Perception Lead: Drone Vision & Embedded AI

Neros; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 134,000 - 187,000; Full time

Job summary

Neros is seeking a Perception Lead to own the perception stack for all unmanned aircraft, from sensor input to target tracking and state estimation interfaces. You will guide development, set output contracts, and ensure performance under degraded conditions while optimizing for embedded accelerators.

You will lead a small perception engineering team, hire and mentor, and contribute directly as an engineer, advancing from classical vision to learned detection as flight data justifies it.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6+ years delivering production computer vision or perception software.
• Experience deploying perception to physical systems outdoors (unmanned aircraft, robotics, etc.).
• Expert proficiency in C++ and Python with RT or resource-constrained requirements.
• Depth in classical and learned perception, including detection and tracking.
• Experience deploying NN inference on embedded accelerators with latency considerations.
• Familiarity with EO/IR imaging and long-range, low-light sensing.
• Ability to define evaluation metrics, thresholds, and regression testing for safety-critical systems.
• Strong collaboration, mentorship, and leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture, roadmap, and delivery of the perception stack across all vehicle platforms.
• Lead and grow the perception engineering team through hiring, mentorship, and technical review.
• Deliver detection, recognition, and image-space tracking that holds a target under clutter and degraded conditions.
• Define the perception output contract and operating points with state estimation and engagement owners.
• Drive the transition from classical vision to learned detection with measurable criteria and regression cases.
• Own deployment of perception software to constrained onboard compute with attention to latency budgets.

Skills

C++

Python

Leadership

Perception/Computer Vision

RT systems

Outdoor environments

Tools

NVIDIA Jetson

TensorRT

Qualcomm

Hailo

Job description

Neros is seeking a Perception Lead to own the perception stack for all unmanned aircraft, from sensor input to target tracking and state estimation interfaces. You will guide development, set output contracts, and ensure performance under degraded conditions while optimizing for embedded accelerators.

You will lead a small perception engineering team, hire and mentor, and contribute directly as an engineer, advancing from classical vision to learned detection as flight data justifies it.