Vice President Software Engineering & AI (Sunnyvale)

About Knightscope

Knightscope is a security technology company building the Nation's First Autonomous Security Force. The Company combines autonomous machines, advanced software, and human expertise to help protect people, property, and critical infrastructure. Knightscope's long-term mission is to make the United States of America the safest country in the world.

About the Role

Knightscope is seeking an exceptionally strong engineering executive in the role of Vice President Software Engineering & AI with end-to-end responsibility for the software and AI backbone of the nation’s first Autonomous Security Force. Reporting directly to the EVP & Chief Intelligence Officer / Chief Information Security Officer, you will be her technical and leadership partner – a true second-in-command for everything software, data and AI.

Signals is the AI-driven command platform – a real-time digital twin fusing autonomous security robots, emergency communication devices, sensors and licensed security agents into one operating picture for our 24/7 Risk & Threat Exposure operations. Your first mission: bring Signals development fully in-house – owning the architecture, the codebase, the roadmap and the team – and then scale it across a nationwide fleet of 10,000+ machines serving more than 400 clients in 42 states.

You should be equally comfortable architecting cloud and edge infrastructure, debating ML pipeline design, pair-programming with an engineer, briefing the executive team, and rebuilding an organization – assessing talent honestly, recruiting relentlessly, and raising the bar at every position. We are a fast-paced environment – your personal drive and abilities will define execution speed and results.

Ability to handle a chaotic workload in a startup environment is critical. Willing to deal with vendors, throw out the trash, code something yourself, debug a data pipeline at 2am, help recruit, handle menial administrative tasks while also working on major big picture strategic work as a key contributor. Person is a general and a soldier.

Responsibilities

• Lead the insourcing of the Signals platform from external development partners – own the transition plan, the architecture, and the delivery without missing a beat in operations
• Assess, recruit and build a high-performing software, data and AI engineering organization – from individual contributors through engineering leaders
• Own cloud and edge platform engineering: fleet management, observability, real-time data pipelines, enterprise APIs and analytics across a nationwide deployment of autonomous machines
• Drive the Company’s AI strategy into production – agentic AI, computer vision, sensor fusion and ML operations that multiply the effectiveness of every machine and every human on the force
• Champion AI adoption across the engineering lifecycle – autonomous coding agents, modern SDLC, and operational rigor with mission-critical SLAs
• Architect for federal readiness – secure-by-design infrastructure supporting FedRAMP and government client requirements in partnership with the CISO
• Make significant architectural and technical decisions – sometimes with a majority of information available and sometimes without any reliable information

Qualifications

• 15+ years of software engineering experience including 7+ years leading engineering organizations through hypergrowth (0 to 1 and 10 to 100)
• Proven experience building and operating cloud and edge platforms for physical fleets – robotics, autonomous systems, IoT or comparable real-world machine operations
• Deep, hands-on background in distributed systems, real-time data infrastructure, ML pipelines and modern AI – including generative and agentic AI in production
• Track record of rebuilding teams: honest talent assessment, recruiting senior engineers, and establishing a culture of operational excellence with 99.9%+ service reliability
• Experience operating in or delivering to regulated and government environments (FedRAMP, FedRAMP High, or equivalent)
• Technical Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree a plus

Bonus Points

• Early employee at venture-backed startups with successful exits
• Robotics-as-a-Service or autonomous fleet operations experience
• Security industry experience – cybersecurity, physical security or public safety technology

Compensation & Benefits

Base Salary: $300,000 – $375,000 DOE

Bonus: Target annual bonus of up to 30% of base salary

Equity: Significant equity grant in the form of stock options – every member of the team is an owner

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401(k), and paid time off

Location Requirement: Full-time, on-site at Knightscope HQ, Sunnyvale, CA

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin.