Senior Collaborative Autonomy Engineer

About EpiSci

EpiSci, an Applied Intuition company, develops next-generation, tactical autonomy solutions for national security problems. EpiSci’s autonomy software is technology agnostic, operationally informed, tactically relevant, and has piloted swarms of uncrewed aerial systems and tactical fighter aircraft. Additional applications include crewed-uncrewed teaming for air dominance, cognitive sensors, and networks for advanced communications systems, as well as battle management command and control for informed decision-making. EpiSci delivers unmatched speed, cost-efficiency, and scalability as the preferred partner for defense agencies and industry teams seeking mission-critical autonomy solutions.

About the role

As a Collaborative Autonomy Engineer, you will develop collaborative autonomy behaviors for large teams of heterogeneous autonomous vehicles, across different domains (e.g., surface, air), with different sensor suites (e.g., camera, radar) that work together to accomplish complex mission vignettes. Your team will continuously add capability and demonstrate the solution to customers in real-world scenarios on a variety of HW platforms. Your responsibility will primarily be designing and developing multi-agent, multi-domain behavioral autonomy algorithms, and you will work with the team to make the entire system successful.

At EpiSci, you will:

• Contribute novel engineering ideas, algorithms, and concepts for cutting edge, modular, and agile autonomy capabilities in the fields of optimization, persistent search, and coordinated behaviors, applicable to a diverse set of Defense problems
• Write software that operates real autonomous aircraft systems (small UxS) as they accomplish tactical problems; the autonomy stack consists of a component-based architecture, and development will include robust modeling and simulation, software-in-the-loop, hardware-in-the-loop and flight test
• Troubleshoot and debug data sets generated during live, virtual, or constructive swarm autonomy testing on small UxS including complex behavioral autonomy system performance and robust, explainable operations
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, domain experts, prior DoD warfighters, and program managers to build software solutions for military missions
• Effectively communicate solutions to a diverse team of engineers, program managers, executives, and sponsors

We’re looking for someone who has:

• Bachelors Computer Science, Software Engineering or related engineering field
• 6+ years of software engineering experience with 4+ years of hands-on C++ development experience leveraging modern C++ (C++17 or newer)
• Strong knowledge of object-oriented programming and design patterns (e.g. Factory, Visitor, Strategy), as well as solid principles and clean coding practices.
• Proficient in authoring and debugging CMake build systems.
• Comfortable working in dockerized Linux environments (e.g. Ubuntu, RHEL) as part of a containerized development workflow

Travel Requirements:

• Must be willing to travel as projects require, usually for SW/HW integration and/or demonstrations; estimated average travel is 2-5 days every other month (10-20%)
• Interested candidates should also inquire about relocation assistance to EpiSci facilities near Destin, FL

Security Requirements:

• Must be a U.S. citizen.
• Must hold or be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance

For more information about U.S. security clearances: click here.

Nice to have:

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with 6+ years developing software in C++, Cmake, and Conan
• Experience with service integration patterns, message-passing systems (e.g., gRPC, ZeroMQ, or RabbitMQ), and Git-based workflows (e.g. Gitlab), CI pipelines, and Artifactory or Azure Container Registry
• Experience with Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), including integration and test experience on common COTS hardware devices (e.g., Nvidia Jetson, Xilinx RF/MPSOC, Raspberry Pi5)
• Experience working within modeling and simulation (M&S) and/or Collaborative Autonomy
• Familiarity with Multi-Agent Algorithms including sensor localization and mapping (SLAM), task allocation/optimization and behavior logic frameworks (state machines, behavior trees, hierarchical task networks)

Compensation at Applied Intuition for eligible roles includes base salary, equity, and benefits. Base salary is a single component of the total compensation package, which may also include 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, and paid time off. Note that benefits are subject to change and may vary based on jurisdiction of employment.

Applied Intuition pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum intended target base salary for new hire salaries for the position. The actual base salary offered to a successful candidate will additionally be influenced by a variety of factors including experience, credentials & certifications, educational attainment, skill level requirements, interview performance, and the level and scope of the position.