Autonomous Drone Software Engineer - Swarm Systems (m/w/d)

Your mission

Build real autonomous systems that operate in the real world, not in the lab.

Mission

Join our engineering team and help build the core autonomy that powers our next generation robotic systems used for defense and mission-critical operations. You will design, implement, and harden robotic software that must perform under real operational conditions : outdoors, under uncertainty, with real consequences. Your work will directly shape the reliability, safety, and tactical capability of the systems we deliver.

What You Will Do

You will contribute to the development and integration of core robotic capabilities, including:

• Designing and implementing robust, real-time robotics software components
• Working with multi-modal sensor data, ensuring timing, synchronization, and frame correctness 
• Developing and improving algorithms in areas such as estimation, perception, planning, control, or integration 
• Ensuring deterministic behavior, reliability, and system-level stability 
• Debugging and validating robotic systems during field tests, under real-world constraints 
• Collaborating with a cross-functional team of robotics, embedded, and domain experts 
• Maintaining high engineering standards: code reviews, CI, reproducible builds, documentation 

You will execute on real hardware and iterate based on operational performance, field results are the final metric.

Your profile

Must-Have Skills

Technical Fundamentals :

• Strong proficiency in modern C++ (17/20) 
• Experience with ROS/ ROS 2
• Solid foundation in algorithms, data structures, and numerical methods 
• Experience developing software that runs on real robots, embedded systems, or hardware-in-the-loop setups 
• Comfortable working with raw sensor data (timing, noise characteristics, transforms, calibration) 
• Strong debugging skills: runtime issues, latency, performance bottlenecks, integration failures 
• Ability to architect clean, modular, maintainable software systems 

R obotics Foundation :

• Understanding of at least one robotics domain: state estimation, perception, tracking, planning, control, sensor fusion, or integration 
• Ability to reason about real-time behavior, latency budgets, and reliability requirements 
• End-to-end thinking: understanding how individual modules affect the whole system 

Mindset & Attitude :

Builder mentality : you ship working solutions, not theoretical concepts

Hands-on ownership : you proactively solve problems, even outside your direct scope

Field-driven mindset : you care about what survives real operations, not “lab perfect”

High quality bar : you aim for reliability, determinism, and clarity in your engineering

Startup drive : you execute fast despite ambiguity, and adapt quickly

Mission alignment : genuine motivation to work on defense-relevant, safety-critical robotics

Nice-to-Have

These are beneficial but not mandatory for initial success:

• Python for tooling or prototyping
• Experience with robotics middleware or real-time systems
• Background in optimization, filtering, or physical modeling
• Experience with embedded platforms, GPUs, or simulation tools
• We hire for core engineering ability, everything else can be learned here.

Why us?

Do you feel that you fit the description, but don't think you fulfill all the criteria 100%? Apply to us anyway. 

We look forward to receiving your detailed application via our online form. 

The world is changing. Exponential technologies are enabling new types of security threats. We are committed to staying ahead by building nimble, scalable, and cost-effective defences. We are looking for passionate developers who are eager to create exceptional products, safeguard our freedom, and strengthen the resilience of democracies.

About us

Who we are: Autonomous Teaming is a defence-tech start-up specializing in machine vision solutions. Driven by cutting-edge innovation, our team works on next-generation technologies designed to meet rapidly evolving security challenges.

What we do: We develop systems that enable computers and sensors to operate as coordinated teams, collaborating in real time to counter AI-powered asymmetric threats at scale — including drone swarms and other UXVs. Our mission is to build resilient, intelligent defence capabilities that perform reliably in the most demanding environments.

Who we are: Based in Munich, Berlin, and Toulouse, we are expanding rapidly across Europe with plans to open additional office hubs. We value close, in-person collaboration as the foundation for building complex, high-impact technology, while maintaining flexibility aligned to role and team needs. Our culture is built on ownership, responsibility, and trust — with a shared commitment to growing and building together.