Full-Time

Mission Operator

Scout AI

Scout AI

11-50 employees

AI foundation model for defense robotics

Compensation Overview

$85k - $140k/yr

+ Bonus + Equity Awards

No H1B Sponsorship

Paso Robles, CA, USA

In Person

Relocation assistance available depending on role eligibility.

Category
Sales & Solution Engineering (1)
Requirements
  • Experience operating and sustaining vehicles, robotic systems, or complex field equipment in dynamic environments
  • Proficiency in off-road driving, trailering, and executing operations in austere or rugged conditions
  • Strong mechanical and electrical troubleshooting skills, with the ability to diagnose and resolve issues across hardware and software systems
  • High level of situational awareness with a disciplined approach to safety in field operations
  • Effective communicator under pressure, capable of coordinating with engineering teams and interfacing with customers in real time
  • Self-directed and adaptable, with the ability to operate independently in field-heavy, fast-paced environments
  • Willingness and enthusiasm to spend significant time outdoors supporting field missions and test operations
  • Mission-driven, with a strong interest in advancing autonomous systems for defense applications
  • Ability to travel 50–75% to support testing, deployments, and customer engagements
  • Legal authorization to work in the United States is required; role may involve access to U.S. export-controlled information
Responsibilities
  • Lead forward-deployed operation of autonomous and semi-autonomous ground systems in complex, real-world environments, supporting customer-facing demonstrations and field evaluations
  • Execute and adapt mission test plans in dynamic conditions, ensuring successful outcomes while maintaining strict safety and operational standards
  • Serve as the on-site technical authority during field operations, diagnosing and resolving mechanical, electrical, and software issues in real time
  • Interface directly with high-priority customers and stakeholders, briefing system capabilities, conducting live demonstrations, and representing product performance in the field
  • Coordinate end-to-end field logistics including system deployment, mobility, sustainment, and recovery across distributed test environments
  • Drive system readiness through hands-on maintenance, inspection, and rapid repair of vehicles, payloads, and supporting equipment
  • Capture and communicate actionable field insights to engineering and product teams, influencing system improvements and future development
  • Maintain operational awareness of system health, performance, and limitations to ensure mission success under austere conditions
  • Enforce and model disciplined safety practices for personnel, equipment, and autonomous system operations

Scout AI develops defense technology by building Fury, a Vision-Language-Action foundation model for defense robotics. Fury lets robots perceive their surroundings, reason about situations, and act in the real world, enabling scalable, autonomous robotic teams. The system uses natural language inputs (voice or text) to command and control robots without special operator training, and it supports an end-to-end mission autonomy stack delivered through a modular operating system. This approach sets Scout AI apart by focusing on a purpose-built foundation model for military robotics, enabling straightforward natural-language control and coordinated autonomy rather than manual, single-robot operations. The company aims to give the DoD a decisive military edge with reusable, autonomous robotic systems that can handle complex missions at scale.

Company Size

11-50

Company Stage

Series A

Total Funding

$115M

Headquarters

Sunnyvale, California

Founded

2024

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Secured $11M DARPA and DoD contracts with US Army 1st Cavalry Division testing for 2027.
  • Raised record $100M Series A on April 29, 2026, from Align Ventures and Draper Associates.
  • Demoed end-to-end autonomous strike with explosive drones at California base in 2026.

What critics are saying

  • Shield AI's Hivemind wins larger DoD contracts via 2025 Black Dart exercises in 6-12 months.
  • Anduril's March 2026 L3Harris acquisition bundles VLA into comprehensive deals, sidelining Scout.
  • DoD Replicator mandates Palantir AIP open-source stacks by Q4 2026, commoditizing Fury.

What makes Scout AI unique

  • Fury serves as Vision-Language-Action foundation model exclusively for unmanned warfare coordination.
  • Enables one-to-many control of mixed air, land, sea, space fleets via natural language.
  • Acts as agentic layer generating JSON instructions without modifying vehicle APIs.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Remote Work Options

Relocation Assistance

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

3%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
Condé Nast
Feb 18th, 2026
Scout AI demos lethal autonomous drones that find and destroy targets using AI agents

Scout AI, a defence technology startup, has raised funding to develop AI agents designed to control lethal autonomous weapons systems. The company recently demonstrated its technology at a California military base, where AI agents commanded a self-driving vehicle and explosive drones to locate and destroy a target truck. The system uses a large AI model with over 100 billion parameters to interpret mission commands, which then directs smaller models running on individual vehicles and drones. Scout AI removes restrictions from open-source models to enable military applications. The startup is part of a growing wave of companies adapting civilian AI technology for battlefield use. However, experts warn that the unpredictable nature of large language models and AI agents presents significant challenges for military deployment, particularly regarding cybersecurity and system reliability.

PR Newswire
Feb 18th, 2026
Scout AI debuts Fury orchestrator to control mixed drone and ground vehicle fleets with natural language

Scout AI has publicly unveiled its Fury Autonomous Vehicle Orchestrator, an AI system that coordinates heterogeneous fleets of autonomous air and ground vehicles through natural language commands. The company demonstrated the technology during live operations in Central California using real hardware without scripted control. The Fury foundation model translates a commander's high-level objectives into coordinated actions across multiple unmanned systems. It builds mission plans, tasks each asset in natural language, monitors progress, and adjusts plans in real time whilst maintaining human oversight. The system functions as an agentic interoperability layer, generating structured instructions native to each vehicle's API without modifying underlying autonomy software. Founded in 2024 by Colby Adcock and Collin Otis, Sunnyvale-based Scout AI is backed by Booz Allen Ventures, Align Ventures, Draper Associates, and Perot Jain.

Securities.io
Apr 21st, 2025
5 Best Pre-Ipo Military Ai Companies

Over the last few years, geopolitical uncertainties have continued to rise, reaching unprecedented levels of volatility and complexity. This has caused a significant impact on global markets, diplomatic relations, and strategic policymaking.A major impact of this uncertainty can also be seen in countries around the world, which are increasing their military spending for the 10th consecutive year to prepare for any eventualities.According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), global defense spending in 2024 reached $2.46 trillion, up from $2.24 trillion in the previous year. 2023's defense spending was stated as the “steepest year-on-year rise since 2009” and the most ever recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).Now, as a result of last year's jump, global defense spending spiked to an average of 1.9% of GDP last year, up from 1.8% in 2023 and 1.6% in the year before that.The budgets of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Asia, and Europe recorded a significant increase in response to escalating geopolitical conflicts, rising threat perceptions, and deteriorating security environments.Still, the United States remains the world's largest military spender, at around $968 billion, and no one comes close. When it comes to the defense budget for NATO members, the US is followed by Germany at $86 billion, the UK at $81.1 billion, and France at $64 billion.Meanwhile, Asian defense budgets continued to grow at a moderate pace, the same as in the last decade. Japan and Indonesia, in particular, had significant uplifts, but despite that, the region's share of global spending fell from 25.9% in 2021 to 21.7% in 2024 due to stronger uplifts in other regions.However, China's defense budget surged by 7.4% in real terms, outpacing the 3.9% average rate for the rest of the region as the nation modernizes its military. One way this modernization is happening is with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), which is being used to reshape military decision-making.Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made military AI a top strategic priority, and as a result, the People's Liberation Army has invested heavily in scaling up AI.The Rising Trend of AI in MilitaryBy simulating human intelligence processes in computer systems, AI makes machines capable of performing tasks such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making

Connect Iredell
Apr 16th, 2025
Scout AI: $15M Seed, DoD Contracts

Scout AI has emerged from stealth with a $15M seed round led by Align Ventures and Booz Allen Ventures. The company has secured two DoD contracts and unveiled Fury, a Vision-Language-Action foundation model for defense robotics. Fury enables robots to perceive, reason, and act autonomously across various environments. Scout's prototypes, G01 and A01, are already operational. The company aims to integrate Fury into existing platforms, enhancing autonomy without hardware overhauls.