Principal Perception Engineer — Autonomous Maritime Systems

Socket.dev; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 300,000 - 380,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO

Health coverage

Equity

401(k)

Professional development

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Saildrone seeks a Principal Engineer, Perception, to define the technical direction and architecture of perception systems powering autonomous maritime vehicles. This hands-on leadership role requires owning the hardest perception problems and unifying sensing, estimation, ML, and production software into a coherent system running on real vehicles.

The role demands deep expertise in sensor fusion, probabilistic estimation, and uncertainty modeling, with a proven ability to translate research

Qualifications

• Exceptional depth in perception and robotics with deployments on autonomous systems.
• Deep expertise in sensor fusion, probabilistic estimation, and uncertainty modeling.
• Strong mathematical and algorithmic foundations across CV, localization, state estimation, tracking, mapping, or ML.
• Track record of translating research into production systems.
• Experience setting technical direction and architecture for complex autonomous systems.
• Outstanding technical judgment demonstrated through consequential decisions and problem solving.

Responsibilities

• Define architecture and technical direction for Saildrone's perception systems.
• Lead hardest problems in sensor fusion, estimation, localization, tracking, and mapping.
• Determine how heterogeneous sensors and perception algorithms produce reliable information for autonomy.
• Translate research into robust production capabilities under real-world constraints on sensors, compute, latency, and environment.
• Provide technical direction to senior engineers through architecture reviews and problem solving.

Skills

Perception robotics

Sensor fusion

Probabilistic estimation

Uncertainty modeling

Math & algorithms

State estimation

Tracking & mapping

Machine learning

Production software

Technical leadership

Job description

Saildrone seeks a Principal Engineer, Perception, to define the technical direction and architecture of perception systems powering autonomous maritime vehicles. This hands-on leadership role requires owning the hardest perception problems and unifying sensing, estimation, ML, and production software into a coherent system running on real vehicles.

The role demands deep expertise in sensor fusion, probabilistic estimation, and uncertainty modeling, with a proven ability to translate research