- Robot type
- Drone · Defense
- Location
- San DiegoCaliforniaUSA
- Job type
- Software
- Posted
- Aug 9, 2026
- Salary
- $141,000–$215,000 a year
Full-time
Manager, Mission Systems Software
Job description
The Manager, Mission Systems Software , leads a large, multi-site team of software engineers building the onboard mission systems software for uncrewed aircraft, including vision-based navigation, autonomy, cooperative behaviors, and flight software. As a member of the Engineering management team, the Manager scales and develops the team through rapid growth, participates in defining and executing the software development strategy, budget, and program commitments, and partners with the Software Chief Engineer on technical direction.
AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.
We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s…
Job responsibilities
- Manages a large, multi-site group of software engineers, including budget planning, staffing, training, performance evaluation and career development. Attracts and retains high caliber staff and provides mentorship
- Scales the team through rapid growth: drives hiring, onboarding, and the development of engineers into senior contributors and leads to keep pace with expanding program demand
- Partners with the Software Chief Engineer to shape the mission systems software roadmap and priorities, spanning vision-based navigation, autonomy, cooperative behaviors, and onboard flight software
- Plans, coordinates, and directs software development projects across multiple programs
- Works in an Agile environment to coordinate software development including scope, scheduling, resourcing, and block/release planning
- Champions software quality through design reviews, requirements-based testing, code coverage, and disciplined branching and release practices
- Guides the reuse of common software across programs to reduce sustainment burden and accelerate delivery
- Partners with systems engineering, GNC, hardware, test, and program teams to align software with system requirements and integration and flight-test milestones
Job requirements
- BS degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related is required or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience
- 12+ years of software engineering experience, with a strong background in embedded, robotics, or mission systems software development
- At least 4+ years in a management or technical lead role, successfully leading a software team of 15 or more engineers
- Demonstrated success building and scaling a software team through a period of rapid growth
- Experience delivering flight-critical or mission-critical software through a full development lifecycle, from requirements through integration, test, and deployment
- Experienced with modern development and CI/CD tooling (e.g., Git/GitLab, CI pipelines, containerization) and Linux environments
- Demonstrated ability to work across software, systems, GNC, and program teams to deliver on program and customer milestones
- Occasionally may be required to travel within the Continental U.S.