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San Diego, United States

Principal Engineer - Software - R5285

Shield AI · San Diego · United States

Full timeHybridSoftware Engineer

Posted: 7/1/2026 · Last checked: 10/12/2026

Job description

Quoted in full from Shield AI's job posting. Gavroche does not edit it.

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 
Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

Job Description:

The Special Projects team at Shield AI is an elite force within the office of the CTO. It consists of a group of very senior (L5-L8) and highly experienced software engineering experts from diverse fields (aerospace, robotics, cloud infrastructure, game development, interactive media design, ...). The charter of this group is to steer technology development towards strategic alignment with the CTO’s vision, through tactical insertion into teams and technologies across the organization. Individuals within this team make direct and at times forward-sprinting contributions to all three pillars of Hivemind, Shield AI’s software ecosystem for developing and deploying resilient intelligent teaming for aircrafts. Hivemind consists of four products: EdgeOS (C++ based high-performance middleware for autonomy development), Pilot (autonomy for the edge built atop EdgeOS; a models-based, modular and open architecture C++ codebase), Forge (Shield AI's AI Factory for the design, development, and testing of Hivemind Edge systems; a service-oriented architecture leveraged through an SDK, CLI, and web portal; a Go, Python, Typescript codebase), Commander (Software and hardware to support rich human-in-the-loop and human-on-the-loop interactions with the Hivemind; a C++-based back-end for interaction with Pilot; and a web-application UI for mission planning, command and control by operators implemented in a Typescript/React codebase).

The Special Projects team is chartered to operate effectively within ambiguity. While this team does not own any software products, it tactically and strategically impacts the development of all foundational Hivemind products and leverages those technologies to rapidly deliver low-TRL solutions. This work happens shoulder-to-shoulder with the product teams in some cases, and in a forward-sprinting manner within the Special Projects team in other cases. The result is direct contribution to products in the former case, and development of reference implementations in the latter. The Special Projects team also functions as a pipeline for product and solution engineering teams across the organization. Individuals who enter the Special Projects team rapidly gain depth and breadth in their understanding of the Hivemind software ecosystem. This positions them well for leading technology development effort across the product and solution organization. 

What you'll do:

  • Design and prototype generative AI experience focused on accelerating autonomy development
  • Work closely with members of the Office of the CTO to crystallize the vision of the Hivemind product and its documentation
  • Lead the user experience design of Hivemind Generative AI
  • Work closely with the technical leads of Hivemind Commander (mission planning, command and control, air-ground communications) and Hivemind Design (configurations, test and evaluation, rehearsal, analysis) to enhance the user experience of their products
  • Conduct user research to understand user personae and their needs
  • Investigate competing products and their user experiences, synthesize findings to present to engineering and product leadership

Required qualifications:

  • 15+ years experience developing large, production quality software systems.  
  • Excellent grasp of software development and coding principles with high productivity in a mainstream language (e.g. Typescript, C++, Go, Python, Rust, etc.).  
  • Strong knowledge of modern software engineering best practices; Experience with Git and code management tools; Good software hygiene regarding code documentation, unit testing, bug tracking.   
  • 5+ years of experience with React/Node/Typescript/Javascript development.
  • 5+ years of experience with Web applications development ("Front-End" or "Full-stack").
  • Deep understanding full-stack web development (Document-Object Model (DOM), browser APIs, standards, semantics, Websockets, HTTP Streaming and Server-Sent Events (SSE), Client and UI state management; best practises and strategies, as they apply to React-based rendering, Advanced SPA routing, URL-based state persistence,sharing mechanisms, Seamless content loading states and progressive rendering techniques.)
  • Multi-modal input handling (text, files, images, audio). Experience with client-side LLM Context Management
  • Fluid intelligence that allows one to operate effectively in sometimes ambiguous conditions, while finding opportunities to drive technical efforts and force multiply. 
  • Experience with Linux, Docker, and CI/CD environments.  
  • Hands-on experience with a major cloud platform (Azure, GCP, AWS).  
  • This role requires travel to a Shield AI location 1-3 times per quarter

Preferred qualifications:

  • Experience with geospatial data and WebGL. 
  • Experience with Playwright UI testing
  • Experience with Electron (or similar).  
  • Building debugging/inspection UIs for generative AI systems
  • Experience with user experience design video games
  • Experience designing for “Low Code” or “No Code” systems
  • Experience and/or comfort reading C++ and/or Python and/or Typescript
#LI-KC3
#LF

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.
 
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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. 

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