Senior Flight Autonomy Software Engineer

CoAspire is a cutting-edge defense manufacturing leader in Northern Virginia, specializing in the precision assembly of advanced weapons systems. With over thirteen years of a legacy of innovation, we're at the forefront of building reliable, affordable mass weapons that protect and empower our nation’s warfighters. Our tight-knit team thrives in a collaborative environment where safety, quality, and work-life balance come first with a focus on professional growth at our new 27,000+ sq. ft. facility. Join us to make a tangible impact on mission-critical technology while enjoying Northern Virginia's vibrant community.

Position: You will build onboard autonomy software for collaborative airborne strike weapons. The work centers on weapons that communicate with one another in flight so a salvo can share situational awareness, reallocate routes and waypoints, and make dynamic targeting decisions within stakeholder-defined rules of engagement. Working with multidisciplinary engineering teams, you will develop planning, decision, and communications software - using classical algorithms, machine learning, AI, or a mix of all three - so networked munitions remain effective in contested, communications-limited environments.

Location: Fairfax, Va or Manassas, VA

Responsibilities:

• Develop/Modify cooperative autonomy algorithms for airborne and other strike weapons, enabling Network Collaborative Autonomy (NCA) capability.
• Design and implement weapon-to-weapon and weapon-to-C2 protocols/APIs that support tactical decision-making on the edge, similar to in-flight target updates (IFTUs). Existing government protocols/APIs will serve as a basis for this work.
• Integrate this functionality with the extant, embedded Operational Flight Program (OFP) stack.
• Create and validate high-fidelity simulations of cruise-missile flight, networking, and collaborative engagement.
• Train, tune, and test collaborative communications, track management, and target-prioritization functions using classical methods, ML, or AI.
• Write clean, maintainable, efficient code with automated regression and unit test cases that also interoperate with our CI/CD pipeline.
• Assist engineering leadership in diagnosing performance issues, evaluating design trade-offs, and recommending optimizations.
• Prepare clear technical documentation, analysis summaries, charts, and presentations for internal reviews and external stakeholders.
• Contribute to process improvements, autonomy tools, optimization algorithms, and workflow enhancements as needed.
• Support CONUS travel for flight test and integration events as required.

Basic Qualifications:

• At least 6 years of C++ experience with an advanced understanding of algorithms, embedded considerations, real-time programming and networking.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or adjacent technical degree.
• Previous expertise with collaborative communications in airborne platforms such as drones or other DoW weapons.
• Proficiency in Git for configuration management.
• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain security clearance.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, collaborative, team-oriented environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science or adjacent technical degree.
• Experience with USAF Weapon Open Systems Architecture (WOSA)

Beyond competitive pay, we offer:

• Full benefits from day one: medical, dental and vision
• 401(k) with generous company match and immediate vesting
• PTO and Federal holidays

Apply now! We're reviewing applications on a rolling basis. Let's build the future together. No agencies, please.

The anticipated salary range for this position is $140,000-170,000. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience, skills, qualifications, and internal equity.

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