Software Engineer: Perception (I)

Lodestar • Los Angeles, CA

23h • $99,000 - $174,000

About The Position

Lodestar is developing MITHRIL, a platform that augments spacecraft with the ability to autonomously detect, characterize, and reversibly neutralize orbital threats. The Software Engineer: Perception will join the perception and machine vision teams to develop vision and perception models that support MITHRIL. This early-career role focuses on building algorithms that detect, classify, and understand unknown space targets in real time. The engineer will work alongside senior perception engineers, combining computer vision, image processing, and machine learning to develop models for autonomous decision-making in complex and uncertain space environments. The role offers early ownership with support for professional growth in an engineering culture oriented around extreme ownership.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in AI/ML, Computer Science, Robotics, a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 0–2 years of professional experience in machine learning, robotics, computer vision, or a related field; internships, research placements, and substantial academic or personal projects count.
• Solid software engineering skills in Python and working proficiency in C++.
• Foundational DNN/ML knowledge and hands-on experience with computer vision or image processing libraries such as OpenCV.
• Demonstrated ability to take an ML model from training through evaluation in coursework, research, or industry.
• Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain required U.S. Department of State authorizations, to comply with ITAR requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Experience developing or deploying ML models to real-time or resource-constrained systems.
• Broad understanding of modern perception systems and their architecture.
• Exposure to sensor measurements from RADAR, electro-optical sensors, RF sensors, or LIDAR.
• Familiarity with image processing techniques such as feature extraction, segmentation, filtering, or stereo matching to support 3D reconstruction and target classification.
• Experience optimising neural networks or geometric algorithms using CUDA kernels, TensorRT, or other GPU acceleration frameworks.
• Exposure to distributed training or cloud-based scaling of ML models using AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience with Linux, Git, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Comfort with containerisation tools such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Understanding of networking and communication protocols for distributed autonomy systems.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the perception system at the core of Lodestar's autonomy software suite.
• Work through the full lifecycle of perception algorithms alongside senior engineers, including literature review, training, evaluation, optimisation, and deployment.
• Build on and optimise existing models for edge computing, and develop new components with guidance from perception leads.
• Help develop and test methods for predicting the relative pose of dynamic space targets in harsh and unpredictable visual environments.
• Integrate perception models into mission simulation environments and real-time autonomy pipelines.
• Contribute to the design of realistic sensor models and digital twins to improve perception fidelity in mission scenarios.
• Maintain and extend perception tooling, model training infrastructure, and evaluation frameworks.
• Collaborate across the autonomy, estimation, and mission software teams to support perception fidelity, performance, and scalability.

Benefits

• Meaningful equity incentives as part of the employee option pool.
• Flexible PTO with generous paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match.
• Full-time hires may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of stock options and access to medical, vision, and dental coverage, as well as a 401(k) retirement plan.

What This Job Offers

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