Perception & Algorithms Engineer

Furientis • Los Angeles, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Furientis is developing cost-effective, high-production-rate interceptor missiles to help address a deficit in defensive munitions. The Seeker Team builds the missile’s low-cost, mass-producible multimodal seeker, including its sensing and targeting logic. The team uses commercial supply chains where advantageous and vertically integrates where possible. It is a small, deeply technical, AI-native team that emphasizes ingenuity, rapid action, broad ownership, and delivering flight-ready hardware. The role includes contributing opinions on the use and governance of agentic coding tools and helping build an AI-centric workflow.

The Perception & Algorithms Engineer will develop perception and estimation algorithms for detection, tracking, classification, and aimpoint localization using infrared imagery and fused sensor measurements. The work includes researching, implementing, optimizing, and validating algorithms, including AI and machine-learning methods where appropriate. Algorithms must meet strict latency budgets on embedded flight-compute hardware. The engineer will work with the broader Seeker Team to take algorithms from initial prototypes through flight, validating them in simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and flight data.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Optical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Math, Physics, or a related field.
• 5 to 7 years of experience in applied computer vision, perception, or estimation using real sensor data.
• Fluency in state estimation, including the Kalman filter family, nonlinear variants, and interacting multiple model approaches, applied with judgment.
• Experience with multi-target data association, such as JPDA, multiple hypothesis tracking, or modern equivalents.
• Working knowledge of classical optical image and signal processing, including spatial and temporal filtering, morphology, non-uniformity and fixed-pattern noise handling, and methods for low-SNR imagery.
• Statistical rigor, including NEES and NIS consistency testing, covariance validation, and calibrated confidence.
• 3 or more years of experience using Python to create, alter, and maintain algorithm libraries within a modern Git and CI/CD framework.
• Must be a U.S. Person and eligible to access export-controlled information.
• Able to work on-site at the Los Angeles headquarters; remote work is not available.
• Monthly weekend travel for test events and supplier engagements.

Nice To Haves

• Master of Science or Ph.D.
• Rust for real-time implementation and familiarity with embedded CUDA.
• Missile, interceptor, or guided-munition perception or tracking experience.
• Track-before-detect or other methods for detection and tracking at low SNR.
• IR or other non-visible-band sensor experience, including synthetic-to-real domain adaptation.
• TensorRT or comparable edge-inference deployment experience.
• Multi-sensor registration, boresight exploitation, or radar measurement familiarity.
• Modern machine-learning fluency, such as PyTorch or equivalent, including training, evaluating, and shrinking perception models with measured accuracy tradeoffs.
• Daily use of agentic coding tools such as Claude Code or similar.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement object-detection algorithms for MWIR and LWIR imagery that are robust to clutter, domain shift, and countermeasures.
• Develop multi-object tracking and state-estimation methods, including filtering, data association, and line-of-sight estimates for missile guidance.
• Implement track lifecycle management, including track initialization, maintenance, confirmation, and termination under real sensor conditions.
• Develop segmentation, classification, and discrimination algorithms to distinguish targets from decoys, debris, and background.
• Develop aimpoint localization and supporting image-processing methods for terminal accuracy.
• Contribute to perception-related sensor fusion, combining IR and X-band radar measurements into a consistent track picture.
• Implement, optimize, and validate algorithms for real-time flight, with measured latency, defensible covariance and confidence, and performance demonstrated in simulation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and flight data.
• Research and prototype advanced AI and ML methods for perception and estimation, and help mature successful methods for the flight pipeline.
• Provide input on the use and governance of agentic coding tools and help build an AI-centric workflow.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level