---
title: 'Autonomy Platform & Runtime Lead at Neros Technologies'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/autonomy-platform-runtime-lead-neros-technologies-torrance-california-wxesfbqz7p46'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-13'
---

# Autonomy Platform & Runtime Lead at Neros Technologies

- **Company:** Neros Technologies
- **Location:** Torrance California, United States
- **Posted:** 2026-09-09
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/nerostechnologies/jobs/5234134007

## Job description

## Who we are

Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America’s drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.

As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems the West needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter the adversaries of democracy. We’re hiring engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast, take on extreme ownership, and get capability into the hands of warfighters in months, not years.

## What you will be doing

The Autonomy Platform Lead owns the onboard software platform on which all Neros autonomy software runs, spanning the runtime architecture and module interfaces, real time scheduling and latency accounting, on vehicle logging and time synchronization, and the build, release and deployment path onto the aircraft. This role leads a small platform engineering team while contributing directly to the software, and is accountable for maintaining a single configurable runtime across all Neros unmanned aircraft rather than per program forks. The Autonomy Platform Lead additionally represents autonomy in hardware co-design, carrying the compute, power, thermal and mass requirements of the autonomy payload into bill of materials decisions, and owns deployment of the autonomy software stack onto the selected embedded compute.

## Responsibilities

- Own the architecture, roadmap and delivery of the autonomy runtime, including the module interface contract, process and thread model, message passing, execution rates and latency guarantees that every other autonomy group develops against
- Maintain a single autonomy runtime across all vehicle platforms through a platform configuration layer, such that a new airframe revision is delivered as a configuration change rather than a software fork, and enforce that boundary against per program divergence
- Own real time scheduling, latency accounting and deadline monitoring, including end to end sensor to actuator measurement on flight hardware under sustained thermal load, and deliver the instrumentation required for latency to be enforced as a release gate
- Own build, release, versioning and deployment of autonomy software to bench and field vehicles, the autonomy continuous integration infrastructure jointly with the evaluation organization, and on vehicle logging and hardware time-stamping, including full rate capture with triggered dump, time synchronization across sensor, compute and flight controller, and log integrity, without degrading control loop performance
- Own the representation of autonomy in hardware co-design and bill of materials decisions by quantifying compute, power, thermal and mass requirements against measured latency budgets, and own deployment of learned components to the selected embedded accelerator, including quantization and characterization of the resulting accuracy and latency trade off
- Lead and grow the platform engineering team through hiring, mentorship and technical review, while continuing to contribute directly to the codebase as an engineer

You should have the following

- 5+ years of professional experience developing production embedded, robotics or real time software, including 2+ years leading an engineering team or a technical program as a tech lead or engineering manager, with continued hands on technical contribution throughout
- Demonstrated delivery of software onto a physical vehicle or embedded platform operating outside a laboratory, such as unmanned aircraft, ground or aerial robotics, autonomous vehicles, automotive or aerospace systems, including responsibility through bring up, integration and field operation rather than simulation or research alone
- Expert proficiency in modern C++ on embedded Linux, and working proficiency in Python for tooling and automation, developed under real time and resource constrained requirements
- Ownership of the architecture of a robotics or vehicle software runtime or middleware layer, covering the process and thread model, inter process communication and message passing, module interface definition, and execution scheduling, using ROS 2, DDS, Zenoh, LCM, or a proprietary equivalent
- Depth in real time systems engineering, including scheduling policies and priorities, CPU affinity and isolation, lock free or zero copy data paths, jitter and deadline analysis, and measurement of end to end latency distributions on target hardware rather than in simulation
- Experience implementing time synchronization and hardware time-stamping across sensors, compute and a flight or vehicle controller, using PTP or gPTP, PPS, sensor trigger lines, or equivalent, and reconciling multiple clock domains in logged data
- Ownership of build, release and continuous integration for embedded targets, including cross compilation and toolchain management, Yocto, Buildroot or containerized build environments, versioned and reproducible artifacts, and over the air or field software update
- Experience building high rate on vehicle data logging, including ring buffer and triggered capture, multi sensor and video streams, storage and bandwidth budgeting, and log integrity, delivered without degrading control loop timing
- Experience deploying neural networks to embedded accelerators such as NVIDIA Jetson and TensorRT, Qualcomm QNN or SNPE, Texas Instruments TIDL, Hailo, or equivalent, including quantization and characterization of the resulting accuracy and latency trade off
- Experience working directly with hardware and electrical engineering teams to specify compute, memory, power, thermal and mass requirements for an embedded compute payload, including system on module or carrier board selection and participation in bill of materials decisions

## Nice to Have

- Unmanned aircraft experience specifically, including integration between an onboard mission computer and a flight controller or autopilot, using PX4, ArduPilot and MAVLink or a proprietary equivalent, and familiarity with the flight modes, arming logic and failsafe behavior at that boundary
- Design and build of hardware in the loop benches, including sensor simulation and injection, hardware timestamp instrumentation, and integration of a HIL bench into automated release gating
- Experience carrying a software platform through transition to volume manufacturing, including per unit calibration data management, provisioning at the factory, and staged software update across a large deployed fleet

US Salary Range

$163,500 – $228,500 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

## About Neros Technologies

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: A defense technology company building combat-proven, attritable drones and unmanned systems to deliver asymmetric advantage for Western military forces at scale.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B)
- **Headquarters**: Los Angeles, California, United States (El Segundo area)
- **Founded**: 2023
- **Founders**: Soren Monroe‑Anderson (CEO) and Olaf Hichwa (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Defense and Space Manufacturing
- **Target customers**: U.S. Department of Defense (Army, Marine Corps), allied nations (Ukraine, UK), and NATO partners – B2G / government.
- **Mission statement**: “Building unmanned superiority. At scale. In America.” The company was founded to onshore the manufacturing of drones critical to a modern arsenal and close the gap between design and deployment.

## Products & Services
Neros designs and manufactures high-performance unmanned aerial systems (UAS) with a focus on first‑person view (FPV) attritable drones, ground control stations, radios, and supporting software.
- **Archer Strike FPV**: A kinetic‑enabled FPV drone for lethal effects at range in contested environments. Combat‑proven, BlueUAS certified, and selected for the U.S. Army’s PBAS program.
- **Archer**: General‑purpose FPV drone built for modular payloads and resilient communications; also available as the **Archer Fiber** variant (fiber‑optic control link for jamming resistance, launched Dec 2025 in partnership with Kela Technologies).
- **Longbow / Crossbow**: Ground control stations – Longbow is a maximum‑range stationary GCS; Crossbow is a tactical GCS enabling electronic warfare resistance at range.
- **APEX (Adaptive Payload Exchange)**: An open‑source drone‑to‑payload integration standard (released May 2026) with commitments from Northrop Grumman and others.
- **Software**: Flight control, autonomy, and manufacturing‑support software. Custom flight computer with integrated sensor suite, designed for rapid iteration and software‑defined hardware.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding – **$120.9M** raised to date (Seed $10.9M, Series A $35M, Series B $75M)
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Sequoia Capital (led Series B), Vy Capital, Cantos (led Seed); Kela Technologies (Archer Fiber), Northrop Grumman (APEX), DARPA (AI Grand Prix hardware provider)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Selected by U.S. Army for Purpose‑Built Attritable Systems (PBAS) program (one of three vendors) targeting up to 1M drones over two years.
  - 6,000‑unit export deal to Ukraine.
  - Established Neros Technologies UK with up to £10M investment over five years; manufacturing hub in Swindon.
  - Headcount growth: +355% YoY (approx. 75–88 employees); 52 active job postings as of mid‑2026.
  - Open‑sourced APEX standard to create ecosystem lock‑in.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Vertically integrated U.S. manufacturing** with a secure, onshored supply chain – founded specifically to rebuild the American drone industrial base.
- **Combat‑proven systems** (Ukraine, live‑fire testing) in high‑tempo electronic warfare environments.
- **BlueUAS certified** – compliance with NDAA and U.S. government standards.
- **Fiber‑optic control link** (Archer Fiber) that is immune to RF jamming – a unique differentiation in contested spectrum.
- **Open‑source payload standard (APEX)** to drive adoption and ecosystem dependence.
- **Rapid iteration culture** – “engineer at the speed of modern conflict” with continuous battlefield feedback.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale production**: CEO has publicly stated a target of 10,000+ drones per month; PBAS award and UK hub are key enablers.
- **International expansion**: Establish sovereign manufacturing in the UK (Swindon) to supply British Armed Forces and NATO partners.
- **Autonomy advancement**: Hiring Head of Autonomy, autonomy simulation engineers, and computer vision engineers to mature software‑defined capabilities.
- **Ecosystem building**: Promote APEX as an industry standard to lock in partners and expand market reach.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “Fast, hands‑on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.” Emphasizes extreme ownership, rapid iteration, and real‑world impact. Attracts talent from SpaceX, Anduril, Skydio, and Relativity Space.
- **Work model**: On‑site in Torrance (CA), with a Tennessee office (Advanced Manufacturing) and Ukraine office. UK hub (Swindon) also hiring. Roles include engineering, manufacturing, autonomy, RF, IT, and business development.
- **Notable perks / engineering culture**: Build products that are actually tested in combat; startup speed with mission‑focused seriousness; opportunity to shape the future of attritable drone warfare. Strong preference for builders, not watchers.

## Sources
1. [neros.tech](https://www.neros.tech/)
2. [Greenhouse Careers Page](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/nerostechnologies)
3. [LinkedIn Company Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/company/neros-tech)
4. [Built In Neros Technologies](https://builtin.com/company/neros-technologies)
5. [robotics.press Company Profile](https://robotics.press/news/neros-technologies-company-profile/)

## Other roles at Neros Technologies

- [Deputy General Counsel](https://feeny.ai/job/deputy-general-counsel-neros-technologies-torrance-california-61m1a1nke7he) — Torrance California, United States
- [State Estimation & Navigation Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/state-estimation-navigation-lead-neros-technologies-torrance-california-q90ye900eqd3) — Torrance California, United States
- [Manager, Autonomy Evaluation, Data & Test](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-autonomy-evaluation-data-test-neros-technologies-torrance-california-9f8ab1w23vtm) — Torrance California, United States
- [Senior Defense Strategist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-defense-strategist-neros-technologies-washington-district-of-columbia-xqa49cfqxa5w) — Washington District of Columbia, United States
- [Operations Project Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/operations-project-manager-neros-technologies-ukraine-p35p9vj7haz3) — Ukraine
- [Administration & Procurement Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/administration-procurement-specialist-neros-technologies-ukraine-qfe9qnmf93q5) — Ukraine
- [Finance & Operations Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/finance-operations-manager-neros-technologies-ukraine-83pf8eg8dqk3) — Ukraine
- [BD Pilot, USMC](https://feeny.ai/job/bd-pilot-usmc-neros-technologies-remote-85hnnrvdhpwd)
- [BD Pilot, Army](https://feeny.ai/job/bd-pilot-army-neros-technologies-remote-2008r199x9mp)
- [SMT Process Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/smt-process-engineer-neros-technologies-torrance-california-ja35p9t77vnb) — Torrance California, United States