Real-Time Robotics Perception Engineer

Drive Capital; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Path Robotics in Columbus, Ohio is building an elite robotics and perception team. We are looking for a hands-on Perception Engineer to own the vision that a real-time control loop closes on, with a focus on end-to-end perception on embedded hardware and robust measurement under challenging conditions.

You will work on camera geometry, triangulation and 3-D localization, and push the boundaries of real-time, GPU-accelerated inference on constrained hardware while maintaining strict per-frame

Qualifications

• Experience delivering real-time perception on embedded hardware with end-to-end pipeline.
• Strong foundation in camera geometry, triangulation, and 3-D reconstruction.
• Proficient in building robust vision systems that handle degraded imagery and measure uncertainty.

Responsibilities

• Develop the real-time perception pipeline from sensing to output used by control loops.
• Ensure robustness of measurements when signal quality degrades.
• Quantify and validate end-to-end latency and frame rate on real hardware.

Skills

C++

ROS 2

Real-time perception

GPU inference

3D geometry

Tools

Embedded hardware

Job description

Build the Path Forward

At Path Robotics, we’re attacking a trillion dollar opportunity - doing things that have never been done before to support an industry hurting from a lack of skilled labor. Big, hard problems are what Path tackles every day, and our people are our greatest asset to get that job done. Our intelligent, hardworking team of people do the impossible every single day, yet remain incredibly kind, humble, and always ready to support one another.

We are building an elite robotics and perception team, and we are looking for an exceptional hands-on Perception Engineer to own the vision a real-time control loop closes on.

What you'll do

• The real-time perception pipeline, end to end — sensing through extraction and geometry to the output another engineer's control loop acts on, at rate, on embedded hardware, inside a budget you set and measure.
• Robustness where the signal is being actively degraded. Getting a reliable measurement out of imagery that something is deliberately ruining is the hardest part of the job and the part that decides whether the whole system works.
• Making the estimate honest about its own failure. A confident wrong answer is the most dangerous thing this role can produce, because the loop will act on it. We want estimates that know when they are wrong and say so early enough to matter.
• Geometric estimation against a known model — recovering where things are, well enough to work against, from partial and imperfect data, and knowing when the geometry does not actually support the answer you just produced.
• Choosing and proving the instruments. You will evaluate sensing options, run the experiments that settle them, and defend the choice with numbers. This is a real part of the role, not an occasional errand.
• Setting the technical direction as the perception work grows toward learned methods.

Who You Are

• You have closed a real-time loop on what a camera saw, on real hardware, and something physical moved in response. You can state its rate, its measured end-to-end latency, and how you measured it — not the model's inference time, the whole chain.
• First-principles depth in classical vision and 3‑D geometry — camera geometry, triangulation, registration and where it fails, calibration, and propagating error properly rather than quoting a single number.
• Real-time segmentation or feature extraction on degraded imagery, deployed rather than benchmarked, and an understanding of why thin and low-contrast structures break the standard metrics and losses.
• Strong, modern, production C++, and ROS 2.
• GPU-accelerated inference on embedded hardware under a hard per-frame budget — and the habit of measuring the tail rather than the mean.
• A physical accuracy claim you can defend — measured against something independent of the system that produced it, with bias reported separately from repeatability.

Why You'll Love It Here

• Daily free lunch to keep you fueled and connected with the team
• Flexible PTO so you can take the time you need, when you need it
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 6 weeks fully paid parental leave, plus an additional 6–8 weeks for birthing parents (12–14 weeks total)
• 401(k) retirement plan through Empower
• Generous employee referral bonuses—help us grow our team!

Who We Are

At Path Robotics we love coming to work to solve interesting and tough challenges but also because our ideas are welcomed and valued. We encourage unique thinking and are dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application process or any part of the hiring process, please contact [e-mail]. We are committed to providing equal access and will work with qualified individuals to ensure a fair and accessible hiring experience. We will respond to your request within 48 hours.