---
title: 'Senior Navigation Software Engineer at Theseus Technology Corp'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-navigation-software-engineer-theseus-technology-corp-san-francisco-fn8qjvnjmxzp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Senior Navigation Software Engineer at Theseus Technology Corp

- **Company:** Theseus Technology Corp
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Compensation:** $150k–$220k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-04-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/theseus-us/am9icG9zdDqGJjETTqLWmFVugYDCtnQx

## Job description

## Who we are

Theseus is a defense technology company building visual positioning to solve reliability for the next 10 million drones. We’re focused on localization in GPS-denied environments because we believe it is one of the biggest blockers to making autonomous systems reliable in the real world.

Our products are already being used in operational environments today. We’re a small team with high ownership and accountability, and we’re looking for engineers who want to move fast, work against real-world constraints, and see their systems deployed in the field.

## The role

We’re seeking a Senior Navigation Software Engineer to lead development of the real-time navigation and state estimation systems at the core of our autonomy stack.

You’ll own the systems that turn onboard sensor data into a continuous, reliable estimate of position and motion without GPS. This role is for someone who can independently drive technical decisions, build robust estimation software, and take systems from concept through deployment on real hardware in demanding environments.

You will:

- Own navigation and state estimation systems end to end, from algorithm design to deployment and field iteration
- Design and improve sensor fusion pipelines that turn onboard sensor data into reliable navigation outputs
- Build estimators that remain robust under real-world failure modes, degraded sensing, and constrained compute
- Define system behavior across initialization, nominal operation, degradation, and recovery, with clear health monitoring
- Drive architecture and technical tradeoffs across the navigation stack, balancing accuracy, robustness, latency, and simplicity
- Partner with autonomy, platform, and flight systems engineers to integrate navigation into the broader product
- Test, debug, and improve system performance in simulation and real flight conditions

You should have the following

- 4+ years of experience working on robotics navigation, localization, state estimation, sensor fusion, or a closely related problem
- Deep understanding of probabilistic estimation methods, such as Kalman filtering, optimization-based estimation, or visual-inertial navigation
- Strong intuition for inertial sensing, coordinate frames, observability, uncertainty, and real-world failure modes in deployed systems
- Experience building estimation systems that work with real sensor data, not just in simulation or offline research settings
- Strong software engineering skills in C++ and Python
- Demonstrated ability to own technically ambiguous problems and make sound architectural tradeoffs
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills

## Nice to have

- Experience with drones, UAV autonomy, or flight control software such as ArduPilot or PX4
- Background in visual-inertial odometry, SLAM, or production localization systems
- Experience deploying robotics software on edge or embedded compute platforms
- Familiarity with map matching, factor graphs, or multi-sensor fusion architectures
- Experience building evaluation, benchmarking, or validation infrastructure for estimation systems
- Background in aerospace, GNC, autonomous vehicles, or inertial navigation systems

## About Theseus Technology Corp

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Theseus builds software-first visual positioning systems for drones operating in GPS-denied environments, enabling reliable navigation when GPS is jammed, spoofed, or unavailable.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Pre-Seed round in 2024, Seed round in 2025)
- **Headquarters**: Stanford, CA / San Francisco, United States
- **Founded**: March 2024
- **Founders**: Ian Laffey (CEO) and Sacha Lévy (CTO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Defense and Space Manufacturing
- **Target customers**: B2B – primarily U.S. Department of Defense, Special Operations Command (SOCOM), and drone manufacturers
- **Mission**: To keep humans far from the battlefield and ensure reliable position when GPS is jammed, spoofed, or gone.

## Products & Services
- **Micro Visual Positioning System (VPS) / Visual Navigation System (VNS)**: A software-only, passive system that uses onboard cameras, inertial sensors, and pre-loaded satellite imagery to compute position fixes. It sends a fake GPS signal to any drone, enabling operation in contested environments. Integrations typically take less than 30 minutes. The system is low-cost, lightweight, and has no RF signature.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Total Funding**: $4,925,000 (Pre-Seed $500K led by Y Combinator, Seed $4.3M led by First Round Capital)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Y Combinator (first defense company accepted into the program), First Round Capital, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)
- **Growth Signals**: 116.7% headcount growth (now 8 employees); first unit shipped to a DoD customer in August 2024; multiple customers; six-figure letters of intent from large drone manufacturers; $8 million in funding requested by the DoD for FY25 for the VNS system.

## Competitive Advantages
- First-ever defense company accepted into Y Combinator, giving access to a strong network and rapid iteration methodology.
- Passive, low-cost, lightweight alternative to bulky GPS replacements – no RF signature, cannot be jammed.
- Proven in real-world contested environments (tested by USSOCOM, deployed in Ukraine-like scenarios).
- Software-first approach allows rapid integration with existing drone platforms (<30 min).

## Strategic Focus
- Scale up production to meet the demand for millions of drones per year, especially for Western allies.
- Continue refining the Micro VPS accuracy and reliability while reducing cost.
- Expand customer base across DoD branches and allied nations, and target large drone manufacturers for integration.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: High ownership, fast-moving, small team (7-8 people) where every engineer’s work is deployed immediately. “Test constantly, move fast, build for real users in contested environments.”
- **Work Environment**: On-site presence in San Francisco/Stanford area; close collaboration with military operators and hardware teams.
- **Notable Perks**: Work on software that directly impacts national security; be part of a YC-backed startup that is pushing the boundaries of visual autonomy; opportunity to shape the product from the ground up.

## Sources
1. [Theseus About Page](https://www.theseus.us/about)
2. [Theseus Careers Page](https://www.theseus.us/careers)
3. [HigherGov – Theseus Technology Corporation](https://www.highergov.com/awardee/theseus-technology-corporation-782067117/)
4. [LinkedIn – Theseus Company Profile](https://linkedin.com/company/theseustech)
5. [Y Combinator – Theseus Profile](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/theseus)

## Other roles at Theseus Technology Corp

- [Senior Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-theseus-technology-corp-san-francisco-tjctt5q1nwjt) — San Francisco, CA
- [Senior Localization Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-localization-software-engineer-theseus-technology-corp-san-francisco-nfk0h98gssfr) — San Francisco, CA
- [Localization Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/localization-software-engineer-theseus-technology-corp-san-francisco-x3f86qgm5q5g) — San Francisco, CA