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Lead Software Engineer - Robotics Autonomy Platform

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About the Role We are seeking a Lead Engineer for the development of secure Mission Computer platforms for advanced autonomous UAV and UxV systems. This is a hands-on technical leadership role focused on autonomy software, robotics, AI-enabled systems, mission computing, and platform integration. You will drive architecture decisions, software delivery, and technical direction across the autonomy stack while working closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Role Summary: Lead the architecture and development of the onboard autonomy platform that powers AI, perception, navigation, and mission execution.

Responsibilities

  • Own the architecture, design, and development of Mission Computer software platforms.
  • Lead development of ROS2-based autonomy, navigation, perception, and mission-management capabilities.
  • Drive integration between Mission Computers, Flight Controllers, sensors, and Ground Control Systems.
  • Oversee AI/ML workloads, sensor fusion, real-time inference, and secure communications.
  • Establish software standards, development processes, testing strategies, and release practices.
  • Collaborate with hardware, systems, security, manufacturing, and QA teams.
  • Provide technical leadership, mentoring, and architectural guidance across the software organisation.

Requirements

  • Bachelors’ degree in Computer Science, Electrical, or Aerospace Engineering (Master's/PhD preferred).
  • 10+ years of experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or safety-critical UxV platform development, preferably in defense or aerospace environments.
  • Must-have expertise with ROS2 and autonomy software architecture on NVIDIA Jetson and Qualcomm-based mission computer platforms.
  • Hands-on experience with Qualcomm SoC platform bring-up, including BSP integration, Linux/Yocto environments, boot chain validation, peripheral enablement, driver integration, and platform debugging.
  • Strong understanding of sensor fusion, perception, navigation, and SWaP-constrained AI/ML deployment.
  • Experience designing scalable software architectures and leading technical decisions.
  • Familiarity with secure computing, embedded Linux, and distributed communication frameworks.

Preferred Requirements:

  • Contributions to the ROS2 or NVIDIA Jetson open-source community.
  • Knowledge of ML, SLAM, or multi-agent coordination.
  • Familiarity with standards (ISO 27001, DO-178C, DO-326A, IEC 61508).

Tech Stack: ROS2, NVIDIA Jetson, Qualcomm, DDS, MAVLink, Embedded Linux, Sensor Fusion, AI/ML, Computer Vision, Docker, Kubernetes, Yocto, Secure Communications

Contract Type: Perm

Specialism: Information Technology

Focus: /spec/information-technology/development-and-engineering

Industry: Defence and Military

Salary: Negotiable

Workplace Type: On-site

Experience Level: Senior Management

Location: Abu Dhabi

Job Reference: 187RAB-A78217BA

Date posted: 30 July 2026

Consultant: Taha Zubairi