Lead Software Engineer - Robotics Autonomy Platform
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
About the job
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
FULL_TIMEJob Reference: 187RAB-A78217BA
Date posted: 30 July 2026
Consultant: Taha Zubairi
abu-dhabi information-technology/development-and-engineering 2026-07-30 2026-09-28 defence-and-military Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi AE Robert Walters https://www.robertwalters.ae https://www.robertwalters.ae/content/dam/robert-walters/global/images/logos/web-logos/square-logo.png true