Technical Lead Software Engineer - Autonomy Mission Systems

About the Company

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining, and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence.

Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. The company operates in-office with an expectation that employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week, though flexibility is provided for occasional remote work or adjusted schedules to accommodate personal commitments.

About the Role

Applied is seeking a Technical Team Lead with strong foundations in algorithmic optimization, multi-agent systems, and leadership skills. You will lead the team tackling the most complex computational challenges in our real-time decision-making platform, helping set the technical direction for advanced algorithms that push the boundaries of autonomous coordination and planning.

This role is for a mission-driven senior technical leader on the Autonomous Behaviors and Agents engineering team, focused on next-generation human-machine teaming and real-time decision-making systems. You will guide a team of engineers building intelligent agents that plan and execute missions using advanced reasoning, planning, and optimization algorithms, while remaining hands-on where it matters most. The work spans real-time scenarios, heterogeneous platforms (air, space, land, surface, sub-surface), and software that integrates seamlessly with human operators.

Your leadership will shape the Axion and Acuity family of systems, enabling breakthrough capabilities in human-machine teaming across all domains. If you thrive on owning outcomes in fast-moving, mission-oriented environments and love building autonomy that supports warfighters, this is the role for you.

Responsibilities

• Drive the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for the Autonomous Behaviors and Agents team, and direct execution from concept through delivery.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of engineers, driving design reviews, setting engineering standards, and raising the bar on code quality and algorithmic rigor.
• Guide the design and implementation of multi-agent optimization algorithms for distributed decision-making and coordination problems.
• Direct development of temporal logic frameworks and constraint-satisfaction algorithms for complex planning scenarios.
• Partner with product, program, and customer-facing stakeholders to translate mission needs into technical priorities, scope, and delivery commitments.
• Coordinate cross-team integration and de-risk dependencies across the Axion and Acuity system families.

Requirements

• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Robotics, or a related technical field, OR 8+ years of professional experience developing intelligent agents or planning systems.
• 8+ years of hands-on experience developing performant modern C++ (C++20), with 2+ years leading engineering teams or serving as a technical lead on complex software programs.
• A track record of setting technical direction, driving architectural decisions, and delivering complex systems through a team, not just as an individual contributor.
• Strong theoretical understanding and practical experience implementing algorithms for constraint satisfaction, scheduling, and optimization problems.
• Deep procedural and object-oriented programming experience that employs clean code principles and good OOP design patterns, with the judgment to enforce them pragmatically across a codebase.
• Experience developing in Docker and containerized development environments, and using Linux-based operating systems (e.g., RHEL, Ubuntu).
• Understanding of service-oriented architecture and message broker vs. data broker paradigms, and experience making system-level architectural tradeoffs.
• Ability to translate complex mathematical concepts into clear technical documentation, and to communicate designs, tradeoffs, and status crisply to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience mentoring engineers, running design and code reviews, and building healthy, high-performing team culture.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen and eligible for a U.S. SECRET clearance with Special Access Program (SAP) eligibility.

Nice to Have

• Prior work on defense, aerospace, or other safety-critical autonomy programs.
• Experience representing engineering in customer or program reviews.
• Experience with game theory for multi-agent coordination or negotiation protocols.
• Familiarity with real-time optimization under hardware/edge constraints.
• Background in Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) or defense applications.

Travel Requirements

Occasional travel required (approx. 10–20%) for demonstrations, integration, or customer engagement.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary and equity in the form of options and/or restricted stock units.
• Comprehensive health, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance coverage.
• 401k retirement benefits with employer match.
• Learning and wellness stipends.
• Paid time off.

Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Pay

Base salary range: $175,000 - $275,000. The actual base salary offered will be influenced by factors including experience, credentials & certifications, educational attainment, skill level requirements, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.