About Forterra

At Forterra, we are unleashing autonomy at scale to transform the battlefield. Our mission is to build the foundational platforms that enable an intelligent ecosystem to coordinate, adapt, and execute with speed and precision even in the uncertainty and disruption of modern conflict. In an era marked by rapid technological change and evolving threats, we design for flexibility, survivability, and operational dominance.

Forterra delivers weapons, sensors, and battlefield effects through integrated autonomous networks reaching operational areas faster, safer, and without placing human lives at risk. Our systems operate with distributed control, dynamic routing, and real-time responsiveness, enabling sustained advantage across complex mission environments.

About the role

Forterra is seeking a senior software integration engineer with a passion for autonomous systems. In this role, you will design, develop, test, and maintain the software that enables intelligent behavior in robotics and automation technologies. You will work on the shared foundation of our autonomy stack, which supports every vehicle and application we field.

The ideal candidate has a strong software engineering background, familiarity with robotics and autonomous systems, strong testing and debugging skills, and a proven track record of collaborating with a cross-functional team of engineers, researchers, and product managers to create robust and scalable software for complex systems.

What you'll do

• Maintain the core software release cycle: Deliver new capability through rolling development releases, and harden long-term support releases that others rely on for years.
• Own performance across the whole vehicle: Take a holistic view of how sensing, compute, and controls interact, and drive the performance gains no single team can reach.
• Prove the stack on real hardware: Integrate and deploy the autonomy stack on our vehicles and validate it under real-world conditions.
• Close the loop from test to deploy: Analyze test results, identify issues and root causes, and collaborate with engineering teams to drive problems to resolution.
• Build with the teams around you: Work across the organization and directly with the engineering teams building on the stack to deliver new behaviors, payload integrations, and emerging use-cases.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5 to 8 years of relevant experience.
• B.S. or M.S. in computer science, engineering, robotics, or related field.
• Experience integrating and validating software on physical hardware.
• Strong programming skills in C++ and/or Python.
• Demonstrates clean, maintainable code, durable test coverage, and documentation practices.
• Debugging across subsystem boundaries, from a symptom on a vehicle to a root cause in someone else's code.
• Ability to consistently deliver and maintain production-quality software in a continuously integrated environment.
• Strong understanding of algorithms, data structures, and software design principles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in software development for robotics and autonomous systems.
• Leadership experience on cross-functional software teams.
• Experience with state machines and motion / path planning.
• Knowledge of navigation, mapping algorithms and robot perception.
• Experience with ROS2, real-time middleware such as DDS, and C++ dependency management with Conan.
• Familiarity with real-time operating systems and embedded programming.
• Experience with safety-critical systems (e.g., MIL-STD-882, ISO-26262, DO-178).
• Enthusiasm for agentic software development, and interest in applying AI coding agents to testing, code review, and developer tooling.

US Salary Range
 $145,000 — $165,000

Location

Hybrid in Clarksburg, MD

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full-time, high-demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra’s overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full-time employees including:

• Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA-eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.  
• Basic Life/AD&D, short and long-term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
• Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
• A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption. 
• A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
• Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires. 
• 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after-tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.

CLEARANCE ELIGIBILITY - This position may require eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance. For more information about U.S. Security Clearances: click here.   

Forterra is an equal-opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in all personnel practices. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain.  

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any factor, including veteran and disability status, and criminal history, in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws.

Forterra is also committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. Please let your recruiter know if you need an accommodation at any point during the interview process.

To see Forterra’s candidate data privacy policy, please visit Forterra Legal | Job Applicant Privacy Notice.