Senior Staff AI Software Engineer, Perception

Agility Robotics•Pittsburgh, PA

5d•$238,000 - $372,000•Remote

About The Position

Agility Robotics is seeking a Senior Staff AI Software Engineer, Perception to lead the technical vision and system architecture for how our humanoid robot, Digit, perceives and ensures safety in dynamic, real-world environments. As Digit moves beyond structured work cells into unpredictable spaces shared with people and other robots, the perception systems must be highly reliable and trustworthy. This role involves analyzing architectural tradeoffs, staying hands-on with development, partnering with safety and systems engineering, evaluating new technologies, and mentoring other engineers. The goal is to enable Digit to safely and efficiently understand and reason about its surroundings, building trust with those who work near it.

Requirements

8+ years in machine learning/perception for robotics, with a track record of defining system architecture
Master's or Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field, with a strong foundation in machine learning, robotics, and intelligent systems
Demonstrated experience architecting ML/perception systems for safety-critical or safety-rated contexts — human detection, functional safety, automotive or robotics or a comparable regulated domain
Deep expertise in deep convolutional neural networks, multi-object tracking, data association, supervised learning, and pose estimation, with strong intuition for where these approaches break down in unpredictable, real-world conditions
Experience making system-level tradeoffs across sensing modalities, redundancy, and compute constraints on embedded/real-time hardware
A track record of setting technical direction at an organization level

Nice To Haves

Direct experience supporting a safety case or certification submission
Experience architecting redundant or diverse sensing systems for safety-rated perception
Experience architecting perception systems for humanoid or legged robots specifically
Experience representing technical architecture to regulators, third-party certifiers, or safety auditors
Substantial experience with failure mode analysis (FMEA), hazard analysis, and safety case strategy for autonomous or robotic systems
Publications in your field are a plus (CVPR, ICCV, RSS, ICRA preferred)

Responsibilities

Own the technical vision and system architecture for Perception that enables safety and efficiency, defining how Digit will perceive and reason about humans and hazards as it expands from structured work cells into open, dynamic environments
Analyze key architectural tradeoffs across sensing modalities, model design, redundancy, and compute budget, balancing safety, latency, and real-world robustness
Stay hands-on with development to prototype, validate, or build critical pieces yourself
Partner with functional safety and systems engineering to define the safety case strategy, identifying what architecture and evidence will be required
Support failure mode and hazard analysis at the system level, shaping which risks the architecture must design around
Evaluate emerging research and technology, and decide what's worth adopting into future robot architectures
Set standards for verification and validation of ML-based perception systems, especially for rare and safety-critical scenarios
Collaborate across navigation, controls, and hardware to make sure the perception architecture serves the whole robot
Act as a senior technical mentor and partner to engineers and technical leads across the organization, and represent the architecture to executive leadership, partners, and customers as needed

Benefits

401(k) Plan: Includes a 6% company match.
Equity: Company stock options.
Insurance Coverage: 100% company-paid medical, dental, vision, and short/long-term disability insurance for employees.
Benefit Start Date: Eligible for benefits on your first day of employment.
Well-Being Support: Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
Time Off: Flexible, unlimited PTO and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown (for Exempt Employees).
Time Off: 10 vacation days, paid sick leave, and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown, annually (for Non-Exempt Employees).
On-Site Perks: Catered lunches four times a week and a variety of healthy snacks and refreshments at our Salem and Pittsburgh locations.
Parental Leave: Generous paid parental leave programs.
Work Environment: A culture that supports flexible work arrangements.
Growth Opportunities: Professional development and tuition reimbursement programs.
Relocation Assistance: Provided for eligible roles.
Annual Discretionary Bonus: Provided for eligible roles.