name":"Merlin Labs","domain":"merlinlabs.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/merlin-labs","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":79,"open_postings":6,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.833,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":44,"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"}},"role":"Leadership","role_family":"Leadership","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Boston, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":252000,"max":360000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":360000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Model Distillation","optional":false},{"name":"Motion Planning","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":false},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":false},{"name":"TensorFlow","optional":false},{"name":"TensorFlow C++","optional":false},{"name":"Digital Twin","optional":true},{"name":"Linux","optional":true},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":true},{"name":"RTOS","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-16T13:25:30Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-06-16","last_verified_at":"2026-10-28T01:15:37Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":133,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":[],"days_open":132},"description":"About You:\nYou are a technically deep software leader who has shipped production AI or autonomy systems in a safety-critical domain. You thrive at the intersection of rigorous engineering and ambitious product vision, and you know how to build and motivate world-class teams working on hard, long-horizon problems. \nYou hold yourself and your team to the highest standards of software quality and safety - not because the process demands it, but because you genuinely care about the integrity of what you build. You're equally comfortable reviewing a pull request, debating system architecture, and presenting a roadmap to the executive team. You want your work to matter, and there's nothing more meaningful to you than putting reliable autonomous systems into the sky.\nResponsibilities:\nDefine and drive the technical strategy for Merlin's AI Core platform, spanning perception, sensor fusion, decision-making, planning, and control.\nLead, grow, and mentor a multi-disciplinary team of AI engineers, robotics engineers, and software engineers working on flight-critical autonomy software.\nCollaborate with the VP of Engineering and CTO to translate company-level objectives into clear, achievable technical roadmaps with well-defined milestones.\nOwn the architecture of the AI Core stack from data pipelines and model training infrastructure through to real-time onboard inference and control.\nEstablish and enforce engineering standards, code quality practices, and safety review processes appropriate for an aviation-grade software system.\nPartner closely with Flight Operations, Systems Engineering, and Certification teams to ensure AI Core software meets FAA and regulatory requirements.\nDrive integration between AI Core components and the broader avionics and vehicle management systems.\nRecruit senior engineering talent and build a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and psychological safety.\nRepresent the AI Core team in cross-functional planning, risk reviews, and stakeholder communications.\nTrack and evaluate emerging research and open-source developments relevant to autonomous flight, and translate promising work into product opportunities.\nQualifications:\nDegree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Computer Engineering, Applied Math, or a related subject.\n10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 5 years in Physical AI technical leadership and engineering management roles.\nProven track record of shipping production grade AI based autonomy in a safety-critical, deterministic and highly regulated environment (aerospace, automotive, industrial, medical, or similar).\nDeep expertise in at least one of: real-time perception and sensor fusion, motion planning and control, large-scale next gen AI model training and deployment, or onboard inference systems.\nStrong command of modern software engineering practices including AI model distillation, MLOps, CI/CD, rigorous testing strategies, and design-for-safety principles.\nExperience in deploying end-to-end Data strategy to collect, ingest and curate the data for AI model training, simulation and edge deployment.\nExperience managing the managers, senior engineers and staff-level technical contributors, including performance management and career development.\nAbility to define and communicate architectural decisions across organizational boundaries, including to non-technical stakeholders.\nProficiency in Pytorch, TensorFlow and C++ (or equivalent systems languages used in real-time embedded environments).\nStrong written and verbal communication skills; ability to document complex technical decisions clearly and concisely.\nComfort operating in a fast-paced, ambiguous startup environment where priorities and requirements evolve.\nNice to Have:\nBackground in vehicle dynamics, vehicle control systems, or avionics/Automotive software integration.\nFamiliarity with simulation-based validation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, or digital twin development.\nExperience with airborne hardware platforms, embedded Linux, or real-time operating systems (RTOS).\nPublished research or significant contributions to open-source projects in autonomy, robotics, or machine learning.\nPrior experience at a Series A-C deep tech startup.\nPilot's license or meaningful hands-on experience with aircraft operations.\nLogistics:\nWe welcome remote applicants for this role, with a preference for candidates based in or willing to relocate to Boston, MA for a hybrid work schedule at our HQ.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4508,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Hybrid work"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Avionics & Flight Control","Drone AI"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-06-16T13:25:30Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":18,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.655,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":132,"expected_fill_days":44,"reasons":["conf:2","velocity","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-27T05:46:45Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":360000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/merlin-labs-director-ai-core-software","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/merlin-labs-director-ai-core-software.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-28T03:01:17Z","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":4048,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-29T00:00:00Z"}},"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":46278},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=46278"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fmerlin-labs-director-ai-core-software"},{"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%2Fmerlin-labs-director-ai-core-software"},{"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%2Fmerlin-labs-director-ai-core-software"},{"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/merlin-labs-director-ai-core-software\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fmerlin-labs-director-ai-core-software"}]}