Defense Perception Engineer: Edge ML & Vision

Aimlroles; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition is seeking a Perception Engineer for our Defense team in Sunnyvale to advance full‑stack perception models across maritime, land, air‑to‑surface scenarios, using cutting‑edge transformers and our in‑house labeling and MLOps stack.

You will deploy models to edge devices (Jetson Orin+), optimize for near realtime performance, and scale datasets with simulation and generative AI. Collaborative cross‑functional work supports on‑site DoD demonstrations.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Computer Engineering, Robotic Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent OR 5+ years of relevant experience working with simulation, machine learning, and ML infrastructure.
• Proficiency in training ML models in PyTorch on multi‑machine, multi‑GPU systems.
• Experience in optimizing and deploying machine learning models to edge devices.
• Strong experience with agentic coding with proven experience in Python and/or C++.
• Experience leveraging modern AI-powered development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor) to accelerate the creation of robust, well-tested systems.
• Adeptness with remote software development, the ability to handle and process large datasets, and a capacity to learn new software and algorithms as needed with little supervision.

Responsibilities

• Develop perception models that find and classify targets with an error rate of <1/100.
• Deploy perception models to Jetson Orin+ boards and optimize models for better-than-realtime performance.
• Build large foundation models for high‑accuracy assisted data labeling.
• Build tooling across the entire perception stack: labeling tools, simulation.
• Work with the best and most competitive AI talent in the world through collaboration with Applied Intuition self‑driving staff.
• Scale up datasets using a variety of state‑of‑the‑art data generation techniques including simulation, diffusion, and generative AI.
• Create and maintain highly optimized models and inference software providing model results at maximum attainable FPS on Jetson‑like hardware.
• Collaborate across the hardware, sensor, tracking, autonomy, and testing teams to ensure seamless deployment in on‑site DoD testing and demonstration events.

Skills

PyTorch

Python

C++

Edge deployment

ML tooling

Remote work collaboration

Education

MS/PhD in Computer/Robotics/CE/CS or 5+ yrs exp

Tools

GitHub Copilot

Cursor

Jetson

Unreal/Omniverse

CUDA

Job description

Applied Intuition is seeking a Perception Engineer for our Defense team in Sunnyvale to advance full‑stack perception models across maritime, land, air‑to‑surface scenarios, using cutting‑edge transformers and our in‑house labeling and MLOps stack.

You will deploy models to edge devices (Jetson Orin+), optimize for near realtime performance, and scale datasets with simulation and generative AI. Collaborative cross‑functional work supports on‑site DoD demonstrations.