Lead Rover Navigation and Perception Engineer

Venturi Astrolab, Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 142,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity ownership

Health benefits

401(k) with company match

Flexible PTO

Home office stipend

On-site meals/snacks

Monthly social events

Job summary

Venturi Astrolab, Inc. in Hawthorne, California, is seeking a Lead Rover Navigation and Perception Engineer to design, tune, and validate the navigation and perception system for our lunar rovers.

This technical leadership role combines hands-on development with mentoring a small team on an aggressive schedule. The ideal candidate has 10+ years in rover navigation and perception, expertise in sensor fusion and Kalman filtering, and strong C++/Python skills to drive flight-ready software from

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 10+ years designing, developing, and testing navigation, localization, and perception systems for rovers or autonomous platforms.
• Experience with sensor fusion and Kalman filtering across diverse modalities (IMU, lidar, radar, star tracker, etc.).

Responsibilities

• Lead a small team of engineers to design, characterize, test, verify, and validate localization and perception systems for extra-terrestrial rovers.
• Bring a navigation and perception solution from early design through flight operations on an aggressive schedule for the lunar rover CLV-1.
• Work closely with the software team to implement and test navigation, perception, and obstacle avoidance flight software.
• Ensure navigation and perception systems are robust, upgradable during flight, and practical.
• Devise, supervise, and execute navigation and perception system testing with real sensors and flight computers in simulated lunar conditions.
• Ensure systems meet performance and NASA human-rated spacecraft requirements.

Skills

Navigation systems

Localization

Perception systems

Sensor fusion

Kalman filtering

C++

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree in STEM

Tools

C++

Python

Kalman filtering

Job description

Lead Rover Navigation and Perception Engineer

Department: Software Engineering

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Hawthorne, California

Reporting To: Denise Brown

Compensation: $142,000 - $235,000 / year

Description

Astrolab is The Lunar Operations Company. We design and build the systems and hardware the lunar economy will come to depend on - rovers, power, and data networks for sustained operations on the Moon. We are focused on the problems that must be solved before the next chapter of human exploration can scale. The Moon does not forgive untested assumptions. The people who work here know that, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

The Lead Rover Navigation and Perception Engineer will be responsible for the design, tuning, analysis, and characterization of the navigation and perception system for Astrolab's extra-terrestrial rovers. The Lead Rover Navigation and Perception Engineer will work closely with the flight software team to implement and test all of the rover navigation and perception algorithms. This position is a technical leadership position with an expectation that the lead will also be doing hands on work as part of the rover guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) team to design, characterize, and test the vehicle navigation and perception system. The Lead Rover Navigation and Perception Engineer will devise test campaigns to be executed with real hardware in simulated and analog lunar environments and work with the team to execute the tests.

Note: Some travel may be required for this position

What you'll do:

• Lead a small team of engineers to design, characterize, test, verify, and validate localization and perception systems for extra-terrestrial rovers
• Bring a navigation and perception solution from early design through flight operations on an aggressive schedule for Astrolab's CLV-1 lunar rover
• Work closely with the software team to implement and test navigation, perception, and obstacle avoidance flight software
• Ensure that extra-terrestrial rover navigation and perception solutions are robust, upgradable during flight, and practical
• Devise, supervise, and execute navigation and perception system testing with real sensors and flight computers using a test vehicle operating in simulated lunar conditions
• Ensure that navigation and perception system meet performance and NASA human rated spacecraft system requirements

What you'll bring:

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• 10+ years designing, developing, and testing navigation, localization, and perception systems for rovers, autonomous vehicles, GPS-denied vehicle navigation systems, or similar autonomous or robotic platforms.
• Experience with practical sensor fusion and Kalman filtering for wheeled vehicle navigation and perception, with specific experience using sensors with widely different modalities to determine robust navigation and perception solutions (e.g. IMU, lidar, radar, star tracker, etc.)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience designing, tuning, developing, analyzing, characterizing, verifying, and validating navigation and perception solutions for wheeled vehicles
• Experience developing, testing, and characterizing obstacle detection and avoidance algorithms for wheeled vehicles
• Experience dealing with real world issues that affect navigation/localization/perception system design and performance, such as invalid data, dropped packets, data latencies, blurry images, and similar
• Experience supporting a navigation/localization system through the entire lifecycle, from early design through live vehicle operations
• Experience in C++ and Python programming

Benefits and Perks

• Join a team of best-in-class engineers building the foundation of planetary surface exploration
• Equity ownership in the company
• Comprehensive health benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and mental health support
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Flexible PTO and parental leave
• Home office set up reimbursement
• Weekly lunch stipend, plus complimentary snacks and beverages on-site
• Once a month social hour on-site with food and drinks