Senior Manager, GNC (R5627)

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.

About the role

As manager of the Guidance and Control team, you will lead and maintain all control and autonomy algorithms within the V-BAT code base. The team is responsible for full lifecycle development, including algorithm development, software design and coding, unit tests, component tests, flight software qualification, and flight test support. You will negotiate workshare and integrate solutions tightly with the Hivemind team, the State Estimation team, the Simulation Development team, the Aerodynamics team, and the Embedded Software team.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Guidance and Control team through the full lifecycle of control and autonomy algorithms, from development to flight test support.
• Negotiate workshare and align solutions with cross-functional teams, including Hivemind, State Estimation, Simulation Development, Aerodynamics, and Embedded Software.
• Grow and maintain a high-performance team with a focus on individual career growth plans and mentorship.
• Identify team weaknesses and address capability gaps through training or hiring.
• Deliver user-centric software solutions with excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 7 years with a Master’s degree; or 5 years with a PhD.
• Proven track record of successfully shipping products in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience growing and mentoring team members, including career growth planning.
• Ability to identify team weaknesses and fill capability gaps through training or hiring.
• Strong negotiation skills for cross-functional work alignment.
• Experience with control systems, specifically unmanned aerial systems and/or robotics, including:
  • Outer loop path planning / trajectory synthesis.
  • Integrating software in a hierarchical environment.

Qualifications

• Familiarity with continuous integration/delivery and test-driven development.
• Experience with software autonomy stack architecture and hierarchical design for robust, maintainable code.
• Knowledge of outer loop guidance algorithms for trajectory optimization.
• Controls expertise, including:
  • Linear system analysis (Gain/Phase margin analysis, Pole placement, LQR algorithms).
  • Filter development, verification, and validation (Discrete filters, Kalman filters).
• Proficiency in C++ and Python.

Pay

$230,000 - $350,000 a year.

Benefits

• Full-time regular employee package: Pay within range + Bonus + Benefits + Equity.
• Temporary employee package: Pay within range + temporary benefits (applicable after 60 days of employment).

Salary compensation is influenced by factors including skill set, level of experience, licenses, certifications, and work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background check and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits.