# Perception Software Engineer

**Company**: Shield AI
**Location**: San Diego, CA
**Work arrangement**: hybrid
**Experience**: senior
**Job type**: full-time
**Salary**: within range listed
**Category**: Engineering
**Industry**: Technology

**Apply**: https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/d2698861-180c-4645-8641-0e7725ce96f1?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply
**Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_0ad4d635-448

## Description

This role is the primary interface between perception software and the flight test enterprise at Shield AI, a venture-backed defense-tech company. You will work with autonomy/perception software developers, flight test engineers, and platform integration teams to mature capabilities from algorithm to flight-verified system.

Responsibilities:

- Coordinate software and hardware integration activities for autonomy team to deploy and test their stack across various platforms.

- Drive sensor selection for EO/IR and A-PNT perception software testing on operationally relevant or surrogate platforms.

- Own the fly-fix-fly cycle for autonomy and perception software: integrate the Hivemind Pilot stack onto target hardware, verify correct deployment and configuration, define test objectives for flight test campaigns, help execute tests in the field, and analyze collected data.

- Own sensor calibration and time synchronization processes for all A-PNT and perception sensors used in testing.

- Establish data quality standards and curate data management processes for field-collected sensor data.

- Resolve technical and logistical ambiguities at the boundary between software development and flight test operations.

Required qualifications:

- Minimum of 10 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 9 years and a Master’s degree; or 7 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.

- Hands-on experience calibrating and time-aligning EO/IR and position, navigation, and timing (PNT) sensors.

- Demonstrated ability to thrive in fast-paced field testing environments.

- Experience in design of experiments, flight test card development, and establishing verifiable, measurable test objectives.

- Experience deploying perception or autonomy software to edge hardware platforms.

- Proficiency in Python for data analysis and visualization; comfort reading and making targeted modifications to algorithms implemented in C++.

- Track record of solving problems that span hardware, software, and engineering capacity constraints across functional or organizational boundaries.

- Demonstrated academic training or professional experience in a core perception discipline such as object detection, object tracking, SLAM, or navigation.

Preferred qualifications:

- Experience with camera calibration frameworks and camera-IMU extrinsic and temporal calibration workflows.

- Familiarity with rosbag-based data collection, replay, and analysis pipelines in robotics or autonomy systems.

- Experience characterizing EO/IR gimbal cameras.

- Background supporting DoD or defense aviation programs.

- Familiarity with Conan-based, Nix-based, or CMake-based build systems and embedded Linux development.

- Experience with CI/CD pipelines and test automation in the context of embedded software.

Benefits:

- Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity (for full-time regular employees)

- Pay within range listed + temporary benefits package (for temporary employees)

Location: Hybrid, based at Shield AI's San Diego, CA headquarters (three days per week in office), with periodic travel to flight test sites required.

## Skills

### Required
- Python
- C++
- EO/IR and PNT sensors calibration
- perception software development
- autonomy software deployment
- flight test operations
- data analysis and visualization
- algorithm development

### Nice to have
- camera calibration frameworks
- rosbag-based data collection
- EO/IR gimbal cameras characterization
- DoD or defense aviation programs
- Conan-based build systems
- CI/CD pipelines

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Source: [Apply at jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/d2698861-180c-4645-8641-0e7725ce96f1?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)