Engineering • Boston, MA (hybrid) • Full-time
Research & Development Engineer.
To apply, send an email with your resume to careers@missionautonomy.ai.
Our autonomy work is moving from proven algorithms to operational flight demonstrations for the Air Force. Coordinated groups of unmanned aircraft, reduced operator workload, live flight testing at the end of it.
This is an R&D seat, which means the problem isn't fully specified when it lands on your desk. You'll design the approach, prove it in simulation, put it on hardware, and go to the range to see whether it holds. Then you'll write up what happened.
What you'll do.
- —Design and implement multi-agent coordination, task allocation, and guidance algorithms for unmanned aircraft.
- —Move autonomy from simulation through hardware-in-the-loop to live flight test.
- —Build the simulation and analysis tooling the team needs to trust a behavior before it flies.
- —Debug real flight data — logs, telemetry, video — and turn what you find into fixes.
- —Support flight campaigns on site, alongside the operators who use the system.
- —Write up results: technical reports, customer briefings, and the next proposal.
What we're looking for.
- —Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, physics, or a related technical field.
- —3+ years of experience working on defense programs.
- —Strong C++ or Python, and the judgment to know which one a problem needs.
- —Experience with robotics or autonomy stacks — ROS/ROS 2, PX4, ArduPilot, or equivalent in-house systems.
- —A working grasp of control, estimation, or planning, and the math under them.
- —You've shipped something that ran on real hardware, not just in a notebook.
Nice to have.
- —Master's degree in a related technical field.
- —Flight test experience with UAS.
- —GNSS-denied navigation, visual-inertial odometry, or multi-sensor fusion.
- —Prior work on Department of War programs or SBIR/STTR efforts.
U.S. citizenship required. Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.
Expect periodic travel to test ranges.
How we work.
Startup pace.
We're a small company with real contracts and real delivery dates. Priorities shift when a program or a test window shifts, and the work shifts with them. Expect to change direction more than once a quarter.
You run your own work.
Nobody hands out tickets here. You get a problem, the context around it, and the room to figure out the path. That cuts both ways — it means asking for what you need and speaking up early when something isn't working.
Wide scope, small team.
You'll touch things outside your title: a customer call, a proposal, a test rig, a job nobody formally assigned. If you'd rather stay in one lane with a clean spec handed to you, this isn't the right fit.
Sound like you?
Send an email with your resume to careers@missionautonomy.ai, along with a short note on what you've worked on. No cover letter template required.
Posted August 23, 2026