Software Engineer
US$120,000 – US$190,000 / yr base salary
Posted 4 Aug 2026
Advertised as “Software Engineer, Networking & OS (R5488)”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Level
- R5488
- Expected experience
- 2–5 yrs
- Management level
- Individual contributor
- Employment
- On-Site
- Contract
- Full-time
| Base salary | US$120,000 – US$190,000 / yr |
|---|
Study levelBachelor's or higher
Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.
Job Description:
As a Software Engineer (Networking & OS) on V-BAT, you will be instrumental in designing, implementing, and optimizing the network infrastructure for our Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) which is deployed in some of the most challenging environments worldwide. V-BAT is designed to operate in contested, GNSS-denied airspace, and our network must maintain highly reliable, secure, and efficient communication between all air and ground devices.
What you'll do:
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Design and build custom, resilient Layer 2 / Layer 3 network topologies optimized specifically for V-BAT mission profiles, focusing on device isolation, dynamic traffic management, and transmitting traffic across multiple links.
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Implement networking features directly on embedded Linux operating systems, including custom routing, TUN/TAP interfaces, user-space tunnels, and socket-level applications.
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Work backward from operator capabilities to build bandwidth-optimized, low-latency communication paths over lossy or constrained radio and satellite links.
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Write clean, production-grade C, C++, or Python code to build things like software-defined network interfaces, traffic shaping policies, and link failover mechanisms.
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Partner with software engineers, hardware engineers, and field operators to validate end-to-end network performance in both hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) labs and flight test environments.
Required qualifications:
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Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years of relevant experience, or Master’s with 4+ years, or PhD with 2+ years.
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Strong proficiency writing software in C, C++, or Python in a Linux environment, with a track record of shipping software that interacts directly with the OS networking stack.