Senior Autonomy Engineer

The Contested Autonomy and Navigation Branch at Leidos develops cutting-edge autonomy and navigation technologies for GPS-denied and contested environments. Based in Huntsville AL this role combines technical leadership and program management for the development and deployment of autonomous systems for customers including DARPA ONR AFRL and others.

Youll serve as both technical lead and program manager for small fast-moving engineering teams developing autonomy capabilities across multiple robotic platform types including UAVs ground vehicles and maritime systems. This role requires expertise in guidance navigation and control (GN&C) and autonomy combined with the leadership skills to guide teams serve as primary customer interface and manage program execution.

This senior role takes ownership of entire programs from proposal through field demonstration providing direction while maintaining hands-on involvement in critical technical challenges. Teams regularly participate in field experiments and flight tests directly supporting customer demonstrations of new autonomy capabilities; test campaigns typically last 1-2 weeks and occur 3-6 times per year.

Please note: This role is located in Huntsville AL. There may be opportunity to telework up to 1 day/week.

Primary Responsibilities

• Serve as technical lead and program manager for multiple autonomy and navigation programs managing teams of 3-8 engineers
• Act as primary customer interface for technical discussions program reviews and field demonstrations with government stakeholders
• Lead the design and implementation of full-stack autonomous systems from hardware integration through algorithm development to field deployment
• Lead and participate in field test campaigns including UAV flight tests on a variety of platforms
• Manage program schedules budgets deliverables and risk mitigation for multiple concurrent efforts
• Support business development activities including proposal writing white papers customer presentations and solution design

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Computer Science Robotics or related field with 8 years of experience or Masters degree with 6 years of experience
• At least 2 years of experience in program management or technical leadership for robotics and autonomous systems programs
• Demonstrated applied experience in guidance navigation and control
• Strong presentation skills including experience briefing technical content
• Proficiency in C Python or MATLAB for algorithm development and system integration
• Experience with Linux operating environments and version control systems (Git)
• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret security clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with open-source autopilot systems such as PX4 and ArduPilot
• Experience with navigation techniques such as state estimation sensor fusion visual-inertial odometry (VIO) or SLAM
• Experience with modern autonomy or motion planning frameworks
• Experience with computer vision including object detection obstacle avoidance and tracking
• Experience with ROS2 and Docker
• Experience with sensor integration (IMUs GPS cameras LiDAR radar etc.)

NKE

If youre looking for comfort keep scrolling. At Leidos we outthink outbuild and outpace the status quo because the mission demands it. Were not hiring followers. Were recruiting the ones who disrupt provoke and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. Were already at step 30 and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:

Pay Range:

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline onlyand not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job education experience knowledge skills and abilities as well as internal equity alignment with market data applicable bargaining agreement (if any) or other law.