Who We Are

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.

We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.

Our namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate — small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.

In addition to our San Francisco lab, we’ve opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.

The Role and Your Impact

We need a Principal Robotics Software Engineer to lead architecture across the Archimedes robotics stack: tracking, control, autonomy, and the infrastructure that lets us ship. You'll partner directly with our CTO and engineering leadership and own the path from prototype code to deployed software. You're the senior IC who's done this at scale, still writes the critical code, and knows how to take a research-y stack into a deployable product without breaking it.

What You'll Own

Architecture and technical direction for the whole robotics software stack

Performance and timing architecture: threading, process model and latency budgets across the system

Formal release process, packaging and deployment hygiene for fielded systems

CI/CD infrastructure and scaling the software org alongside QA

Mentorship of the robotics SWE team and the bar for code quality

Cross-functional alignment across controls, embedded, EE and optics

The path from prototype code to fielded software in customer hands

What We're Looking For

10+ years shipping robotics or real-time, hardware-facing software

Deep production C++ and real-time systems experience; still hands-on

Senior IC track record at companies that shipped to customers or operators

Track record building and operating CI/CD for robotics or hardware-in-the-loop

Experience taking software through formal release, packaging and deployment to end users

Where you probably come from: Senior or principal IC at robotics companies that shipped, defense robotics, AV, aerospace, or F1 and high-performance automotive programs that put software in front of operators.

We want to talk if: You've taken software from "works on the dev's machine" to "works in the field for a customer." You know the difference between a prototype that demos and a release that survives.

Not a fit if: Your background is web, backend or full stack, you're a researcher who hasn't shipped, you're a people manager without recent IC chops, or your robotics experience is benchmark-only.

Nice to Haves

ROS2, and the judgment to know when not to use it

Rust or other systems languages

Sensor fusion or perception background

Defense or safety-critical software release experience

Education: BS, MS or PhD in CS, Robotics, EE or equivalent. Track record matters more than degree.

How You Operate

Extreme bias for action. You ship working code on real hardware, not slideware

You debug from first principles, not intuition alone

Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment

Clear communicator across software, hardware, and operator-facing surfaces

Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

Why Join Aurelius Systems

Build more in 1 month than most engineers build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work goes downrange, not into a filing cabinet.

Career velocity is real. With no middle management, there are no layers between you and impact.

Work on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer — infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.

Join the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.