# Autonomy Engineer

- **Company:** Vatn Systems
- **Location:** Bristol Rhode Island, US (Not specified)
- **Salary:** Salary not disclosed
- **Contract:** Not specified
- **Posted:** 2026-09-02

## Job description

We're looking for an Autonomy Engineer to build the software that makes our AUVs capable in the real world. You'll own features end to end — from whiteboard to sea trial — and see your code run on vehicles in the water within weeks, not quarters. If you want tight feedback loops between what you write and what a vehicle does, this is that job.
What you'll do
Develop motion planning, path planning, behavior planning, and control systems for autonomous underwater vehicles
Build autonomy capabilities spanning navigation, collision avoidance, target following, station keeping, formation behavior, and multi-vehicle coordination
Make autonomy algorithms robust to the conditions that actually break them: degraded sensors, uncertain environments, dynamic contacts, and GNSS-denied operation
Own technical tradeoffs across performance, safety, reliability, latency, compute constraints, and mission requirements
Work directly with perception and sensor engineers to turn perception outputs into safe, effective autonomy decisions
Mature autonomy from prototype capability into reliable, repeatable, fielded behavior — including time on the water supporting test and deployment
What you bring
Strong engineering foundation — CS, Software Engineering, Robotics, Mathematics, Physics, or equivalent hands-on experience
3+ years writing production C++, Python, or Rust in a Linux environment
Experience building robust data-driven software
Ability to get up to speed quickly in complex, established codebases
Proven results in simulation and field tests
Nice to have
Maritime sensors, underwater acoustics, or subsea systems
Advanced degree (Master’s or Ph.D.) in a relevant technical field
ROS 2, or comparable robotics middleware
Estimation and sensor fusion (INS/DVL, Kalman filtering)
Prior startup and/or defense industry experience
Candidates must be U.S.Citizens and able to receive a Security Clearance.
Vatn is an equal opportunity employer, and we welcome candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

[Apply on the company site](https://www.joonow.com/en/job/autonomy-engineer-bristol-rhode-island-q65c99a8q5/apply)