Director of Autonomy

HavocAI

Director of Autonomy leading technical direction at HavocAI for maritime autonomy systems. Responsible for building and scaling systems for autonomous vehicles in complex environments.

Posted 6/23/2026full-timeGreater Boston • Massachusetts • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $225,000 - $250,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Linux

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own the technical direction for HavocAI’s autonomy systems across perception, planning, controls, behaviors, and vehicle-level decision-making
Define autonomy architecture, interfaces, development standards, and integration strategies across multiple engineering teams
Lead technical tradeoffs across performance, safety, reliability, latency, compute constraints, scalability, and mission needs
Ensure autonomy capabilities are designed for real-world maritime operations, not just simulation or controlled environments
Drive technical alignment between autonomy, perception, mission software, embedded systems, hardware, and field operations
Guide development of motion planning, path planning, behavior planning, control, and vehicle autonomy systems
Oversee autonomy capabilities for navigation, collision avoidance, target following, station keeping, formation behavior, and multi-vessel coordination
Ensure autonomy algorithms are robust to uncertain environments, degraded sensors, dynamic contacts, and complex maritime operating conditions
Partner with perception and sensor teams to ensure autonomy systems use perception outputs effectively and safely
Drive the maturation of autonomy from prototype capabilities into reliable, repeatable, fielded systems
Lead and mentor a high-performing team of autonomy, robotics, perception, planning, and controls engineers
Provide technical guidance to engineering managers, tech leads, and senior individual contributors
Establish strong engineering practices around design reviews, architecture reviews, testing, simulation, integration, and field readiness
Help recruit, evaluate, and develop top technical talent across the autonomy organization
Create a culture of ownership, technical rigor, speed, and mission focus
Drive autonomy development from requirements through design, implementation, simulation, field test, deployment, and operational iteration
Ensure autonomy systems are testable, observable, debuggable, and measurable in real-world environments
Use field data, logs, test results, and operator feedback to identify gaps and improve system performance
Support customer demonstrations, operational evaluations, and field deployments as a senior technical leader
Build feedback loops between field failures, autonomy improvements, and product roadmap decisions
Partner with product and company leadership to define autonomy strategy, technical roadmap, and capability priorities
Translate customer and mission needs into actionable autonomy requirements and engineering plans
Communicate technical risks, tradeoffs, and progress clearly to executive, engineering, customer, and program stakeholders
Collaborate with hardware, manufacturing, operations, and deployment teams to ensure autonomy capabilities are compatible with vessel platforms and field constraints
Help shape long-term autonomy investment across software, data, simulation, infrastructure, and platform capabilities

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor’s degree in Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field
10+ years of experience in robotics, autonomy, autonomous vehicles, unmanned systems, maritime autonomy, aerospace, defense technology, or related fields
Extensive technical background across robotics, perception, motion planning, control systems, and autonomous system architecture
Proven experience leading teams of engineers from a technical perspective
Strong understanding of autonomy software stacks, including perception integration, planning, control, behaviors, simulation, testing, and deployment
Experience taking robotic or autonomous systems from prototype through fielded deployment
Strong systems engineering judgment and ability to make architecture-level decisions across complex autonomy systems
Experience working in Linux-based development environments with modern software engineering practices
Ability to mentor senior engineers, set technical direction, and raise the engineering bar across teams
Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts, tradeoffs, and risks to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
High ownership, strong judgment, and comfort operating in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
Passion for mission-critical autonomy and real-world robotic systems
U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

Benefits

Comp & perks

100% Employer paid Health, Dental and Vision Insurance for you and your families
Life Insurance (Employer Paid)
Ability to participate in the companies 401k program (Matching)
Unlimited PTO policy with an enforced 2 week minimum
Equity Package
Work / Home Office Stipend
Global Entry
16 Week Paid Parental Leave
Monthly Health and Wellness Stipend

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

roboticsautonomymotion planningcontrol systemsautonomous system architectureperception integrationsimulationtestingdeploymentLinux

Soft Skills

leadershipcommunicationmentoringtechnical judgmentownershipproblem-solvingcollaborationtechnical guidanceadaptabilitymission focus

Certifications

Bachelor’s degree in RoboticsBachelor’s degree in Computer ScienceBachelor’s degree in Electrical EngineeringBachelor’s degree in Mechanical EngineeringBachelor’s degree in Aerospace EngineeringBachelor’s degree in Computer Engineeringsecurity clearance