---
title: 'Senior Robotics & Autonomy Engineer (Collaborative drone autonomy) at Swarmer'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-robotics-autonomy-engineer-collaborative-drone-autonomy-swarmer-kyiv-8rg3gp03gy00'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-03'
---

# Senior Robotics & Autonomy Engineer (Collaborative drone autonomy) at Swarmer

- **Company:** Swarmer
- **Location:** Kyiv, Ukraine
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-11-02
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-03
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/swarmer/ac8ff514-3fd2-4137-a123-19819806960d

## Job description

Why we exist: Swarmer develops software that makes drones autonomous and allows them to operate together, in large, coordinated teams — no pilots needed. Our technology has been battle-tested in Ukraine — the world’s most intense proving ground for drone warfare. In March 2026, we became the first Ukrainian defense startup to go public on NASDAQ, following a $15M Series A — the largest investment in a Ukrainian defense tech company since the start of the war. Working at Swarmer means operating at the intersection of engineering rigor and frontline reality. The problems and environments are complex, and the stakes are very real. We built this software to enable democratic nations to defend themselves. If you are motivated by building resilient systems that matter and by seeing the direct impact of your work, you’ll find purpose here.

Who we’re looking for: We’re looking for a Senior Robotics & Autonomy Engineer to build and harden the collaborative autonomy behind our multi-vendor drone platform. Your focus is multi-agent coordination: getting many drones to split tasks, stay out of each other’s way, and plan together in real battlefield conditions.

What you’ll do:

- Build distributed onboard autonomy that runs in real time across several companion computers, under tight compute and link constraints.
- Evolve our multi-agent algorithms (task allocation, deconfliction, collaborative path planning) to work with limited bandwidth, high latency, and packet loss.
- Turn R&D algorithms into product-ready code: find bottlenecks, handle edge cases gracefully, and make behavior deterministic and fault-tolerant.
- Optimize processing time, power consumption, and data flow.
- Design resilient comms and coordination, including link-aware strategies and degraded-mode behavior when the link drops.
- Build explainability for the swarm: intent and decision logs, human-readable reasoning traces, and post-flight analysis tools.
- Own the simulation pipeline for your features: prepare digital twins, design multi-drone experiments, and close the gap between simulation and real flights in a measurable way.
- Support field tests for your features: work with our test-range team, stay available online during flights, and travel to the test site occasionally.

What we need:

- 4+ years building decision-making systems for robots or autonomous agents (planners, task allocation, behavior logic).
- Hands-on experience with multi-agent or multi-robot coordination.
- Strong Python on Linux. Experience with C/C++ and embedded systems is highly valued.
- Solid grounding in linear algebra, control theory, probability, and numerical methods.
- Hands-on experience with simulators and digital twins.
- English at B2 or higher.

Would be an advantage:

- You’ve contributed to ArduPilot or PX4, or modified flight firmware.
- You’ve built distributed systems that run on edge devices.
- You’ve worked in defense or EW-contested environments.
- You’ve built, flown, crashed, and debugged your own drones.

What you’ll get:

- A chance to shape the core autonomy and perception systems at the heart of Ukraine’s defense tech ecosystem and its international expansion.
- Professional growth through hands-on work with advanced UAV technologies and exposure to international best practices in autonomy, CV, and ML.
- Fast-paced, high-stakes environment where your contributions yield immediate, tangible impact on the frontline.
- Agile, highly skilled team driven by engineering rigor and mission-critical goals.
- Attractive compensation package including 20 paid vacation days, comprehensive health insurance, and paid sick leave.
- Flexible working arrangements depending on operational and security requirements.
- Benefits of the defense sector (military reservation, etc.).

What the hiring process looks like: ✔️ Recruiter Screen→ ✔️ Technical Interview → ✔️ Management Interview → ✔️ Security check → ✔️ Offer

Ready to Apply?

## About Swarmer

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Swarmer develops combat-driven, vendor-agnostic collaborative autonomy software that enables one operator to control hundreds of unmanned systems in real time.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A; has filed for Nasdaq IPO)
- **Headquarters**: Austin, Texas, USA (with operations in Ukraine, Poland, and Estonia)
- **Founded**: May 2023
- **Founders**: Serhii Kupriienko (Global CEO) and Alex Fink (President & US CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Defense technology / Autonomous systems
- **Target customers**: Military and defense organizations (B2G)
- **Mission or purpose**: To provide intelligent swarming software that allows large numbers of low-cost unmanned systems to operate collectively as one coherent, resilient force, keeping humans out of harm’s way.

## Products & Services
- **Swarmer Software Platform**: A modular, platform-agnostic software stack for autonomous navigation, real-time combat data fusion, AI-driven collaboration, and scalable autonomy. Features encrypted over-the-air updates. Deployed on over 100,000 real-world combat missions in Ukraine since April 2024.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (private company; filed for IPO but terms undisclosed)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of $15 million (Series A, first for a Ukrainian startup) – [aviationweek.com](https://aviationweek.com/defense/aircraft-propulsion/swarmer-takes-15-million-series-first-ukrainian-startup)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not individually named in available sources; has signed MOUs with Powerus and contracts with SkyKnight.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - More than 100,000 combat missions flown by nearly 50 units under active EW/GPS-denied conditions.
  - Filed for Nasdaq IPO in 2025/2026.
  - Rapid headcount growth and active hiring across engineering, sales, operations, and product roles in multiple countries.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Real-world validation**: Software evolved on the battlefield in Ukraine, not in a lab – terabytes of proprietary combat data inform ML models.
- **Vendor-agnostic**: Operates at the intelligence layer, independent of any single hardware supplier or platform.
- **Resilience**: Designed for contested, degraded, GPS-denied environments with continuous over-the-air updates.
- **Scalability**: One operator can control hundreds of autonomous systems simultaneously.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Scaling the platform for multi-domain operations, expanding into new defense markets, and completing a public listing on Nasdaq. Continued investment in AI-driven autonomy and real-time coordination.
- **Direction for growth**: From frontline Ukrainian operations to a global defense technology company, with a focus on collaborative autonomy across air, land, sea, and space.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Combat-tested, mission-driven environment where software directly impacts human safety and national security. Emphasis on "Send drones. Keep humans."
- **Remote/hybrid policy**: Roles available across EU, USA, Ukraine, and Estonia; some positions listed as "Remote Texas" and "Remote" – hybrid likely depending on location.
- **Notable perks/engineering culture**: Opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI and autonomy software that is actively deployed in real-world combat. Rapid growth phase means significant impact and career advancement. Engineering leadership, product, and pilot roles available.
- **Current hiring areas**: Engineering Leadership (EU & USA), Sales & Marketing Leadership (EU & USA), Engineers & Pilots (Ukraine & EU), Operations (Ukraine & EU), Product Roles (EU & Ukraine). Talent pool open for future roles – [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/swarmer)

## Sources
1. [getswarmer.com](https://getswarmer.com/) – Company homepage and capabilities
2. [getswarmer.com/about](https://getswarmer.com/about/) – Company history, leadership, mission
3. [investors.getswarmer.com](https://investors.getswarmer.com/) – Investor relations, news releases, IPO filing
4. [aviationweek.com](https://aviationweek.com/defense/aircraft-propulsion/swarmer-takes-15-million-series-first-ukrainian-startup) – Series A funding announcement
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/swarmer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/swarmer) – Job listings and hiring areas
6. [swarmer.peopleforce.io/careers](https://swarmer.peopleforce.io/careers) – Alternative careers page with talent pool

## Other roles at Swarmer

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