Software Engineer, Autonomous Systems

Software Engineer, Autonomous Systems

Company: Saildrone
Location: Alameda, CA (hybrid, 3 days per week in office)
Compensation: $210,000 - $300,000 + equity
Employment Type: Full-time
Visa Sponsorship: Confirm with recruiter (defense work)

About Saildrone

Saildrone is a maritime defense company whose autonomous vessels deliver persistent, wide-area intelligence in the world's harshest environments, harnessing AI, advanced sensor suites and renewable power.

Founded in 2014, Saildrone has raised $300M; its Alameda waterfront HQ has direct access to the lagoon where vessels are launched and tested.

The Role

Saildrone is hiring a Software Engineer (5+ years) in autonomous systems or robotics with strong C++ and hands-on experience shipping autonomy software on real vehicles, across perception, localization, planning, decision-making and vehicle behavior.

What You Will Do

• Design, implement and deploy production autonomy software in C++ onboard autonomous maritime vehicles.
• Develop algorithms for perception, localization, planning, navigation and collision/terrain avoidance.
• Contribute to sensor fusion across radar, camera and other modalities.
• Build local and global planners that use map and sensor data.
• Make practical trade-offs on constrained onboard compute (Nvidia Jetson).
• Validate behavior with simulation, telemetry and real-world data, building your own Python tooling.

What You Bring

• 5+ years in autonomous systems or robotics software
• Strong C++
• Shipped production autonomy algorithms on physical hardware
• Comfort across the full autonomy stack

Nice to Have

• Autonomous driving, aerospace, defense or maritime experience
• ROS, sensor fusion and GPU computing

Tech Stack

C++, Python, Nvidia Jetson, ROS, sensor fusion, simulation, Linux, computer vision, motion planning

REVENUE: 14% of first-year salary. Est. fee per hire $29K-$42K; 1 seat(s).

TARGET COMPANIES (suggested): Anduril, Shield AI, Applied Intuition, Zoox, Aurora, Saronic, Skydio.

BEST-FIT CANDIDATE: 5+ yrs; C++ autonomy on real vehicles; perception/planning stack; robotics/AV background; visa: confirm (defense; likely US person); location: Alameda hybrid 3 days. Engaged hiring manager.