Demo

Founding Autonomy Engineer

Voltair
San Francisco, CA Full Time
POSTED ON 1/1/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 1/30/2026
As a Founding Autonomy Engineer, you will serve as the principal architect of our autonomy stack. You will lead the development of sensor fusion and high-level navigation systems, enabling our quadcopters to autonomously fly line corridors while negotiating complex environments containing vegetation and critical infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

  • Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion: Design and implement robust state estimation pipelines by fusing data from IMUs, mmWave radar, stereo disparity maps, and VIO drivers.
  • Precision Control & Perching: Engineer specialized control laws and flight patterns to enable autonomous takeoff, landing, and perching on power grid infrastructure.
  • Path Planning: Develop intelligent path planning algorithms that optimize for high-resolution data capture of utility pole equipment while maintaining safe standoff distances.
  • Hardware Integration: Collaborate closely with the hardware engineering team to optimize sensor placement and integration.
  • Safety & Compliance: Develop Detect and Avoid (DAA) behaviors to ensure safe operation and compliance with evolving FAA regulations.

Required Skills & Qualifications

  • ROS2 Architecture: Demonstrated experience architecting and managing complex ROS2 graphs for autonomous systems.
  • State Estimation: Proven ability to implement and tune sensor fusion algorithms (EKF/UKF).
  • Simulation to Field: Experience validating algorithms in high-fidelity simulation (Gazebo) before leading rigorous real-world flight testing.

Salary : $100,000 - $200,000

If your compensation planning software is too rigid to deploy winning incentive strategies, it’s time to find an adaptable solution. Compensation Planning
Enhance your organization's compensation strategy with salary data sets that HR and team managers can use to pay your staff right. Surveys & Data Sets

What is the career path for a Founding Autonomy Engineer?

Sign up to receive alerts about other jobs on the Founding Autonomy Engineer career path by checking the boxes next to the positions that interest you.
Income Estimation: 
$113,077 - $147,784
Income Estimation: 
$135,356 - $164,911
Income Estimation: 
$153,902 - $198,246
Income Estimation: 
$181,083 - $218,117
Income Estimation: 
$222,110 - $256,974
Income Estimation: 
$224,976 - $270,947
Income Estimation: 
$205,834 - $254,869
Income Estimation: 
$242,530 - $287,120
View Core, Job Family, and Industry Job Skills and Competency Data for more than 15,000 Job Titles Skills Library

Job openings at Voltair

  • Voltair San Francisco, CA
  • Build the exoskeleton for a drone that routinely lands on 500kV. We build drones that recharge on power lines. The grid is everywhere. This allows our dron... more
  • 12 Days Ago

  • Voltair San Francisco, CA
  • About Voltair We build drones that recharge on power lines. The grid is everywhere. This allows our drones to collect spatial data anywhere. Think: unlimit... more
  • 15 Days Ago

  • Voltair Boise, ID
  • Role Voltair is seeking a Founding RF and Electronics Engineer to take ownership over development of a novel, low-power communications stack for drone tele... more
  • 11 Days Ago

  • Voltair San Francisco, CA
  • Please do not use AI to apply to this role. Marketing Intern Location : Mission District, SF\ Duration : 3 months\ Compensation : see below $2,500 relocati... more
  • 11 Days Ago


Not the job you're looking for? Here are some other Founding Autonomy Engineer jobs in the San Francisco, CA area that may be a better fit.

  • Pangolin (YC S25) San Francisco, CA
  • We are looking for a Founding Engineer to join Pangolin early and drive the development of our open-source, networking and secure access platform. As an ea... more
  • 1 Month Ago

  • Finic (YC W23) San Francisco, CA
  • Finic is looking for a founding engineer to help us tackle a multi-deca-billion industry - financial crime detection. This role is closer to a forward depl... more
  • 12 Days Ago

AI Assistant is available now!

Feel free to start your new journey!