Software Engineer, Core Systems

The future of defense will be decided by those who field intelligent machines at scale. At Scout AI, we’re developing Fury, the first robotic foundation model for defense, to give U.S. forces overwhelming, adaptable, and autonomous power across every domain. Fury enables human operators to command fleets of robots through natural language, and empowers those machines to sense, decide, and act together as one. This mission will ask everything of us: urgency, precision, and relentless work. The Role We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer who treats the code itself as the product. You’ll join the core software team at Scout AI and work across the systems Fury runs on: the onboard C++ code and core libraries, the cloud infrastructure that trains and evaluates the model, and the simulation and evals framework that tells us whether any of it works. A lot of this job is hardening. As our platform rapidly scales, our senior engineers actively drive architectural stewardship - continually refining abstractions, hardening core systems, and evolving our software foundation to support our accelerated growth. We want someone who can take that on: read a large codebase, understand it, spot the anti-patterns, and restructure it well. The same person should be comfortable building the test and validation systems that let the rest of the team move faster. We aren’t hiring for one narrow specialty. Depending on where you’re strongest, you might spend most of your time onboard C++, in GPU job infrastructure and cloud services, or in simulation and evaluation tooling. What’s common across all of it is a background building frameworks and libraries that other systems depend on, rather than applications on top of someone else’s framework. We use AI coding tools and expect you to as well, but we think of them as a multiplier on skills you already have. You should be able to write, explain, and debug your own code without them. We’re a startup. You’ll be moving fast, context-switching daily, and helping define the culture and process as we go. This is a rare opportunity to come in early and architect the future of defense. Responsibilities Develop and maintain onboard C++ software and core system libraries Build scalable, low-latency C++ and Python infrastructure for ML workloads Design cloud systems for data storage and GPU job scheduling Build simulation and evaluation pipelines, including synthetic agents, rendering tools, and scenario suites Create evaluation criteria and internal tooling to analyze and compare software release builds Refactor existing codebases to eliminate anti-patterns and improve system architecture Construct data pipelines for sensor calibration and 3D reconstruction workflows Implement automated test and validation frameworks across subsystem engineering teams Qualification Proficient in C++ or Python (either is fine) for core systems, simulation, evaluation, and tooling work Demonstrated experience navigating, auditing, and refactoring large codebases Track record of building shared software frameworks or underlying libraries Ability to write, debug, and explain complex code independently without relying on AI tools Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export controlled information or facilities Passion about defense of the United States and its allies May be expected to obtain and hold a U.S. Top Secret security clearance Nice to Have Cloud and infrastructure experience (GPU job scheduling, service deployment) Simulation or evals background Calibration or 3D reconstruction experience Edge or embedded hardware familiarity Why Join Scout Work on the world’s most important frontier, ensuring U.S. and allied dominance in the age of intelligent machines Be a core part of a team building the first defense-specific robotic foundation model Collaborate with some of the top engineers in autonomy, AI, and national security See your work deployed on real systems Help define the future of intelligent defense systems Backed by Draper Associates, Booz Allen Ventures, and other top investors Benefits Competitive compensation package including base salary and bonus Meaningful equity Premium medical, dental, and vision plans with $0 paycheck contribution Competitive PTO and company holiday calendar Catered lunch daily and fully stocked kitchen EV charging Relocation assistance (depending on role eligibility) The stated salary range below represents an estimated base pay only and reflects consideration of multiple compensation factors. Final salary offers may differ depending on factors including, but not limited to, relevant experience or training background, specialized skills, and business needs. Most full-time positions also include highly competitive equity awards, which form part of Scout AI's overall compensation package. In addition, Scout AI provides comprehensive, top-tier benefits to full-time employees.US Salary Range$170,000—$380,000 USD