Director, Perception

Zoox; Foster City (CA); On-site; USD 410,000 - 492,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights

Amazon RSUs

Paid time off

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Long-term care insurance

Job summary

Zoox is seeking a Director of Perception to lead high-impact perception teams and own the technical roadmap. You will guide multi-modal sensing (vision, lidar, radar, long-wave IR) and real-time perception pipelines across segmentation, detection, fusion, and tracking, coordinating with AI, simulation, and systems groups.

The role demands 8+ years leading large CV/ML teams, deep expertise in computer vision, autonomy, and risk-aware deployment in real-world systems, with strong communication to

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of computer vision systems and AI software stacks.
• 8+ years of extensive leadership experience, leading teams of 40+.
• 10+ years of experience in computer vision, machine learning and related technologies.
• Strong leadership skills suitable for recruiting, leading, growing, and managing technical team members in solving a challenging problem, and building a critical component of a real-time system.
• Recent experience in implementing vision & perception algorithms.
• Expertise in implementing autonomy solutions and deploying real-world systems.
• Experience with recent AI approaches including E2E models for perception, transformers and sparse networks.
• Experience with sensor fusion and uncertainty modeling across multiple modalities.
• Strong presentation and communication skills.
• MSc or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science or related fields.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a group of managers and engineers, and be responsible for the team’s roadmap, productivity, execution and impact within the company.
• Set the vision for, grow, and lead a team of talented software engineers in the overall planning, execution, and success of complex technical projects, while providing the team with technical leadership.
• Collaborate with engineers and leaders across a variety of teams to brainstorm and accelerate the development of perception capabilities.
• Provide clear summaries, progress, and recommendations to our executive leadership team.
• Establishing best practices and statistical rigor around data-driven decision-making.
• Stay on top of industry and academic trends in AI and perception, making sure Zoox remains at the cutting edge of both algorithms and their implementation at scale.

Skills

Computer vision systems

AI software stacks

Leadership 40+ engineers

CV/ML experience 10+ yrs

Autonomy solutions deployment

E2E perception models

Transformers and sparse networks

Sensor fusion

Communication and presentation

Education

MSc or PhD in Robotics/CS

Job description

We’re reinventing personal transportation - making the future safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable. We’ve created our vehicle specifically for dense, complicated urban environments. Zoox is the only driving vehicle on the market with bidirectional driving capabilities and four-wheel steering, allowing us to maneuver through compact spaces and change directions without the need to reverse. The future is for riders!

Our growing software engineering leadership team is searching for a Director of Perception. Our perception stack is responsible for building Zoox’s world-class 3D environment model from multi-modal sensor data. We create novel AI architectures that combine the latest academic results with many in-house innovations in creative ways. Our algorithms are relentlessly optimized and tuned to run efficiently and effectively on a wide variety of real-life data as well as in simulation.

You will be responsible for leading high-impact Perception teams with their technical roadmap and milestone goals. You will be closely collaborating with other AI and SW leaders, simulation, and our systems design and mission assurance teams to deliver an exceptional dynamic objects perception system encompassing modalities such as vision, lidar, radar and long-wave IR across pipelines such as segmentation, detection, classification, fusion and tracking. You will lead a diverse, experienced team with a rapidly growing scope and responsibility while also working on some of the most complex problems in artificial intelligence, perception, and sensor fusion.

In this role, you will:

• Build and lead a group of managers and engineers, and be responsible for the team’s roadmap, productivity, execution and impact within the company.
• Set the vision for, grow, and lead a team of talented software engineers in the overall planning, execution, and success of complex technical projects, while providing the team with technical leadership.
• Collaborate with engineers and leaders across a variety of teams to brainstorm and accelerate the development of perception capabilities.
• Provide clear summaries, progress, and recommendations to our executive leadership team.
• Establishing best practices and statistical rigor around data-driven decision-making.
• Stay on top of industry and academic trends in AI and perception, making sure Zoox remains at the cutting edge of both algorithms and their implementation at scale.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of computer vision systems and AI software stacks.
• 8+ years of extensive leadership experience, leading teams of 40+
• 10+ years of experience in computer vision, machine learning and related technologies.
• Strong leadership skills suitable for recruiting, leading, growing, and managing technical team members in solving a challenging problem, and building a critical component of a real-time system.
• Recent experience in implementing vision & perception algorithms.
• Expertise in implementing autonomy solutions and deploying real-world systems.
• Experience with recent AI approaches including E2E models for perception, transformers and sparse networks.
• Experience with sensor fusion and uncertainty modeling across multiple modalities.
• Strong presentation and communication skills.
• MSc or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science or related fields.

Bonus Qualifications

• Familiarity with perception of autonomous vehicles or similar robots
• Hands‑on experience having deployed real products or platforms into the real world, and intimately understanding the challenges of working with complex systems
• Involvement in validation or evaluation of risk and/or safety‑critical systems
• Knowledge of GPU and/or TPU programming (CUDA, TensorRT, etc.)

$410,000 - $492,000 a year

Base Salary Range

There are three major components to compensation for this position: salary, Amazon Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), and Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights. A sign‑on bonus may be offered as part of the compensation package. The listed range applies only to the base salary. Compensation will vary based on geographic location and level. Leveling, as well as positioning within a level, is determined by a range of factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate’s relevant years of experience, domain knowledge, and interview performance. The salary range listed in this posting is representative of the range of levels Zoox is considering for this position.

• paid time off (e.g. sick leave, vacation, bereavement)
• unpaid time off
• Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights
• Amazon RSUs
• health insurance
• long-term care insurance
• long-term and short-term disability insurance
• life insurance

About Zoox

Zoox is developing the first ground-up, fully autonomous vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring this technology to market. Sitting at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and design, Zoox aims to provide the next generation of mobility-as-a-service in urban environments. We’re looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast-moving and highly execution-oriented team.

Follow us on LinkedIn

Accommodations

If you need an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process please reach out to [e-mail] or your assigned recruiter.

A Final Note:

You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Zoox, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.