AI / Perception Engineer

Wild West Systems, Inc.; Leander (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Wild West Systems seeks an AI / Perception Engineer to build and deliver the perception layer of our autonomy stack. You will develop real-time computer vision and sensor-fusion systems that run on constrained edge hardware in dynamic environments.

This role takes perception from concept to field deployment, collaborating across software and hardware teams to ensure robust performance on our on-site Leander, Texas, facility. In-person work is required at this time.

Qualifications

• Expertise in state-of-the-art CV models (YOLO, transformers) and multi-object tracking.
• Experience training, fine-tuning, and deploying perception models.
• Proficiency in edge inference optimization (TensorRT, ONNX).
• Strong Python and C++ (or Rust) programming skills.
• Experience building real-time video pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy real-time perception systems for edge devices.
• Build multi-sensor perception pipelines (camera, lidar) and integrate with autonomy stack.
• Optimize models for constrained hardware (Hailo, Jetson, ARM).
• Improve robustness under real-world conditions (noise, occlusion).
• Collaborate across software, hardware, and test teams.

Skills

CV models

Model training & deployment

Edge inference optimization

Python + C++ (or Rust)

Real-time video pipelines

Tools

TensorRT

ONNX

Hailo

Jetson

Job description

Wild West Systems is an American defense technology company with the mission to equip the civilized world with superior and affordable arms and advanced technologies – to dominate the battlefield of present and future threats, in a new era of asymmetrical warfare. We fuse versatile domain experience with novel approach and creativity to change the paradigm of defense – both for military arenas and civilian soft targets. We're an early-stage startup, rapidly moving and growing.

AI / Perception Engineer

Wild West Systems is an American defense technology company with the mission to equip the civilized world with superior and affordable arms and advanced technologies – to dominate the battlefield of present and future threats, in a new era of asymmetrical warfare. We fuse versatile domain experience with novel approach and creativity to change the paradigm of defense – both for military arenas and civilian soft targets. We're an early-stage startup, rapidly moving and growing.

Wild West Systems is an American defense technology company with the mission to equip the civilized world with superior and affordable arms and advanced technologies - to dominate the battlefield of present and future threats, in a new era of asymmetrical warfare. We fuse versatile domain experience with novel approach and creativity to change the paradigm of defense - both for military arenas and civilian soft targets. We're an early stage startup, rapidly moving and growing.

General Qualifications

Deep love for America and passion for Wild West System's mission. Self-starter, capable of performing tasks as an individual as well as working well in a team. Servant-leader mentality, extreme ownership, willing to participate in different and rapidly changing projects in a dynamic environment. Bias for action. ITAR REQUIREMENT: To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Position Overview

We are seeking an AI / Perception Engineer to build and deliver the perception layer of our autonomy stack. This is a high-impact role focused on building real-time computer vision and sensor fusion systems that operate reliably on constrained edge hardware in dynamic environments.

This is not a research-only role. You will be responsible for taking perception systems from concept → prototype → field deployment, working across software, hardware, and real-world testing.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy real-time object detection, classification, and tracking systems
• Optimize models for edge deployment (Hailo, Jetson, ARM, etc.)
• Build multi-sensor perception pipelines (camera, lidar, etc.)
• Improve robustness under real-world conditions (motion blur, occlusion, lighting)
• Integrate perception outputs into downstream autonomy systems

Required Skills And Experience

• Strong experience with modern CV models (YOLO, transformers, tracking systems)
• Experience training, fine-tuning, and deploying models
• Experience with edge inference optimization (TensorRT, ONNX, etc.)
• Strong Python + C++ (or Rust) skills
• Experience working with real-time video pipelines

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Experience with Hailo or similar accelerators
• Experience with multi-object tracking (ByteTrack, DeepSORT)
• Experience with Roboflow or similar dataset pipelines
• Experience deploying models on embedded systems

Work Location

This role is assigned onsite at our Leander, Texas location. In-person work is required.