Staff Software Engineer, Perception (R5421)

Shield AI
Washington
Workplace: OnsiteFull timeUSD 195,200 - 292,800 annuallyFunction: Software EngineeringExperience: 7+ yearsSkills: ["Analytical problem-solving","Mentoring","Technical leadership"]

Lead the technical development of perception-focused machine learning solutions for autonomous systems. Design and fine-tune vision, vision-language, and vision-language-action models; build scalable data pipelines and supervised fine-tuning workflows; and create evaluation frameworks to detect failure modes. Deploy and optimize models for embedded hardware using ONNX and TensorRT, collaborating across perception, autonomy, platform, and software teams while mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar.

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FursaFursa
Shield AI
Shield AI
1 month ago

Staff Software Engineer, Perception (R5421)

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Canonical indexed version, validated from employer's careers page.

Source: Company careers pageValidated by: Fursa AI
Last checked: 13 hours agoStatus: Live

Job Summary

Lead the technical development of perception-focused machine learning solutions for autonomous systems. Design and fine-tune vision, vision-language, and vision-language-action models; build scalable data pipelines and supervised fine-tuning workflows; and create evaluation frameworks to detect failure modes. Deploy and optimize models for embedded hardware using ONNX and TensorRT, collaborating across perception, autonomy, platform, and software teams while mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar.
Location: Washington
Workplace: Onsite
Employment Type: Full time
Job Function: Software Engineering
Seniority: Sr. Manager level

Key Responsibilities

  • •Design, train, fine-tune, and maintain vision, vision-language, and vision-language-action models to improve autonomous perception and decision-making.
  • •Build scalable data pipelines, supervised fine-tuning (SFT) workflows, and evaluation loops to continuously improve model performance.
  • •Deploy and optimize machine learning models for embedded hardware using ONNX, TensorRT, and hardware-accelerated inference frameworks.
  • •Apply modern ML techniques to solve perception and autonomy problems for aerial and other autonomous systems in complex environments.
  • •Translate ML research into production-ready capabilities and partner with cross-functional teams while mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar.

Pay and Benefits

Salary: USD 195,200 - 292,800 annually

Key Requirements

  • •Typically requires a minimum of 7 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience).
  • •Expertise in machine learning fundamentals.
  • •Experience training and deploying machine learning models for computer vision in a production setting.
  • •Strong understanding of 3D vision problems/algorithms.
  • •Experience with ML frameworks such as PyTorch and TensorFlow, and deploying models with TensorRT and ONNX.
Experience:7+ yearsComputer visionMachine learningAutonomous systemsDefense
Skills:Analytical problem-solvingMentoringTechnical leadership
Tech Stack:Machine learningVision-languageVision-language-actionVision-language-action modelsSFTONNXTensorRTPyTorchTensorFlowC++PythonEmbedded hardwareEvaluation frameworksBenchmarks3D visionDeployment workflows

Eligibility

Security Clearance:SECRET

Company Brief

Shield AI
Develops AI-powered autonomy and software for military aircraft and drones to enable autonomous ISR and combat missions, integrating perception, navigation, and mission planning for defense customers.
Industry: Defense Technology
Company Size: Large (251 to 1,000 employees)
Growth: Scaleup
Funding: Series E+
Headquarters: San Diego, United States
Founded: 2015
WebsiteLinkedIn