{"id":1577462,"url":"https://alion.io/job/swarm-staff-software-engineer-real-time-systems","title":"Staff Software Engineer, Real-Time Systems","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":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"inferred","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":200000,"max":310000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":310000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-07T15:50:32Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-07","last_verified_at":"2026-10-06T01:48:38Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":28,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":28},"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.\nMost backend roles ask you to wire up an API and move records in and out of a database. This one asks you to build the systems that keep the largest drone swarm on the planet coordinated in real time.\nYou'll help architect the backend for Legion's Command & Control platform: the systems that let a single operator plan, direct, and execute missions across a networked swarm of heterogeneous aircraft, in real time, over intermittent comms, at a scale nobody else in the industry is attempting. This isn't CRUD. It's real-time distributed systems, high-throughput telemetry pipelines, and infrastructure for a problem space that barely has prior art.\nWHAT YOU'LL DO\nHelp architect the backend for a C2 system directing swarms of heterogeneous aircraft\n\nBuild distributed, collaborative real-time infrastructure for controlling large numbers of aircraft simultaneously, even when comms drop\n\nDesign and build the services that ingest, process, and distribute dense vehicle telemetry, sensor data, scheduling, crew resources, and data link management, much of it with no existing playbook to follow\n\nOwn backend features end to end, from design through deployment\n\nShip early, ship often, backed by strong CI/CD, QA, and DevSecOps\n\nWHAT YOU'VE DONE\nDegree in Computer Science or equivalent experience\n\n6+ years building complex backend systems with real distributed systems depth\n\nStrong instincts for reliability, performance, and scalability, and the tools to back them up\n\nBuilt and operated production backend services and APIs at scale\n\nWHAT SETS YOU APART\nExperience with real-time and event-driven distributed systems\n\nA track record with performance-sensitive, high-throughput application development\n\nFamiliarity with messaging and streaming protocols\n\nExperience operating systems under degraded or intermittent connectivity\n\nExperience with geospatial data or applications\n\nWHY THIS ROLE\n You'll be one of the earliest engineers shaping how humans command autonomous systems at scale, work that's currently being defined in real time, by a small team, with your fingerprints on the architecture. If you want to build the future of human-swarm interaction rather than maintain someone else's, this is that seat.\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":3788,"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":["401k plan","Equity","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-01T10:51:08Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":59,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.653,"p_room":0.9,"age_days":27,"expected_fill_days":45,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:mid"],"computed_at":"2026-10-05T05:45:15Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":310000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/swarm-staff-software-engineer-real-time-systems","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/swarm-staff-software-engineer-real-time-systems.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-06T02:36:05Z","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","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":3931,"day_limit":5000,"remaining_today":1069,"minute_limit":60,"resets_at":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z"}},"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-real-time-systems"},{"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-real-time-systems"},{"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-real-time-systems"},{"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-real-time-systems\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fswarm-staff-software-engineer-real-time-systems"}]}