Staff/Senior Staff Computer Vision Engineer - Map team

Niantic Spatial•San Francisco, CA

17d•$256,500 - $315,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As a staff member of the Map Team, you will own and drive significant parts of Niantic Spatial’s Reconstruction and/or Localization technologies. You will help build a living geospatial world model that supports high-fidelity 3D representations through Gaussian Splatting and meshing, as well as a centimeter-level accuracy Visual Positioning System (VPS) that enables people and robots to explore the real world. This individual contributor role includes substantial technical leadership, mentoring engineers, and influencing the technical roadmap. You will lead core technology design and implementation across Structure from Motion (SfM), feed-forward and foundational models, and high-fidelity 3D reconstruction. You will keep current with relevant state-of-the-art research and develop novel solutions in VPS and/or 3D reconstruction. The role also involves designing and maintaining scalable, production-grade computer vision systems; optimizing and implementing algorithms and models for high-accuracy, high-performance execution on CPU and GPU, in the cloud or on devices; and creating high-quality data and benchmarks for spatially grounded AI queries. You will work with engineering leadership to define technical roadmaps and quarterly objectives for the Applied CV Team, provide mentorship and code governance, and collaborate with Product, Research, and Operations teams to deliver computer vision solutions as user experiences. The position is based in the San Francisco or Sunnyvale office, with three days per week in office.

Requirements

At least 7 years of professional experience in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, or a related field, or at least 4 years with a PhD in a relevant domain.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
Strong proficiency in Python and/or C/C++.
Proven experience in both classical and learned-based 3D Computer Vision and Machine Learning.
Demonstrated experience taking research into production at scale.
Previous experience technically leading computer vision projects.

Nice To Haves

Master’s or PhD degree.

Responsibilities

Lead the design and implementation of core technologies, including Structure from Motion (SfM), feed-forward and foundational models, and high-fidelity 3D reconstruction such as meshing and Gaussian splats.
Stay current with state-of-the-art developments and invent novel solutions in Visual Positioning Systems (VPS) and/or 3D reconstruction.
Design, develop, and maintain scalable, production-grade computer vision systems for VPS, 3D reconstruction, and 3D mapping pipelines.
Develop and optimize algorithms and train models for high-accuracy, high-performance execution on CPU and GPU, in the cloud or on devices, as part of reliable production systems.
Drive decision-making by creating high-quality data that supports accurate spatial grounding of AI queries with structural, semantic, and location-specific knowledge.
Work with engineering leadership to define the Applied CV Team’s technical roadmap and quarterly objectives.
Provide high-level mentorship and code governance to raise the team’s technical standards.
Collaborate with Product, Research, and Operations teams to translate state-of-the-art computer vision solutions into user experiences.