Air Autonomy Perception Engineer (Real-Time C++)

Frontdoor Defense; Fort Walton Beach (FL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition in Fort Walton Beach, FL seeks a Perception Engineer to build and deploy the perception layer of an autonomy stack for uncrewed air vehicles. You will design real-time C++ algorithms, run simulations, and push prototypes to production on embedded Linux devices.

Ideal candidates hold a technical BS/MS and 3+ years in perception/estimation for autonomous systems, with strong C++ and ML experience and a track record in simulation and field testing.

Qualifications

• BS/MS in Electrical, Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field, plus 3+ years building perception or estimation software for autonomous systems.
• Strong modern C++ (17/20) for real-time, performance-critical code on Linux. Comfortable with linear algebra libraries (e.g. Eigen) and profiling.
• Solid grounding in state estimation: Kalman filter variants (EKF/UKF), multiple-model filters (IMM), and covariance and uncertainty handling.
• Experience with multi-target tracking and sensor fusion: data association, track management, and fusing heterogeneous sensors that report intermittently and with noise.
• Working knowledge of machine learning for prediction, including sequence models (RNN/LSTM, transformers), training pipelines, and evaluating models on held-out data.
• Python for data pipelines, analysis and visualization of logged and simulated runs.
• Experience validating algorithms in simulation and with recorded data: designing experiments, defining metrics, and reading results honestly.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Vision, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related technical field; 2+ years of experience in industry.

Responsibilities

• Develop, integrate, and adapt AI/ML algorithms for the perception autonomy stack to collect relevant information across a suite of platform sensors.
• Create interfacing software to autonomously control sensors (EO, IR, acoustics, radar, and RF).
• Collaborate across the sensor, tracking, and autonomy teams for deployment in on-site DoD tests.
• Deploy containerized solutions to embedded Linux devices, leveraging computer-in-the-loop testing and profiling, and efficiently collecting performance data.
• Interact with the DoD customer to understand use cases and triage needs during field events.

Skills

C++17/20

State estimation

Kalman filters

Sensor fusion

Multi-target tracking

ML for prediction

RNN/LSTM

Transformers

Python

Experiment design

Education

BS/MS in Electrical, Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Robotics, or a related field

Bachelor's degree in Computer Vision, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related technical field

Tools

Eigen

Job description

Applied Intuition in Fort Walton Beach, FL seeks a Perception Engineer to build and deploy the perception layer of an autonomy stack for uncrewed air vehicles. You will design real-time C++ algorithms, run simulations, and push prototypes to production on embedded Linux devices.

Ideal candidates hold a technical BS/MS and 3+ years in perception/estimation for autonomous systems, with strong C++ and ML experience and a track record in simulation and field testing.