Founding Computer Vision Engineer — Teach AI to See Ocean Plastic

Retide Labs; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 60,000 - 120,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Remote worldwide

Flexible commitment

Frequent field deployments

Job summary

Retide Labs is seeking a Founding Computer Vision & Perception Engineer to lead development of aerial perception capabilities. You will own the computer vision, ML, and perception stack, working with real-world data, building models, and taking them to the field to test performance outside the lab.

You will influence AI architecture, datasets, and technical direction while collaborating with robotics and software teams.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in computer vision, machine learning, robotics perception or a closely related field.
• Built and evaluated real-world perception systems.
• Experience with object detection, segmentation and modern deep learning approaches.
• Comfort working with imperfect and evolving datasets.
• Able to move from research to prototype to experiment to iteration quickly.
• Takes ownership and enjoys field work, not just code.

Responsibilities

• Build initial detection and segmentation models from drone and beach imagery datasets.
• Travel for field deployments to Brazil, west-coast Canada, or Southeast Asia.
• Decide where to build custom architectures vs. adapt existing ones, especially for small-object detection.
• Cover the full perception stack: multimodal sensor fusion, real-time and edge AI, model uncertainty and human-in-the-loop systems.

Skills

Computer vision

Machine learning

Robotics perception

Aerial imagery

Field deployment

Tools

PyTorch

Edge AI

Sensor fusion

Job description

Remote Worldwide | Flexible Commitment (Part-time to Full-time) | Equity | Frequent International Field Work

About Retide

Every minute, the equivalent of a garbage truck of plastic enters the ocean.

And yet, our ability to see where that plastic is, understand how it moves, and measure the impact of removing it is still surprisingly limited.

Retide is building the intelligence infrastructure to change that.

We use AI, robotics and environmental data to help organizations better understand plastic pollution, improve recovery efforts, and create stronger evidence of environmental impact.

Our long-term vision is a world where we can understand how plastic moves through the environment, identify where intervention matters most, and measure what happens when we act.

We're a Canadian ocean-tech startup working alongside cleanup organizations and environmental partners to build and test our technology in the real world.

We're now expanding our work into autonomous aerial systems and looking for a founding engineer to help build this next part of Retide.

Where We Are Today

Retide was founded in early 2025 and is currently at the pre-seed stage.

Since then, we've moved from concept development into field testing and validation, while building the partnerships and market access needed to bring our technology into the real world.

Today:

• We're part of Canada's leading AI, climate-tech and ocean innovation ecosystems, including NextAI, Foresight Canada and the Ocean Startup Project
• We've established partnerships with key stakeholders across the plastic recovery and plastic credit ecosystem globaly.
• We've built relationships and early distribution channels that give us access to cleanup operators, field environments and potential users of our technology
• We're working with environmental, research and industry partners across Canada, Germany, Brazil and Southeast Asia
• We've begun collecting real-world beach and drone data alongside cleanup organizations
• Retide was recognized among Scale AI's 2025 Top 100 AI Startups in Canada

We have the partnerships, field access and early market pathways. Now we're building the technology and technical team to turn that into something real.

The Role

We're looking for a 'Founding Computer Vision & Perception Engineer' to lead the development of Retide's aerial perception capabilities.

You'll work at the intersection of computer vision, machine learning, robotics and environmental sensing to explore how AI can transform aerial data into useful intelligence about plastic pollution.

You'll take ownership of Retide's computer vision and perception work, building on what we've developed so far and helping shape where it goes next. You'll work with real-world data, develop and test models, and take them into the field to understand how they perform outside the lab.

You'll have significant influence over Retide's AI architecture, datasets and technical direction.

What You'll Work On

In the first few months, you'll likely be:

• Building initial detection and segmentation models from our existing drone and beach imagery datasets
• Traveling to Brazil, west-coast Canada or Southeast Asia for at least one field deployment, working directly alongside cleanup partners
• Helping us decide where to build custom architectures versus adapt existing ones — especially for small-object detection in complex, cluttered environments

Beyond that, the role spans the full perception stack: multimodal sensor fusion, real-time and edge AI, model uncertainty and human-in-the-loop systems, and active learning as our datasets grow. You'll work closely with our robotics and software team to treat perception as part of an entire sensing system, not just a model trained on a static dataset.

We're Looking for Someone Who

• Has strong experience in computer vision, machine learning, robotics perception or a closely related field
• Has built and evaluated real-world perception systems
• Has experience with object detection, segmentation and modern deep learning approaches
• Is comfortable working with imperfect and evolving datasets
• Can move from research to prototype to experiment to iteration quickly
• Takes ownership rather than waiting for detailed requirements
• Is excited to spend time in the field, not just behind a computer

Experience with PyTorch, aerial imagery, small-object detection, edge AI, active learning, uncertainty estimation, sensor fusion, remote sensing, multimodal imaging or robotics is valuable. But we're more interested in what you can build and how quickly you can learn than whether you check every box.

Commitment & Compensation

We're flexible on commitment level. This role can start at 20 hours per week or move to full-time immediately for the right person — we'd rather structure around what works for you than force a fixed schedule this early.

At our current pre-seed stage, this is an equity-based role, with the intention of transitioning to salary + equity following our next funding round, currently targeted for Q2 2027.

Location & Field Work

Retide is remote worldwide — you can be based anywhere. Our founder is a digital nomad.

This role involves frequent international travel for field testing and deployments, concentrated across Canada, Brazil and Southeast Asia.

Field work logistics: Core travel costs for scheduled field deployments are covered by Retide.

This isn't a purely remote AI role. We want someone excited to take models into the field, work alongside our partners, see where they fail, and use that to make them better.

What It's Like to Build at Retide

We're small, ambitious and still early. That means everyone has a voice in what Retide becomes.

We value curiosity over ego, ownership over titles, and progress over perfection. We care about rigorous science and thoughtful engineering, but we also believe technology only matters if it works outside the lab — which means learning alongside the communities and organizations already doing this work on the ground.

You should be excited by ambiguity, comfortable challenging assumptions, and willing to get your hands dirty — sometimes literally.

Why Join Now

You'll join Retide at a point where many of our most important technical decisions have yet to be made. You'll have the opportunity to shape our perception architecture, datasets, research direction and engineering culture from the beginning — working directly with the founder and a small technical team, with significant ownership over what you build.

The models you develop won't live only in a benchmark or research paper. They'll go into the field and help us build a better way to understand plastic pollution in the environments where it actually exists.

If you're excited about computer vision, robotics, oceans and applying AI to one of the world's most visible environmental problems, we'd love to hear from you.