San Diego, United States
Discrete Planning Engineer - R5440
Shield AI · San Diego · United States
Posted: 7/24/2026 · Last checked: 10/12/2026
Job description
Quoted in full from Shield AI's job posting. Gavroche does not edit it.
Job Description:
The Discrete Planning Group is a part of the Autonomy Team for Hivemind Enterprise Product. The group is an agile set of engineers focused on researching and developing state-of-the-art algorithms that drive intelligent and confidence-inspiring flight behaviors while accounting for an uncertain and dynamic world. As a member of the group, you will work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, discrete optimization, and motion planning. You will architect and write high-quality software for core systems, set standards for software engineering, refine technical requirements, drive strategic technical improvements, and mentor other engineers.
What you'll do:
- Research, design, and implement state-of-the-art algorithms for optimal task allocation, scheduling and temporal sequencing of heterogeneous teams of autonomous vehicles (land, air, other).
- Solidify and improve existing C++ based mission planning software applicable across disparate vehicle types and compute platforms.
- Work with our engineers, program managers, and product managers to define a technical roadmap for future autonomy solutions and SDK offerings.
Projects you might work on:
- Breakdown a mission into assignable tasks based on agent capabilities such as navigating in contested and denied environments and adapting to mission changes in real-time.
- Construct feasible and optimal action plans for distributed teams of autonomous vehicles that also minimize human operator workload.
- Full software and hardware-in-the-loop simulation of complex multi-agent missions.
Required qualifications:
- Typically requires a PhD with graduate work in Optimization or Operations Research. Master’s degree with 4 or more years of work in the same areas.
- Expert in Integer or Mixed Integer Linear Programming, Constraint Programming, Convex Optimization, Multi-Objective-Optimization and using established solvers such as Gurobi, Google-OR, CPLEX etc.
- Significant experience in implementing algorithms in C++ and using debuggers such as gdb to troubleshoot execution within a multi-threaded environment.
Ways to stand out:
- Past publications on Optimization(google scholar profile).
Engineer II- $135,000-$200,000
Senior Engineer: $165,000-$250,000
Staff Engineer: $200,000-$300,000
Senior Staff Engineer: $230,000-$350,000
New openings in San Diego, by week
- 7/20/2026 21
- 7/27/2026 14
- 8/3/2026 23
- 8/10/2026 15
- 8/17/2026 43
- 8/24/2026 33
- 8/31/2026 55
- 9/7/2026 61
- 9/14/2026 70
- 9/21/2026 94
- 9/28/2026 57
- 10/5/2026 111
- 10/12/2026 5
602 openings over 12 weeks, by the week they were published.
Other roles at Shield AI
- V-BAT Internal Training Instructor - R5031 · Dallas
- Staff Engineer - Software - Autonomous Aircraft Integration - R4983 · Boston
- Ground Control Station - GCS - Software Engineer - R4758 · Dallas
- Senior Staff Software Engineer - Autonomous Pilot Integration - Expeditionary - R5193 · Boston
- Staff Software Engineer - Perception - R5421 · Dallas
- Staff Cross Domain Solution Engineer - R5356 · Dallas
462 open, including roles outside the United States.