Software Engineer - Multi-Agent UAV Autonomy (Defense)

Applied Intuition, Inc. is powering the future of physical AI. Founded in 2017 and now valued at $15 billion, the Silicon Valley company is creating the digital infrastructure needed to bring intelligence to every moving machine on the planet. Applied Intuition services the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries in three core areas: tools and infrastructure, operating systems, and autonomy. Eighteen of the top 20 global automakers, as well as the United States military and its allies, trust the company’s solutions to deliver physical intelligence. Applied Intuition is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Ft. Walton Beach, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; London; Stuttgart; Munich; Stockholm; Bangalore; Seoul; and Tokyo. Learn more at applied.co http://applied.co. We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that full-time employees primarily work from their Applied Intuition office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments. This in-office expectation does not apply to contractor positions ABOUT SEOUL Applied Intuition entered the Korean market in 2020. The team has rapidly grown over the past few years and established strategic relationships with major Korean automotive OEM customers. Based in Gangnam, the Seoul site consists of more than 10 employees who previously come from LG, Ansys, Unity, and other renowned companies. About the Role Our defense customers are building fleets of unmanned aerial systems that have to fly, coordinate, and complete missions in the real world. We build the tools they use to develop that autonomy. Building those tools well, and knowing they hold up outside of simulation, requires engineers who have done this work themselves. We are seeking a Software Engineer to join our Korea office to build Applied Intuition's multi-agent autonomy development tools. This on-site role focuses on the capabilities defense customers rely on to design, train, and validate coordinated UAV behavior. You will collaborate frequently with our U.S. product engineering team, and work directly with Korean defense customers to translate their operational requirements into product capabilities. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Design, develop, and maintain core features of Applied Intuition’s autonomy development tools, with a focus on multi-agent mission planning, coordination, and training workflows. - Validate that our tools hold up in practice: build reference multi-agent UAV autonomy on top of the product, exercise the full workflow from simulation through deployment on real airframes, and turn what breaks into product requirements. - Define how simulation should be used across the development cycle, including where fidelity matters, how tuning and validation workflows should be structured, and what it takes to close the gap between simulated and real flight behavior. - Collaborate frequently with US-based product and engineering teams to deliver features on shared roadmaps, operating as the Korea-based extension of the global product teams. - Contribute to system-level design and architecture, ensuring scalability, reliability, and performance. - Run technical deep dives with Korean defense customers on selected features, probing their operational requirements, clarifying ambiguous needs, and translating what you learn into product specifications and roadmap input. - Guide customers on how to get the most out of our tools when developing their own multi-agent unmanned systems, drawing on your own hands-on experience. - Mentor engineers and share domain knowledge across the Korea team. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS - Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field. - 5+ years of professional engineering experience, or equivalent research experience, in a fast-paced, customer-oriented environment. - Hands-on experience in at least one of the following two areas: - Unmanned aerial systems development: You have built and flown real unmanned aircraft, and understand UAS development end to end. You know what tuning process an airframe has to go through before it flies reliably, and where simulation does and does not help along the way. - Multi-agent optimization and control: You have researched or engineered algorithms that coordinate multiple agents to carry out a mission optimally, including the use of ML methods such as reinforcement learning for this purpose. - Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, C++, or similar. - Experience working on complex, multidisciplinary projects in a collaborative team setting. - Strong problem-solving skills and ability to thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. - Excellent English communication skills, both written and verbal, for effective daily collaboration with the USA team and documentation. - Ability to lead technical discussions directly with customers, drawing out requirements, challenging assumptions, and explaining design trade-offs to both engineers and domain experts. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS - Experience across both of the areas listed above. - Familiarity with flight control stacks and autopilot software (e.g., PX4, ArduPilot), and with the ground control and data link elements of a complete unmanned aerial system. - Familiarity with ATR, drone swarming, path planning, or aerospace control systems as a domain user perspective informing tool design. - Experience building simulation platforms, ML training infrastructure, or developer tooling for robotics, autonomy, or defense applications. - Experience in closed-network / air-gapped deployment environments common in defense. - Professional fluency in Korean, for direct technical engagement with Korean defense customers. WHY JOIN US? - Build the products that the Korean and global defense ecosystem relies on for autonomy development. - Be part of a collaborative, customer-focused team that values innovation and rapid delivery. - Opportunity to lead, mentor, and make a significant impact in a high-growth, mission-driven organization. - Join our vibrant team in Korea, working on-site, collaborating daily with our USA team, and engaging with customers to drive innovation in unmanned vehicle autonomy. BENEFITS AND PERKS: - Lunch and dinner allowance - Equity (RSU) offering - English / Korean language allowance - Fitness & Learning allowance Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles. Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws. FOR US-BASED ROLES: Applied Intuition is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive application and interview experience to applicants who are disabled veterans and other applicants with disabilities or medical conditions. Reasonable accommodations are available, requesting an accommodation will not affect your candidacy in any way, and you are not required to disclose the nature of your disability or medical condition in order to make a request. If you require an accommodation please contact careers@applied.co. We will work with you!