Visual Navigation Engineer – Drones

DSS Aerospace; Fatih; On-site; TRY 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Cutting-edge autonomous flight tech

Collaborative R&D environment

Job summary

DSS Aerospace in Turkey is seeking a Visual Navigation Engineer to design and optimize vision-based navigation systems for UAV platforms. You will develop visual odometry, SLAM, and sensor fusion pipelines that enable localization and navigation in GPS-denied environments.

This hands-on role offers growth within our autonomy stack and collaboration with flight control, hardware, and systems teams, plus a fast-paced R&D culture.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
• Strong experience with computer vision techniques including feature detection, optical flow, stereo vision, SLAM.
• Proficiency in C++ and/or Python and experience with vision/robotics frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement visual odometry, SLAM, and visual-inertial navigation systems for UAVs.
• Develop and optimize real-time computer vision algorithms for onboard processing.
• Integrate navigation systems with flight control and sensor fusion (IMU, GPS, LiDAR, barometer).
• Conduct simulation and real-world flight testing to validate navigation accuracy.
• Optimize algorithms for embedded/edge hardware constraints and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Analyze flight data to diagnose and improve navigation performance.
• Stay updated with advances in computer vision, SLAM, and autonomous navigation.

Skills

Computer vision techniques

C++ / Python

Sensor fusion

Embedded / real-time

Linear algebra / estimation

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS/EE/Robotics/Aerospace or related field

Tools

OpenCV

ROS/ROS2

PCL

Job description

DSS Aerospace designs and develops advanced unmanned aerial systems (UAS). We're building next-generation drone technology with a focus on autonomy, precision, and reliability. We're looking for a Visual Navigation Engineer to join our autonomous systems team and help push the boundaries of vision-based flight.

Role Overview

Visual Navigation Engineer – Drones

Company: DSS Aerospace Location: Turkey

Department: Autonomous Systems / R&D

Employment Type: Full-Time

About DSS Aerospace

DSS Aerospace designs and develops advanced unmanned aerial systems (UAS). We're building next-generation drone technology with a focus on autonomy, precision, and reliability. We're looking for a Visual Navigation Engineer to join our autonomous systems team and help push the boundaries of vision-based flight.

Role Overview

We're seeking a Visual Navigation Engineer with at least 2 years of relevant experience to help design, develop, and optimize vision-based navigation systems for our drone platforms. You'll work on algorithms that allow our UAVs to perceive, localize, and navigate their environment using camera and sensor data — including in GPS-denied or GPS-degraded conditions. This is a hands‑on role with room to grow alongside our autonomy stack.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement visual odometry, SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), and visual-inertial navigation systems for UAV platforms
• Develop and optimize computer vision algorithms for real-time onboard processing
• Integrate visual navigation systems with flight control and sensor fusion pipelines (IMU, GPS, LiDAR, barometer)
• Conduct simulation testing and real-world flight testing to validate navigation accuracy and robustness
• Optimize algorithms for embedded/edge hardware constraints (power, compute, latency)
• Collaborate with flight control, hardware, and systems engineering teams
• Analyze flight data and telemetry to diagnose and improve navigation performance
• Stay current with advances in computer vision, SLAM, and autonomous navigation research

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, Aerospace Engineering, or related field
• Strong experience with computer vision techniques (feature detection, optical flow, stereo vision, SLAM)
• Proficiency in C++ and/or Python
• Experience with vision/robotics frameworks (OpenCV, ROS/ROS2, PCL, etc.)
• Understanding of sensor fusion techniques (Kalman filters, EKF/UKF)
• Experience with embedded systems or real-time processing constraints
• Solid grasp of linear algebra, geometry, and estimation theory

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience with UAV/drone platforms or autonomous vehicles
• Experience with visual-inertial odometry (VINS-Fusion, ORB-SLAM)
• Familiarity with GPU/edge AI hardware (Jetson, similar embedded compute platforms)
• Background in aerospace or defense-adjacent industries
• Publications or project work in robotics/computer vision
• 2+ years of experience with computer vision techniques (feature detection, optical flow, stereo vision, or SLAM)
• Turkish and English proficiency

What We Offer

• Competitive salary based on experience
• Opportunity to work on cutting‑edge autonomous flight technology
• Collaborative, fast‑paced R&D environment