Head of AI Core Autonomy & Flight Systems

Merlin Labs, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 380,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in Merlin

Flexible paid time off

Comprehensive healthcare

Parental leave

Lifestyle spending account

401K program

Job summary

Merlin Labs, Inc. seeks a technically deep software leader to define and drive the technical strategy for the AI Core platform, spanning perception, sensor fusion, decision-making, planning and control.

You will lead a multidisciplinary team of AI, robotics and software engineers working on flight-critical autonomy software, translating company objectives into roadmaps with clear milestones and owning end-to-end architecture for data pipelines, model training, onboard inference and control.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 5 years in Physical AI technical leadership and engineering management roles.
• Proficiency in PyTorch, TensorFlow and C++ (or equivalent systems languages used in real-time embedded environments).
• Experience shipping production-grade AI-based autonomy in safety-critical, deterministic and highly regulated environments (aerospace, automotive, etc.).

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the technical strategy for Merlin’s AI Core platform across perception, sensor fusion, decision-making, planning and control.
• Lead, grow and mentor a multi-disciplinary team of AI engineers, robotics engineers, and software engineers on autonomy software.
• Collaborate with VP of Engineering and CTO to translate company objectives into roadmaps with milestones.
• Own AI Core stack architecture from data pipelines and training to real-time onboard inference and control.
• Establish engineering standards, code quality practices, and safety review processes for aviation-grade software.
• Partner with Flight Operations, Systems Eng, and Certification to meet FAA and regulatory requirements.
• Drive integration between AI Core and broader avionics and vehicle management systems.
• Recruit senior engineering talent and foster a culture of technical excellence and psychological safety.
• Represent the AI Core team in cross-functional planning, risk reviews, and stakeholder communications.
• Track emerging research and open-source developments and translate into product opportunities.

Skills

AI leadership

Software engineering

CI/CD

MLOps

Safety-critical

System architecture

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/AI

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

C++

Embedded Linux

RTOS

Job description

Merlin Labs, Inc. seeks a technically deep software leader to define and drive the technical strategy for the AI Core platform, spanning perception, sensor fusion, decision-making, planning and control.

You will lead a multidisciplinary team of AI, robotics and software engineers working on flight-critical autonomy software, translating company objectives into roadmaps with clear milestones and owning end-to-end architecture for data pipelines, model training, onboard inference and control.