{"id":921482,"url":"https://alion.io/job/shield-ai-senior-engineer-c-software-r5848","title":"Senior Engineer, C++ Software (R5848)","company":{"id":50,"name":"Shield AI","domain":"shield.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/shield-ai","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Lever","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":61,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.803,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":76,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Melbourne, Australia"],"countries":["AU"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":99000,"max_usd":211000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_cell","sample_n":9},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"CUDA","optional":true},{"name":"CUDA Toolkit","optional":true},{"name":"Edge AI","optional":true},{"name":"FFmpeg","optional":true},{"name":"GStreamer","optional":true},{"name":"NixOS","optional":true},{"name":"OpenCV","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-08T20:10:58Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-08","last_verified_at":"2026-10-19T03:09:01Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":40,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":40},"description":"Job Description:\nShield AI is seeking a Senior C++ Software Engineer, Edge Systems to define and build the software foundations that power autonomous systems operating in demanding real-world environments.\nThis role sits within the Edge Systems team, where software meets hardware. You will solve complex engineering problems spanning Linux edge computing, imaging, sensor integration, mission systems, and autonomy, building software that runs on real hardware in operational environments rather than laboratory prototypes.\nAs a Senior Staff Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across the Edge Systems domain. You will shape architecture and long-term technical direction across multiple teams and products, lead the resolution of complex cross-cutting problems, and establish engineering approaches that improve the effectiveness of the broader organisation.\nThis is a hands-on technical leadership role. You will continue to design, write, review, test, and debug production software, while focusing your individual contribution on the organisation’s highest-risk and highest-leverage technical problems.\nYou will develop modern C++ software for Linux-based edge compute platforms, including NVIDIA Jetson-class and ARM64 systems. Your work will span sensor integration, imaging pipelines, calibration, diagnostics, deployment, developer tooling, and mission-critical applications that demand high performance, reliability, and maintainability.\nThis is an application and systems software role focused on Linux-based edge computing, rather than bare-metal firmware or microcontroller development.\nNo two weeks look the same. One day you might be optimising image-processing pipelines on embedded GPUs. The next you could be defining architecture for future autonomous platforms, leading the integration of new sensors, or collaborating with AI researchers to bring new capabilities into production.\nYou will work alongside highly capable systems, hardware, autonomy, AI, product, and test engineers who enjoy solving difficult problems together. We believe our strongest technical leaders remain hands-on, and we expect our Senior Staff Engineers to continue writing software while multiplying the effectiveness of the engineers around them.\nWhat you'll do:\nTechnical Leadership\nOwn and evolve the technical direction of significant edge software capabilities spanning edge compute, imaging, sensor integration, and mission systems. \nDefine architecture and technical strategy across multiple projects, products, and engineering teams. \nLead the resolution of complex, ambiguous, or cross-cutting technical problems where ownership spans organisational boundaries. \nEstablish reusable platform capabilities, interfaces, standards, and engineering practices adopted by multiple teams. \nProvide technical leadership for major design decisions, including their trade-offs, risks, migration strategies, and long-term consequences. \nIdentify systemic technical risks and drive coordinated action before they materially affect delivery or product reliability. \nMentor senior engineers and develop other technical leaders, increasing the capability and autonomy of the wider organisation. \nPartner with engineering, systems, autonomy, AI, product, and program leadership to translate business and product direction into sustainable technical roadmaps. \nBalance long-term platform investment, technical debt, operational risk, and near-term product delivery. \nCommunicate complex technical decisions, strategy, and risks clearly to both engineering and non-engineering stakeholders. \nSoftware Engineering\nDesign, develop, test, and maintain production C++ software for edge systems, imaging systems, mission applications, developer tooling, diagnostics, and automated testing. \nBuild user-space Linux applications for NVIDIA Jetson, ARM64, and other edge compute platforms connected to cameras, sensors, and mission systems. \nIntegrate RGB, NIR, and thermal cameras alongside GPS, IMU, and other sensors using operating system APIs, middleware, vendor SDKs, and hardware-facing interfaces. \nDevelop calibration, synchronisation, data capture, observability, diagnostics, inspection, and configuration tools for complex sensor systems. \nOptimise software for latency, throughput, reliability, power utilisation, and thermal performance on constrained edge compute platforms. \nDebug challenging issues spanning application software, Linux, networking, hardware interfaces, timing, deployment, and system integration. \nOwn technical outcomes for complex, cross-team initiatives from ambiguous problem framing through architecture, implementation, integration, verification, deployment, and sustained operation. \nCollaborate across systems, hardware, AI, autonomy, product, and test teams to deliver integrated capability. \nRequired qualifications:\nDegree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related discipline, or equivalent industry experience. \nExtensive industry experience developing modern C++ software for Linux. \nDemonstrated experience developing user-space applications that interface with cameras, sensors, networking, GPUs, storage, or other hardware through operating system APIs, middleware, or vendor SDKs. \nDeep practical experience developing, profiling, and debugging software on Linux. \nExperience deploying complex C++ software to Linux-based edge compute platforms such as NVIDIA Jetson or comparable ARM64 systems. \nStrong software engineering fundamentals, including concurrency, interface design, memory management, data structures, algorithms, testing, and version control. \nProven ability to diagnose complex issues across software, Linux, networking, timing, hardware integration, and deployment boundaries. \nExperience owning complex technical work from incomplete requirements through design, implementation, integration, verification, deployment, and support. \nExcellent communication and collaboration skills across multidisciplinary engineering teams. \nSuccessful Senior Staff Engineer candidates will demonstrate:\nA sustained record of defining architecture for large, complex, or mission-critical software systems. \nDemonstrated technical influence across multiple teams, products, or engineering disciplines. \nLeadership of complex initiatives where success depended on alignment across organisational boundaries. \nProven technical leadership through influence, sound judgement, and credibility rather than organisational authority. \nExperience mentoring senior engineers and developing other technical leaders. \nOwnership of long-term technical strategy alongside hands-on engineering and product delivery. \nEvidence of establishing platforms, standards, interfaces, or engineering practices adopted beyond their immediate team. \nStrong judgement when balancing performance, reliability, maintainability, scalability, delivery, and operational risk. \nThe ability to communicate technical strategy, decisions, and risks to senior engineering, product, and business stakeholders. \nPreferred qualifications:\nWe do not expect candidates to have all of the following. Experience in any of these areas will help you stand out.\nRuntime-critical, multi-threaded, or performance-sensitive C++ software. \nHigh-throughput imaging or sensor-processing pipelines, including camera integration, ISP tuning, GStreamer, FFmpeg, OpenCV, or similar technologies. \nHardware-accelerated processing on edge compute platforms, including NVIDIA Jetson, CUDA, GPU compute, embedded AI accelerators, or accelerated video processing. \nIntegration of RGB, NIR, and thermal cameras, GPS, IMU, GPUs, or comparable peripheral hardware. \nRobotics, aerospace, defence, autonomy, unmanned systems, automotive, or other mission-critical domains. \nSystems architecture, interface design, software decomposition, reliability, maintainability, and testability. \nLow-level Linux, vendor SDKs, driver-adjacent debugging, NixOS, edge AI inference, containerisation, or application deployment tooling. \nAutomated testing, simulation, software-in-the-loop, or hardware-in-the-loop environments.","description_format":"text","description_chars":8137,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Military Drones","Defense Manufacturing","Defense AI","Drone AI"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-15T01:36:59Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":55,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.606,"p_room":0.9,"age_days":38,"expected_fill_days":76,"reasons":["conf:2","stale_co","velocity","win:mid","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/shield-ai-senior-engineer-c-software-r5848","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/shield-ai-senior-engineer-c-software-r5848.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-19T05:22:46Z","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":3133,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-20T00:00:00Z"}},"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":50},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=50"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fshield-ai-senior-engineer-c-software-r5848"},{"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%2Fshield-ai-senior-engineer-c-software-r5848"},{"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%2Fshield-ai-senior-engineer-c-software-r5848"},{"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/shield-ai-senior-engineer-c-software-r5848\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fshield-ai-senior-engineer-c-software-r5848"}]}