Senior Autonomy Software Engineer

About the Company:

Vantari is a specialist recruitment consultancy connecting engineering and technology professionals with innovative organisations across the defence, aerospace and advanced technology sectors.

We are currently supporting an early-stage defence technology company developing autonomous underwater vehicles for complex operations in GPS- and communication-denied environments.

About the Role:

We are looking for a Senior Autonomy Software Engineer to take ownership of the autonomy and perception stack for a new underwater vehicle platform.

You will develop capabilities including autonomous navigation, mission and path planning, object detection, sensor fusion and obstacle avoidance. Working within a small engineering team, you will contribute across the complete development lifecycle, from architecture and software development to simulation, vehicle integration and field testing.

Qualifications:

This role would suit a hands-on engineer who has successfully deployed autonomy or robotics software on real physical platforms.

You should be comfortable taking full ownership of your work and operating in a fast-moving, early-stage environment. Direct underwater experience is valuable but not essential; backgrounds in UAVs, autonomous vehicles, maritime robotics or defence robotics are also relevant.

Requirements:

• 5+ years of experience in autonomy, robotics, perception or related software engineering

• Strong C++ and Python programming skills

• Experience with autonomous navigation, path planning, perception, sensor fusion or obstacle avoidance

• Proven experience deploying software on real-world robotic or autonomous platforms

• Experience with ROS or ROS 2 and Linux

• Familiarity with computer vision or machine-learning frameworks such as OpenCV, PyTorch or TensorFlow

• Experience with embedded computing platforms, ideally NVIDIA Jetson or CUDA

• US citizenship or Green Card required, as visa sponsorship is not available

Benefits:

• Early-stage equity of approximately 0.5%

• Health, dental and vision insurance

• 401(k)

• Relocation support