Job Description

Role: Autonomy Engineer.

Location: Vancouver, WA (Hybrid — 3 - 4 days per week onsite).

Job Description:

Our client develops advanced automation systems, including ground and air autonomous systems and sensor deployments supporting defense and civil-aviation environments.

The company is moving from research and development into an operational business with a public-facing defense-market product. Its autonomy software has already been deployed at multiple airfields supporting daily operations, with future work expected to include third-party robotic integrations and new mission profiles.

The Autonomy Engineer will own one or more functions within the autonomy system and work cross-functionally with mechanical, electrical, back-end software, autonomy software, product, safety, metrics, and user-research stakeholders. This position is central to launching and scaling an autonomous airfield operating system.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define operational-design-domain constraints and rigorous KPIs to measure autonomy performance and success.
• Decompose autonomous behaviors, including perception, planning, and control, into modular sub-functions and prioritize them against the product roadmap.
• Architect unit, integration, Hardware-in-the-Loop, and Software-in-the-Loop testing pipelines to establish statistical confidence in code stability.
• Participate in field validation, including real-time debugging and root-cause analysis on physical hardware.
• Collaborate with hardware and software teams to establish compute budgets and high-level technical requirements.
• Define clear APIs and resolve system-level dependencies across technical organizations.
• Identify performance bottlenecks and long-tail edge cases, using data-driven analysis to address architectural gaps before they affect scalability.
• Travel to customer sites throughout the United States to lead Site Acceptance Testing and system commissioning.
• Design, code, and deploy production-quality C++ and Python software for ground robots, interfacing with RTOS, drivers, ROS 2, and DDS.
• Support sensor integration, machine-learning applications, fault-tolerant mechanisms, regulatory compliance, and rigorous safety, reliability, and performance testing.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree in mechanical, aerospace, electrical, or computer engineering; engineering physics; computer science; or a related technical discipline; OR a bachelor's degree in one of these fields plus at least two years of professional experience.
• Professional programming experience with C++ and Python.
• Experience with ROS 2, Git, Docker, Linux, and Bash scripting.
• Knowledge of ground-vehicle autonomy concepts, including localization, odometry, mapping, perception, and control.
• Experience with or familiarity with integrating robotic sensors, including cameras, lidar, radar, ultrasonic sensors, GPS, and IMUs.
• U.S. citizenship required.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Five or more years of relevant technical experience.
• Two or more years of technical product-management experience, ideally involving robotics or software.
• Experience developing production-grade robotics products or autonomous-vehicle software.
• Experience integrating sensors into autonomous systems.
• Ability to solve complex cross-functional problems and influence strong outcomes.
• Ability to translate ambiguous technical problems into clear product direction and executable plans.

BENEFITS

• Competitive salary.
• Comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, health insurance, long-term care insurance, short- and long-term disability insurance, and life insurance.