Expert Perception Data Engineer

driveblocks; Germany (OH); On-site; USD 115,115 - 172,672; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Virtual Stock Option Plan

Job summary

driveblocks develops off‑road ground autonomy systems. We seek an Expert Perception Data Engineer to scale data workflows for robust autonomous performance in challenging conditions.

You will own the full data lifecycle from ingestion to validation, building scalable perception pipelines and embeddings-based retrieval. You will work with multimodal sensor data (camera, lidar, radar) and drive automation around data operations, with a strong ownership mindset in a fast-moving engineering

Qualifications

• 6+ years building large-scale data processing systems for ML/robotics.
• Strong software engineering in Python and/or C++.
• Experience with multimodal sensor data (camera, lidar, radar).
• Familiar with dataset management tooling, embeddings, vector databases, semantic retrieval, and similarity search.
• Ownership mindset and ability to work independently in a fast-moving environment.
• Strong communication across engineering and customer-facing teams.
• Degree in computer science, robotics, engineering or related field.

Responsibilities

• Designing and scaling large-scale perception data pipelines for terabytes of sensor data.
• Developing automated dataset curation and scenario mining systems.
• Building embeddings-based retrieval and semantic search pipelines.
• Maintaining tooling for dataset versioning, metadata management, and QA.
• Improving infrastructure for high-throughput data processing and cloud-native workflows.
• Driving automation around data operations and deployment feedback loops.

Skills

Python

C++

Data pipelines

Sensor data

Vector databases

Semantic retrieval

Autonomy software

Communication

Education

Bachelor/Master/PhD in CS/Robotics/Engineering

Job description

As an Expert Perception Data Engineer you scale the data workflows that power the next-generation of off-road autonomy systems. You own the full data lifecycle from ingestion and curation to automated scenario mining, dataset generation, embeddings-based retrieval, and validation workflows.

In this hands‑on engineering role, your designs and implementations have a critical impact on enabling the robust and safe performance of our software in challenging off‑road conditions. Your main tasks are:

• Designing and scaling large-scale perception data pipelines for terabytes of incoming multimodal sensor data.
• Developing automated dataset curation and scenario mining systems for edge cases and safety‑critical situations.
• Building embeddings‑based retrieval and semantic search pipelines for perception data selection and analysis.
• Maintain tooling for dataset versioning, metadata management, annotation orchestration, and quality assurance to meet certification requirements.
• Improving infrastructure for high‑throughput data processing, cloud‑native workflows, and distributed compute pipelines.
• Driving automation around data operations, labeling processes, and deployment feedback loops from field operations.

Your Background

• 6+ years of professional experience building large‑scale data processing systems for machine learning or robotics applications
• Strong software engineering skills in Python and/or C++
• Experience working with multimodal sensor data such as camera, lidar, and radar
• Familiarity with dataset management tooling, embeddings, vector databases, semantic retrieval, and similarity search systems
• Strong ownership mindset and the ability to work independently in a fast‑moving engineering environment
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain complex technical topics clearly across engineering and customer‑facing teams
• Degree in computer science, robotics, engineering or a related field(Bachelor, Master, or PhD)

• 6+ years of professional experience building large‑scale data processing systems for machine learning or robotics applications
• Strong software engineering skills in Python and/or C++
• Experience working with multimodal sensor data such as camera, lidar, and radar
• Familiarity with dataset management tooling, embeddings, vector databases, semantic retrieval, and similarity search systems
• Strong ownership mindset and the ability to work independently in a fast‑moving engineering environment
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain complex technical topics clearly across engineering and customer‑facing teams
• Degree in computer science, robotics, engineering or a related field(Bachelor, Master, or PhD)

We understand that not everyone will meet all the criteria! If you see yourself in these points, we’d love to learn more about you!

About Us

driveblocks develops off‑road ground autonomy that works under harsh and challenging conditions. We build systems designed for operation in 3D terrain, vegetation, and heavy dust and dirt, where 100% reliability is core to success, even in GNSS‑denied environments.

Working with multiple OEM partners across agriculture, construction, and defense, our focus is to deliver value to vehicle operators and solve the toughest challenges when deploying Physical AI in real world applications. Every deployment helps us to gather the operational data required to build the next generation of reliable and safe autonomous driving systems.

From our office in Munich, we operate as a focused, highly ambitious team with deep expertise in autonomy, Physical AI, and embedded software engineering. We move quickly and set high standards. If you want to build autonomy that is deployed, tested, and operated in the field - we’d love to hear from you!

• Ownership of your work – Take responsibility for the full value chain
• Participate in driveblocks’ success via a Virtual Stock Option Plan