Software engineer jobs in San Diego, CA

About the role

The Ground Control Station (GCS) and Command & Control (C2) Software team builds the mission planning, command & control, and post-mission debrief systems that enable operators to seamlessly manage complex, multi-domain unmanned missions. We combine modern map-centric interfaces, web technologies, and robust backend services to deliver a world-class operator experience across air, maritime, space, and effects/expendables. In this role, you will focus on building modern, web-based GCS applications, advanced mission planners, post-mission debrief utilities, and general C2 interfaces. You will work across a modern, full-stack ecosystem (utilizing frontend web frameworks, responsive mapping libraries, and robust backend services) to translate autonomous platform capabilities into intuitive, low-latency, and highly reliable control systems. In this role, you will design and develop major GCS features, mentor mid-level engineers, and represent the GCS/C2 team directly to autonomy capability teams, flight operations, and external partners. It's a hands-on role for engineers who enjoy designing user-facing controls and mission-critical systems and want to see their code drive complex real-world operations.

What you'll bring

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Typically requires a minimum of 7 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree
• or 6 years and a Master’s degree
• or 4 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
• Experience with modern frontend frameworks (e.g., React, TypeScript) and building rich, interactive user experiences in responsive web-based applications.
• Experience full-stack or building backend in C/C++, Python, TypeScript, or Go, including service orchestration, command/status interfaces, and data pipelines between UI, ground services, and vehicle-side components.
• Deep familiarity with networked and distributed systems, including UDP/TCP transport, custom binary protocols, reliable messaging, pub-sub/IPC middleware, and serialization/IDL tooling.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools to accelerate software design, implementation, debugging, testing, and code review while maintaining strong engineering judgment, validation discipline, and ownership of final technical decisions.
• Demonstrated experience owning a major software capability or system from architecture through field delivery.
• Track record of mentoring engineers and growing technical talent.
• Experience authoring or negotiating interface contracts, API specifications (e.g., OpenAPI/Swagger), or ICDs with internal or external stakeholders.
• Strong debugging and profiling skills, including diagnosing browser rendering bottlenecks, API latencies, and network connectivity issues.

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