Technical Lead Software Engineer (Multi-Agent Mission Systems)

Join Applied, a leading company in the field of autonomous systems and human-machine teaming. As a Technical Lead Software Engineer, you will guide a team of engineers in building intelligent agents that plan and execute missions using advanced reasoning, planning, and optimization algorithms. You will drive the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for the Autonomous Behaviors and Agents team, and direct execution from concept through delivery. This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of autonomous systems and make a meaningful impact in the defense and aerospace industries.

• Drive the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for the Autonomous Behaviors and Agents team, and direct execution from concept through delivery.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of engineers, driving design reviews, setting engineering standards, and raising the bar on code quality and algorithmic rigor.
• Guide the design and implementation of multi-agent optimization algorithms for distributed decision-making and coordination problems.

• A track record of setting technical direction, driving architectural decisions, and delivering complex systems through a team, not just as an individual contributor
• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Robotics, or a related technical field, OR 8+ years of professional experience developing intelligent agents or planning systems
• Experience developing in Docker and containerized development environments, and using Linux-based operating systems (e.g., RHEL, Ubuntu)
• Ability to translate complex mathematical concepts into clear technical documentation, and to communicate designs, tradeoffs, and status crisply to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience representing engineering in customer or program reviews
• Strong theoretical understanding and practical experience implementing algorithms for constraint satisfaction, scheduling, and optimization problems
• 8+ years of hands-on experience developing performant modern C++ (we use C++20), with 2+ years leading engineering teams or serving as a technical lead on complex software programs
• Understanding of service-oriented architecture and message broker vs. data broker paradigms, and experience making system-level architectural tradeoffs
• Experience mentoring engineers, running design and code reviews, and building healthy, high-performing team culture
• Deep procedural and object-oriented programming experience that employs clean code principles and good OOP design patterns, with the judgment to enforce them pragmatically across a codebase
• Prior work on defense, aerospace, or other safety-critical autonomy programs
• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Must be eligible for a U.S. SECRET clearance with Special Access Program (SAP) eligibility
• Background in Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) or defense applications
• Familiarity with real-time optimization under hardware/edge constraints
• Experience with game theory for multi-agent coordination or negotiation protocols
• Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles