Principal Software Engineer, Perception

What we're looking for

We need a Principal-level perception engineer with 8+ years of experience deploying perception systems on autonomous vehicles, robots, aerospace, or defense platforms. You should have deep expertise in sensor fusion, probabilistic estimation, and uncertainty modeling, with a proven track record of translating research-grade algorithms into reliable production systems running on constrained edge compute. Bonus points if you have experience with maritime or ocean-based autonomy, multiple sensor modalities (radar, camera, infrared), or have led perception architecture across multiple generations of an autonomous platform.

What you'll do

• Define the architecture and technical direction for Saildrone's entire perception stack, including sensor fusion, localization, tracking, mapping, and uncertainty estimation
• Take ownership of the hardest perception problems — integrating heterogeneous sensors (radar, cameras, novel maritime-specific modalities) into a coherent, reliable information stream for downstream autonomy
• Work closely with the autonomy, navigation, and applied ML teams to ensure perception outputs drive safe and effective vehicle behavior in complex ocean environments
• Translate state-of-the-art research and algorithms into robust production capabilities within real-world constraints on sensors, compute (Nvidia Jetson SOC), latency, and harsh environmental conditions
• Lead technical direction for senior and staff engineers through architecture decisions, technical reviews, and hands-on problem solving — upleveling and upskilling the current perception team
• Guide data labeling strategies, ground truth dataset construction, and evaluation frameworks to continuously improve perception system performance
• Help expand the perception team over time, serving as a voice of technical leadership and authority in hiring and mentorship