ELI - Autonomy Software Engineer

Job Description

Leonardo is an international industrial group and one of the world's leading companies in the Aerospace, Defence, and Security sectors, delivering multi-domain technological capabilities in the fields of Helicopters, Aircraft, Aerostructures, Electronics, Cyber Security, and Space. With more than 60,000 employees worldwide, the company has a strong industrial presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, and the United States, and operates in 150 countries through subsidiaries, joint ventures, and equity investments. A key player in major strategic programs at the global level, Leonardo is a technology and industrial partner to governments, defence administrations, institutions, and businesses. Within the Engineering area, we are seeking a Autonomy Software Engineer for our office in Cascina Costa (VA).

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are looking for an Autonomy Software Engineer to help build the software foundations of our autonomy activity. This is not a pure implementation role: you will investigate methodologies, software paradigms and design approaches, and turn them into reusable frameworks, reference architectures and engineering procedures that the wider team can build on. The position combines hands‑on autonomy software development with a genuine research and exploration mandate.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Investigate and evaluate software methodologies, paradigms, design patterns and tooling for dependable autonomy software; produce trade studies, reference architectures, guidelines and procedures.
• Design and prototype reusable frameworks and infrastructure for deterministic autonomy software.
• Bridge research-grade components and robust, production-quality deployment, including partitioning and mixed‑criticality concepts.
• Build internal tooling and test / CI harnesses for deterministic validation.
• Contribute to the team's technical direction, coding standards and best practices, and mentor other engineers.
• Move fluidly between speculative exploration (prototypes, proofs of concept, open problems) and rigorous, production‑grade code.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• Master degree/PHD in information engineering/computer Engineering/Automation Engineering
• 3–6 years of professional experience in software development in modern C++ (C++14/17).
• Hands‑on familiarity with our core stack: Docker, PX4, ROS2, Gazebo and the C++ robotics ecosystem (BehaviorTree.CPP, OpenCV, PCL, Eigen, etc.).
• Hands‑on experience deploying ML / autonomy workloads on‑target on GPU architectures (e.g. NVIDIA Jetson).
• Proven experience in at least one autonomy‑related domain: robotics, ADAS / automotive, space, UAV(s) or similar.
• Strong computer‑science fundamentals: concurrency, memory models, scheduling, software architecture and design patterns.
• A research and investigative mindset: the ability to frame open problems, explore options independently and reason from first principles.
• Comfort reading technical standards and specifications and translating them into concrete engineering procedures.
• Ability to work in team.
• Problem solving oriented English knowledge: B2/C1.
• NICE TO HAVE —Background in any safety‑ / mission‑critical domain (e.g. aerospace, automotive, railway, medical, industrial or defence).
• Experience with RTOS, bare‑metal or deterministic execution environments.
• Formal methods, static analysis (e.g. MISRA) or model checking.
• Open‑source contributions, publications or patents.

WHAT WE OFFER

• A greenfield, foundational role with real ownership of the team's software infrastructure.
• A genuine research and exploration mandate, with room to publish and present.
• A multidisciplinary team working at the intersection of autonomy, robotics and dependable computing.
• Engagement, recognition of skills, and a strong focus on people's well‑being and safety are the cornerstones of our corporate culture.
• Every day, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and stimulating work environment by actively promoting the principles of inclusion, equity, and diversity enhancement.
• Our reference collective labour agreement is the National Collective Labour Agreement (CCNL) for the Private Metalworking Industry and Plant Installation Sector.

Working arrangement: Hybrid Employment category: White‑collar employee Contract type: Permanent contract 13th-month salary Performance bonus linked to business results Welfare vouchers worth €250 per year Ongoing training and professional development opportunities, including both technical and soft skills Well-being: We place the economic, physical, social, and psychological well‑being of our people first, offering a variety of solutions tailored to their needs.

Seniority: Junior Primary Location: IT - Varese - Cascina Costa Contract Type: Permanent Total Base Pay Range: RAL 32.731,92 - 43.000 Hybrid Working: Hybrid International, multicultural, innovative, technological: this is Leonardo.

The company’s passionate and talented team is strongly influenced by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) expertise, with a diverse range of experience that enables colleagues to share knowledge and know‑how across the generations.

Leonardo always wants to expand its talent pool, here you can find the right opportunity for you!