Lead Software Engineer

Technology Innovation Institute (TII) is a publicly funded research institute, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is home to a diverse community of leading scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and researchers from across the globe, transforming problems and roadblocks into pioneering research and technology prototypes that help move society ahead.

Role Overview

• As an experienced Lead Engineer with expertise in flight control systems and companion compute platforms, your leading role will be in designing, implementing, and maintaining software solutions across NXP-based PX4 flight controllers and Nvidia-based and Qualcomm-based mission computers. You will optimize solutions for reliability, safety, and performance in complex UAV operations.
• This position requires a deep understanding of real-time embedded systems, proficiency in PX4 autopilot software, and the ability to integrate high-performance applications on NVIDIA& Qualcomm IQ9 platforms. As a leader in our UAV development projects, you will play a key role in shaping our autonomy stack, ensuring scalability, safety, and secure communication across the system.
• Lead engineer will take ownership in developing SW features and productization of the TII Secure Software Platform for large-scale defense UxV (Unmanned Vehicle) mission computer applications.

Autonomy Software Development

• Integrate robotics applications on NVIDIA & Qualcomm IQ9 platforms for perception, planning, and navigation.
• Develop and integrate ROS2-based nodes and middleware to support modular autonomy stacks.
• Optimize GPU-based AI/ML workloads for real-time inference, sensor fusion, and decision-making.

System Integration and Middleware

• Experience implementing secure application-level network protocols (NATS, ACL, DDS, etc.) between robotic platforms and Ground Control Station
• applications, including message exchange, authentication, encryption, telemetry, command/control flows, and secure communication handling.
• Develop tools and APIs for efficient data exchange across mission-critical components.
• Support multi-sensor integration (camera, LiDAR, GNSS, IMU) with ROS2 middleware.
• Has basic understanding on Flight Controller devices and PX4-based flight-control platforms, including real-time operation, MAVLink/UDP communication, telemetry, command/control flows, parameter management, sensor/peripheral interfaces, and integration with NVIDIA-based Mission Computer software.
• Ability to work with Flight Controller hardware, FPGA, security, and systems teams to validate end-to-end integration across Mission Computer, Flight Controller, Ground Control Station, and unmanned vehicle platforms.

Security and Reliability

• Design and enforce cybersecurity measures for UAV autonomy software (secure boot, encrypted comms, sandboxing).
• Implement identity management and access control for mission software deployments.
• Conduct threat modeling, vulnerability assessments, and apply secure coding practices.
• Ensure compliance with aerospace cybersecurity frameworks (ISO 27001, DO-326A).

Automation and DevOps

• Build CI/CD pipelines for deployment of ROS2 and AI workloads on NVIDIA Jetson and Qualcomm IQ9.
• Use containerization (Docker) and orchestration tools for reproducible autonomous flight stacks.
• Apply understanding of MATLAB and related engineering tools for automation, test scripting, data analysis, model-based workflows, validation support, and manufacturing procedure automation.

Engineering Process Optimization

• Implement telemetry, logging, and diagnostics for real-time system monitoring.
• Continuously optimize software for GPU utilization, latency reduction, and energy efficiency.
• Define and enforce best practices in software development lifecycle (SDLC) for autonomy stack.
• Standardize coding guidelines, documentation, and review processes to ensure maintainability and quality.
• Define KPIs (e.g., deployment cycle time, test coverage, system uptime, security incidents) to track engineering efficiency.
• Encourage reuse of components and frameworks across projects to reduce duplication.
• Organize regular code reviews, technical retrospectives, and knowledge-sharing sessions.
• Sprint planning, backlog grooming, and daily stand-ups.
• Automated testing, HITL/SITL, code review, and release management.
• Metrics tracking, velocity, and continuous improvement of the engineering process.

Industry / Domain

Defense Autonomous Systems / Secure Mission Computing / Unmanned Vehicles (UxV)

Necessary Knowledge and Experience

• 10+ years of experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or safety-critical UxV platform development, preferably in defense or aerospace environments.
• Proficiency in real-time embedded systems and Python for automation, AI/ML workflows, testing, and data pipelines.
• Strong experience with ROS2, XRCE-DDS, MAVLink, and modular autonomy stack archite