Senior Perception Engineer

Neros Technologies•Torrance, CA

About The Position

The Senior Perception Engineer develops the perception software that allows Neros unmanned aircraft to detect, classify, and track targets from the air, working across the full perception stack rather than a single component. This role covers detection, classification, image-space tracking, and aimpoint selection on both EO and thermal imagery, delivered onto constrained onboard compute and validated against logged flight data. As one of the most senior individual contributors in the perception group, this engineer also provides design and code review across the team's work.

Requirements

5+ years of professional experience developing production computer vision or perception software, with demonstrated ownership of a perception component from prototype through fielded deployment
Demonstrated delivery of perception software onto a physical system operating in an uncontrolled outdoor environment, such as unmanned aircraft, ground robotics, autonomous vehicles, or aerospace platforms, rather than research or benchmark work alone
Expert proficiency in C++ and Python, including production experience under real-time or resource-constrained requirements
Depth in both classical and learned perception, spanning correlation, template, and optical-flow tracking, feature matching and data association, alongside modern detection and classification networks
Experience deploying neural networks to embedded accelerators, including quantization and characterization of the resulting accuracy and latency trade-off
Working knowledge of EO and IR/thermal imaging, camera calibration, and sensor characteristics, with direct experience in small-object detection at long range, in low light, or under high dynamic range
Experience defining perception evaluation, including dataset and labeling requirements, detection and tracking metrics such as precision, recall, track continuity, and identity switches, and regression testing against logged flight or field data
Experience selecting detection thresholds and operating points against an explicit cost of false positives versus missed detections in a safety-critical or mission-critical system
Familiarity with coordinate frames, sensor timing and synchronization, and uncertainty representation at the interface between perception and state estimation

Nice To Haves

Experience with air-to-ground EO/IR imagery, or with airborne target acquisition, seeker, or automatic target recognition systems
Experience selecting or integrating thermal/LWIR sensors, including the imaging and procurement trade-offs involved
Experience building or contributing to a data engine for a fleet, covering large-scale log capture, indexing and search, dataset versioning, and labeling operations that feed model training

Responsibilities

Develop and deliver detection, classification, and image-space tracking for small, low-contrast targets at long standoff in cluttered terrain
Extend the perception stack to IR and low-light imaging in support of night operations, including sensor frontend integration, performance characterization, and the imagery collection required to support subsequent learned components
Develop onboard target search and candidate generation that enables operator authorization of engagements over narrowband or degraded communications links
Implement discrimination of valid targets from civilian, friendly, and neutral objects, and set detection operating points jointly with the state estimation and engagement authorization owners
Define the perception output contract, including calibrated confidence and explicit signaling of no detection, suppressed detection, and degraded sensor conditions
Deploy perception software to embedded compute in partnership with the platform team, owning the accuracy and latency trade-off and compliance with end-to-end latency budgets
Define and maintain perception evaluation and regression cases against logged flight data, and provide senior technical review across the perception team