Job Description

Location : Houston, TX (Hybrid)
Department: Engineering 

About Us

Paladin is revolutionizing public safety with autonomous drone technology. Our mission? To be on the frontline of emergencies within 90 seconds. When someone dials 911, our drones take flight, providing first responders with a real-time overhead view of the situation, amplifying their situational awareness and hastening response times. Leveraging LTE for unlimited range and control, our drones currently answer the call of duty over 1000 times weekly across multiple cities and states. 

Our vision is ambitious: within the next decade, our technology will be an essential tool for first responders in every city worldwide. As a tight-knit, passionate, and forward-thinking team, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of UAV tech and making a monumental difference in a rapidly advancing domain.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Manager of Robotics Engineering to lead the charge on autonomy, perception, and flight control for Paladin’s drones. This is not just a management role — it requires strong individual contributor roots and architectural depth. You’ll be responsible for building systems that perform in complex, mission-critical scenarios, and you’ll help scale the team to meet increasing demand across public safety.

This person must have personally taken products or major features from concept to full production, ideally in a fast-paced, startup environment. Experience in robotics-heavy domains like autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, or defense is highly relevant.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: Serve as a hands-on technical leader with strong architecture and system design skills. Be ready to write code, review designs, and unblock engineers.
• End-to-End Ownership: Drive robotics features and systems from conception to deployment, including perception, localization, controls, and mission logic.
• Team Leadership: Manage and grow a team of world-class robotics engineers (C++, Python, ROS2), while fostering a culture of clarity, urgency, and technical excellence.
• System Integration: Ensure seamless integration across autonomy, onboard compute, drone hardware, and Watchtower software.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Product, Hardware, Software, and Flight Ops teams to ship stable, scalable solutions.
• Field Reliability: Own robustness and performance in the field — our systems must work in urban, rural, and chaotic emergency environments.
• Customer Focus: Engage with public safety customers to understand pain points and edge cases, and translate them into resilient product improvements.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in robotics or autonomy, with at least 1–2 years in a leadership role
• Proven IC background — must have personally taken features or systems from zero to production
• Strong experience in C++, Python, and ROS or ROS2
• Deep understanding of perception, planning, control, and systems integration
• Experience building and scaling robotics systems in production environments (not just research)
• Strong architectural thinking with the ability to scale both systems and teams
• Familiarity with field deployment challenges (connectivity, compute limits, real-world chaos)
• A background in fast-growing startups is a major plus
• Relevant industries include: autonomous vehicles, drones, defense, industrial robotics, logistics, etc.

Bonus Qualification

• Experience with PX4, MAVLink, or drone-specific platforms
• Exposure to real-time ML inference or CV systems in the field
• Experience with FAA regulatory environments or public safety deployments

Why Join Paladin Drones?

• Impactful Work : Be part of a mission-driven company revolutionizing public safety and emergency response.
• Growth Opportunities : Join a fast-growing startup with opportunities to grow your career.
• Collaborative Culture : Work with passionate, innovative, and talented teammates.
• Competitive Benefits : We offer competitive compensation, health benefits, and more.

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary and equity packages
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Unlimited PTO and paid holidays
• Opportunity to grow with a mission-driven, innovative company
• A collaborative and fast-paced work environment

Join Paladin Drones and contribute to the future of autonomous emergency response technology. Apply today to be part of an innovative team making a real-world impact!

Paladin Drones is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

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