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Principal Software Engineer, Perception

Up to $380K + equity San Francisco or Alameda, CA Hybrid Defense and autonomy Series C 260 people

About the role

Who you'll join


A late-stage (Series C) autonomous ocean vehicle company building unmanned surface vessels that operate globally for US and international defense partners. The software team is lean, about 35 engineers, running real autonomy on real hardware in some of the harshest environments on earth. This is a rare chance to define the perception architecture for a platform with an active fleet and a multi-year development roadmap.


What you'll do


  1. Define the full perception stack architecture, including sensor fusion, localization, and tracking.
  2. Integrate heterogeneous sensors, radar, cameras, and novel maritime modalities, into a single reliable data stream.
  3. Translate research-grade algorithms into production systems on Nvidia Jetson constrained compute.
  4. Work directly with autonomy, navigation, and applied ML teams on vehicle behavior outputs.
  5. Lead architecture decisions and technical reviews for senior and staff engineers.
  6. Guide data labeling strategy, ground truth dataset construction, and evaluation frameworks.
  7. Help grow the perception team through hiring input and hands-on mentorship.


Who you are


  1. Bring 8+ years deploying perception systems on autonomous vehicles, robots, or aerospace platforms.
  2. Have deep expertise in sensor fusion, probabilistic estimation, and uncertainty modeling.
  3. Proven track record moving research algorithms into reliable, latency-sensitive production systems.
  4. Comfortable operating as a technical authority without requiring a people management remit.
  5. Hold a Master's or PhD in a relevant field, or equivalent depth through industry experience.
  6. US person required, US citizen or permanent resident, no visa sponsorship available.
  7. Bonus: experience with radar processing, thermal or infrared fusion, or maritime autonomy specifically.


Tech stack


C++, Python, Sensor Fusion, Computer Vision, Probabilistic Estimation, State Estimation, SLAM, Localization, Tracking, Uncertainty Modeling, Nvidia Jetson, Edge Computing, Radar, Camera Systems, Neural Networks, Simulation, ROS


Why you'll thrive


  1. Own the perception architecture across an entire autonomous platform, not a single subsystem.
  2. Compensation sits at the 75th percentile with equity in a late-stage company backed by major strategic and venture investors.
  3. Ocean-based autonomy is a genuinely distinct problem domain, radar at sea differs meaningfully from land.
  4. The perception team is small, so your architectural decisions will have immediate real-world impact.
  5. An active fleet operating globally means your work ships and matters from day one.