Manager of Engineering - Autonomous Pilot Integration (R5153)

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Lead the Team — Manage a small-to-mid-sized engineering team (typically 3–8 engineers); own performance, growth, leveling, and delivery; run 1:1s, performance reviews, and team rituals.
• Grow the Team via Hiring — Drive hiring for your area: identify the skills you need, partner with recruiting, run interviews, set the bar, and personally close strong candidates.
• Grow Engineers Technically — Mentor engineers through hard problems; create stretch opportunities; give direct, actionable technical feedback; help engineers level up in both skill and impact.
• Develop & Field Autonomy — Develop & integrate autonomy software solutions onto launched effects platforms, including payload computer bring-up, autopilot integration (e.g., PX4, ArduPilot), multi-agent coordination,…
• Technical Leadership — Lead a small feature crew or sub-program; set technical direction, break down work, unblock the team, and report progress to leadership and stakeholders.
• Collaboration Across Teams & Partners — Act as a primary technical interface with the Autonomy Capabilities team (motion planning, tactics), the Perception team, feature crews, autopilot vendors (e.g., PX4, ArduPilot),…
• Design & Documentation — Drive design reviews, ICDs, and post-mortems for your area; push the team toward higher rigor and close process gaps that span teams.
• Pre-deployment Preparation — Own the build, configuration, and validation process for mission-ready systems and fleet-scale deployments (often 50–150+ units in disconnected environments);

Job requirements

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and/or similar degree, or equivalent practical experience
• Typically requires a minimum of 7 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 5 years and a Master's degree; or 4 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
• 2+ years of direct people-management experience (running 1:1s, performance reviews, hiring decisions, growth planning).
• Demonstrated experience building or growing an engineering team — including interviewing, hiring, and onboarding new engineers.
• Track record of mentoring engineers and growing their technical skill and career trajectory.
• Demonstrated experience leading a small technical team or owning a major capability from design through field delivery.
• Experience authoring or negotiating interface contracts / ICDs with internal or external stakeholders.
• Direct experience with launched effects, loitering munitions, expendable autonomous systems, or comparable small unmanned platforms.