Chief System Architect Lisboa

Overview

Chief System Architect - Universal Swarm OS

Swarm Orchestration System is developing the universal operating system for autonomous robotics - enabling seamless coordination between aerial drones, ground robots, maritime USVs, and emergency response systems. Based in Portugal. Our mission: create the industry standard that becomes the "Android of robotics" - one OS to coordinate them all. Currently testing with Ukrainian defense forces through Brave1 program.

We are seeking a Chief System Architect to design the foundational architecture for our Universal Swarm OS. You will create the operating system that enables 50-5000 heterogeneous robots to work as one - whether they're flying, walking, swimming, or crawling.

Key Responsibilities

• Design universal coordination layer for heterogeneous robotic systems
• Develop
  - domain communication protocols (air-ground-sea-underwater)
• Create hardware abstraction for ANY robotic platform including aerial drones, ground (wheeled, tracked, legged robots), maritime (USVs, AUVs, submarine drones), and specialized systems (firefighting, mining, rescue robots)
• Implement NATO STANAG compliant architecture
• Build mesh networking for 50-5000 autonomous units
• Develop
  -
  - play integration with existing fleets
• Lead technical architecture decisions and mentor engineering teams
• Drive innovation in
  - domain autonomous systems

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years experience in distributed systems and
  - time OS
• Deep expertise with multiple robotic middlewares (ROS2, JAUS, MOOS-Iv
  P)
• Proven experience in
  - domain robotics (not limited to drones)
• Strong
  - software integration skills across different platforms
• Understanding of military/industrial standards and NATO protocols
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Robotics, or equivalent experience
• Eligible to work on
  - use defense technologies in EU
• Ability to obtain security clearance for NATO-related projects

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Boston Dynamics Spot SDK or similar platforms
• Background in maritime autonomy systems
• Industrial robot coordination experience
• Emergency response robotics knowledge
• Gaming engines experience with massive unit management
• Previous work on industry standards or protocols
• Experience with electronic warfare resistance
• EU/EEA/NATO country nationals (for streamlined clearance process)

What We Offer

• Founding architect role with significant equity stake
• Competitive salary aligned with senior technical leadership
• Remote-first culture with occasional travel to Portugal/testing sites
• Direct impact on European defense capabilities
• Work with
  - tested algorithms from Ukraine
• Access to testing grounds and real hardware
• Collaboration with drone manufacturers and defense contractors
• Opportunity to define industry standards

Work Location

Remote (European time zones preferred)

Employment Type

Full-time

Experience Level

Senior level (10+ years)

How to Apply

Click "Apply" and include:

• Your CV/Resume
• Examples of complex distributed systems you've architected
• Brief vision statement for universal robot coordination (optional but valued)
• Join us in building the OS that will power the next million robots across all domains.

Job Function

• Engineering and Information Technology

Industries

• Software Development

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