Senior Robotics Software Engineer - Autonomy Runtime & Integration

At Orca AI Defense we build autonomous and AI-driven maritime systems for defense and government operators - perception, navigation and decision-making that run onboard, in real time, at sea, under conditions nobody controls.We are hiring a Senior Robotics Software Engineer to build the system the autonomy runs inside. You own the runtime - ROS2 architecture, module lifecycle, orchestration, state management, configuration, fault handling, and both ends of the stack: World Model ingestion and the Vehicle Interface down to the platform control systems.You will face hard real-time constraints, embedded compute, and a system that has to keep behaving correctly when parts of it do not. You own the stack across its full depth, from the interfaces at its edges to how the whole thing behaves in the water.What Will You Do?Own the autonomy runtime: ROS2 and modern C++ architecture, module lifecycle, orchestration, state management, data flow, configuration, fault handling and recoveryImplement the system's two contracts: World Model ingestion and Vehicle Interface adapters to the platform control systemsOwn deployment to the vessel compute: builds, packaging, versioning, configuration management and CIWork with system engineering and field teams on vessel bring-up, sea trials and debugging in the fieldBuild logging, recording, replay and observability - the ability to take any run at sea and reproduce it exactly on a deskIntegrate and operate the simulation environment (SIL) Own reliability, timing and performance of the stack on embedded hardware

Requirements

5+ years of software engineering in robotics or autonomous systemsDeep ROS2 and modern C++ ; real-time and concurrent systemsProven experience building the infrastructure around autonomyHands-on integration with vehicle platforms or low-level control interfaces Experience with simulation integration and automated testing for roboticsA field mindsetNice-To-HavesMaritime platforms, marine autopilots, NMEA / AIS / radar interfacesExperience making an autonomy stack portable across multiple vehicle platformsHIL bench design and hardware-in-the-loop validationObservability and data tooling for robotics Defense or regulated programs Challenges & OpportunitiesBuild the software layer of an autonomous vessel from the ground upOwn the infrastructure for a new productBe on the boat for the whole path from first line of code to deliveryJoin a small, high-impact team working at the bleeding edge of autonomy and robotics