Staff Applications Engineer, Autonomy

Company Overview

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed deep-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include the V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, Hivemind Enterprise, and the Hivemind Vision product lines. With nine offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).

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Our Staff Applications Engineers will lead customer engagements and become experts in the Hivemind Enterprise product. They will provide technical expertise and support to customers during the implementation and use of Shield AI enterprise software products. This role involves working closely with customers to understand their requirements and ensuring successful product integration for AI & Autonomy development.

• You thrive in customer facing roles and are excited about traveling to customer sites, even internationally
• You enjoy problem solving and building relationships
• You’re passionate about autonomy, robotics, or aerospace

• You want to do 100% R&D and don’t enjoy customer interactions
• You’ve never programmed in C, C++, or Rust

• Become an expert user of the Hivemind enterprise software stack.
• Provide technical support and training to customers.
• Develop AI & Autonomy applications using the Shield AI enterprise software development kit.
• Assist the sales team in pre‑sales activities, e.g., demos.
• Assist in post‑sales deployment and integration of Shield AI enterprise software products.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation and training materials.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues.
• Help customers debug software/API integration issues.
• Collaborate with the engineering team to address customer feedback and improve products.
• Conduct minimal travel (~10%) to other Shield AI sites for demos, team offsites, etc.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 7+ years of industry experience.
• 3+ years of experience in an integration/applications engineering role.
• 3+ years of experience working in a startup environment.
• Strong technical background in software engineering.
• Strong proficiency in writing modern C++ code.
• Intermediate proficiency in writing Python code.
• Excellent problem‑solving and analytical skills.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

• Experience in the defense aviation or robotics industry.
• Experience building and running a small enterprise software applications/solutions engineering team.

$180,000 - $264,000 a year

Full‑time regular employee offer package:
Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:
Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part‑time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.