{"id":2468982,"url":"https://alion.io/job/swarm-staff-software-engineer-autonomy","title":"Staff Software Engineer, Autonomy","company":{"id":3847913,"name":"Swarm","domain":"swarm.aero","url":"https://alion.io/company/swarm-7","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"posting_text","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"inferred","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":["US"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":{"min":220000,"max":300000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":300000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Go","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Rust","optional":false},{"name":"SLAM","optional":false},{"name":"C","optional":true},{"name":"gRPC","optional":true},{"name":"Protobuf","optional":true},{"name":"ROS2","optional":true},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":true},{"name":"ZeroMQ","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-13T17:46:22Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-13","last_verified_at":"2026-10-15T10:52:01Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results.\nThe team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic.\nAbout the Role\nWe've built an autonomy stack that already runs on real programs and real hardware, and we designed it to be platform-agnostic from the start. The next step is the one that matters most: scaling it onto our own aircraft to field the largest drone swarm in the world. We're looking for a Software Engineer, Autonomy to own that stack and lead the work.\nThis is a high-leverage technical role. You'll own the architectural direction for the perception, planning, and control systems running onboard every vehicle in the swarm, and you'll raise the bar for the autonomy engineers building around you.\nWhat You'll Do\nOwn and evolve our autonomy stack, extending proven robotic foundations with agentic AI for onboard reasoning, adaptation, and swarm coordination at scale.\n\nHarden and extend the inter-robot and C2 communication protocols behind tactical swarm decision making on the edge, including under degraded and contested comms.\n\nRevisit and defend the hard technical tradeoffs as we move to aircraft and scale: onboard vs. offboard compute, centralized vs. distributed decision making, determinism vs. adaptability. Some of our current answers carry over. Some won't survive the move to airborne compute and contested comms. You'll decide which.\n\nTake autonomy capability from integration and test into fielded operation, and close the loop from test data back into the stack.\n\nMentor and technically guide a growing team of robotics engineers.\n\nWrite clean, maintainable, and efficient code, and set the standard for what good looks like.\n\nTravel up to 25% of the time for onsite test and integration events.\n\nBasic Qualifications\nBachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field.\n\n3+ years building soft-real-time embedded systems.\n\nDeep expertise in at least one systems language (Golang, Rust, or C/C++).\n\nProven experience deploying and validating robotics algorithms (Dubins planning, SLAM, Kalman filters, particle filters, A*, behavior trees, reinforcement learning, etc.).\n\nWorking knowledge of embedded systems (SPI/I2C/serial protocols, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, microcontroller programming).\n\nStrong networking fundamentals (NAT, mDNS, UDP/TCP, multicast, firewall configuration).\n\nExcellent software engineering practices with emphasis on testable, reliable code.\n\nPreferred Qualifications\nExperience with perception systems, sensor fusion, or multi-target tracking (Kalman-based trackers, JPDA, MHT, or similar).\n\nContributions to deployed robotics or IoT systems requiring complex edge processing (aerospace, autonomous vehicles, etc.).\n\nExperience with robotics middleware (DDS/ROS2, ZeroMQ, gRPC) and serialization formats (Protobuf).\n\nFamiliarity with government UxS interoperability standards (OMS/UCI, STANAG 4586, FACE).\n\nHands-on electronics skills (breadboarding, soldering, schematic interpretation, datasheet analysis).\n\nDeep learning experience.\n\nMust be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance. Active Secret clearance preferred but not required.\n\nITAR requirement\nTo conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.\nSwarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.\nWhat We Offer\nMeaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company\n\nCompetitive base salary commensurate with experience\n\nMedical, dental, vision, and 401k\n\nPTO and paid sick leave\n\nMonthly wellness stipend\n\nDaily catered lunch (office)\n\nPaid parental leave\n\nDirect impact on a critical national security mission\n\nA world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems","description_format":"text","description_chars":4632,"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":["401k plan","Equity","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Drones & UAVs","Military Drones"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-13T19:27:08Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":1,"expected_fill_days":29,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-15T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":300000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/swarm-staff-software-engineer-autonomy","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/swarm-staff-software-engineer-autonomy.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-15T12:13:17Z","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":18759,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-16T00:00:00Z"}},"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":3847913},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=3847913"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fswarm-staff-software-engineer-autonomy"},{"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%2Fswarm-staff-software-engineer-autonomy"},{"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%2Fswarm-staff-software-engineer-autonomy"},{"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/swarm-staff-software-engineer-autonomy\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fswarm-staff-software-engineer-autonomy"}]}