Lead Engineer, Advanced Behaviors & Algorithms – Special Programs (Aerospace)

Location: San Jose, California, United States. The role requires U.S. Person status under ITAR/EAR and the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.

Base pay: $138,200–$190,100 per year. Actual compensation depends on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Company

hirify.global develops an advanced air mobility platform spanning air taxis, unmanned aircraft systems, physical artificial intelligence solutions, and aerospace and defense technologies.

What you will do

• Lead the design and validation of advanced mission behaviors, tactics, behavior architectures, and decision logic for prototype vehicles.
• Support rapid prototyping from concept behaviors and simulation through hardware-in-the-loop testing and flight-test support.
• Own the advanced behaviors discipline, including technical approaches, standards, and validation methods.
• Assess the technical feasibility of emerging concepts, requests for proposals, and mission requirements.
• Contribute across disciplines and collaborate with program leads and engineering teams to align technical approaches with program constraints.
• Prepare technical documentation, trade studies, analysis packages, and materials for internal and government-stakeholder reviews.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace, Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field; an advanced degree is a plus.
• Experience developing or validating mission-level behaviors, tactics, or decision-making logic for autonomous or semi-autonomous aerospace or defense systems.
• Familiarity with behavior modeling, simulation environments, and scenario-based testing and validation.
• Experience across the full development lifecycle, from concept through prototype, preferably in rapid-prototyping or advanced-programs environments.
• 8–12 years of relevant engineering experience or equivalent demonstrated experience, with the ability to work independently and take significant technical ownership.
• Must be a U.S. Person as defined by ITAR/EAR and able to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree in a relevant technical field.
• Strong aptitude for evaluating early-stage technical feasibility and contributing outside the core discipline.

Culture & Benefits

• Small, empowered Special Programs group focused on rapid prototyping and advanced defense development.
• High degree of technical ownership and autonomy in a resource-constrained, fast-moving environment.
• Cross-functional collaboration across aerospace, defense, and engineering disciplines.
• Pay-for-performance compensation culture.
• Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities or sincerely held religious beliefs.