Senior Robotics & Autonomy Engineer (Collaborative drone autonomy)
Swarmer · Full-time · Posted 1w ago
Swarmer develops software that makes drones autonomous and allows them to operate together, in large, coordinated teams — no pilots needed. Our technology has been battle-tested in Ukraine — the world’s most intense proving ground for drone warfare.
In March 2026, we became the first Ukrainian defense startup to go public on NASDAQ, following a $15M Series A — the largest investment in a Ukrainian defense tech company since the start of the war.
Working at Swarmer means operating at the intersection of engineering rigor and frontline reality. The problems and environments are complex, and the stakes are very real. We built this software to enable democratic nations to defend themselves.
If you are motivated by building resilient systems that matter and by seeing the direct impact of your work, you’ll find purpose here.
We’re looking for a Senior Robotics & Autonomy Engineer to build and harden the collaborative autonomy behind our multi-vendor drone platform.
Your focus is multi-agent coordination: getting many drones to split tasks, stay out of each other’s way, and plan together in real battlefield conditions.
Build distributed onboard autonomy that runs in real time across several companion computers, under tight compute and link constraints.
Evolve our multi-agent algorithms (task allocation, deconfliction, collaborative path planning) to work with limited bandwidth, high latency, and packet loss.
Turn R&D algorithms into product-ready code: find bottlenecks, handle edge cases gracefully, and make behavior deterministic and fault-tolerant.
Optimize processing time, power consumption, and data flow.
Design resilient comms and coordination, including link-aware strategies and degraded-mode behavior when the link drops.
Build explainability for the swarm: intent and decision logs, human-readable reasoning traces, and post-flight analysis tools.
Own the simulation pipeline for your features: prepare digital twins, design multi-drone experiments, and close the gap between simulation and real flights in a measurable way.
Support field tests for your features: work with our test-range team, stay available online during flights, and travel to the test site occasionally.
4+ years building decision-making systems for robots or autonomous agents (planners, task allocation, behavior logic).
Hands-on experience with multi-agent or multi-robot coordination.
Strong Python on Linux. Experience with C/C++ and embedded systems is highly valued.
Solid grounding in linear algebra, control theory, probability, and numerical methods.
Hands-on experience with simulators and digital twins.
English at B2 or higher.
Would be an advantage:
You’ve contributed to ArduPilot or PX4, or modified flight firmware.
You’ve built distributed systems that run on edge devices.
You’ve worked in defense or EW-contested environments.
You’ve built, flown, crashed, and debugged your own drones.
A chance to shape the core autonomy and perception systems at the heart of Ukraine’s defense tech ecosystem and its international expansion.
Professional growth through hands-on work with advanced UAV technologies and exposure to international best practices in autonomy, CV, and ML.
Fast-paced, high-stakes environment where your contributions yield immediate, tangible impact on the frontline.
Agile, highly skilled team driven by engineering rigor and mission-critical goals.
Attractive compensation package including 20 paid vacation days, comprehensive health insurance, and paid sick leave.
Flexible working arrangements depending on operational and security requirements.
Benefits of the defense sector (military reservation, etc.).
✔️ Recruiter Screen→ ✔️ Technical Interview → ✔️ Management Interview → ✔️ Security check → ✔️ Offer
Ready to Apply?
Netherlands